HKB
5 passages · search this phrase →
Often appears with: political legitimacy and consent · forms of government · constitutions and founding law · unicameral legislature powers · state sovereignty and amendment limits · senate funding · rights and liberties · revolution and the fall of states · powers of the convention · pennsylvania constitutional convention · informal political proposal precedents · federal government definition
Usually: argument (4) · exhortation (2) · narrative (1) · the fall of the great (1) · censure (1) · curiosity (1) · detachment (1) · praise (1)
“They must have reflected, that in all great changes of established governments, forms ought to give way to substance; that a rigid adherence in such cases to the former, would render nominal and nugatory the transcendent and precious right of the people to “abolish or alter their governments as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness,”[2]” Alexander Hamilton; John Jay; James Madison, The Federalist Papers · insight
“Nay, even when these external alarms are past, and the people are enjoying their good fortune and the fruits of their victories, and, as usually happens, growing corrupted by flattery and idleness, show a tendency to violence and arrogance,—it is in these circumstances, more than ever, that the constitution is seen to possess within itself the power of correcting abuses.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) · insight
Hamilton says Congress’s one-body design is improper, the Confederation lacked popular ratification, and true legitimacy must rest on the people’s consent, not state legislatures’ delegated authority.
of preconceived opinions, that it is a system so radically vicious and unsound, as to admit not of amendment but by an entire change in its leading features and characters. The organization of Congress is itself utterly improper for the exercise of those powers which are necessary to be deposited in the Union. A single assembly may be a proper receptacle of those slender, or rather fettered, authorities, which have …
Madison says the convention acted under a perceived crisis, with commissioners expecting the reform was necessary, referencing irregular prior proposals and Congress’s earlier assumptions of power, and stressing that submission is to the people.
It may be collected from their proceedings, that they were deeply and unanimously impressed with the crisis, which had led their country almost with one voice to make so singular and solemn an experiment for correcting the errors of a system by which this crisis had been produced; that they were no less deeply and unanimously convinced that such a reform as they have proposed was absolutely necessary to effect the pu…
Paine describes how Pennsylvania’s constitution was proposed by county elections, deliberated in a Philadelphia convention, published for popular approval, then signed and put into force as a people-controlled law.
recommend to the several counties to elect six representatives for each county, to meet in convention at Philadelphia, with powers to form a constitution, and propose it for public consideration. This convention, of which Benjamin Franklin was president, having met and deliberated, and agreed upon a constitution, they next ordered it to be published, not as a thing established, but for the consideration of the whole…
Hamilton, in committee on June 18, opposes both plans as inadequate, argues that federal government must ultimately reach individuals, and maintains that states may refer ratification to the people.
MONDAY JUNE 18. IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE on the propositions of M^r Patterson & M^r Randolph. On motion of M^r Dickinson to postpone the 1^{st} Resolution in M^r Patterson's plan, in order to take up the following viz--"that the Articles of Confederation ought to be revised and amended, so as to render the Government of the U. S. adequate to the exigencies, the preservation and the prosperity of the Union" the post…
Polybius argues that Rome’s consuls, people, and senate depend on one another: consuls need senate supplies and authority, triumphs require senatorial money, while people control treaty ratification and consular accountability.
[Sidenote: and Consul.] +17.+ In like manner the people on its part is far from being independent of the Senate, and is bound to take its wishes into account both collectively and individually. For contracts, too numerous to count, are given out by the censors in all parts of Italy for the repairs or construction of public buildings; there is also the collection of revenue from many rivers, harbours, gardens, mines,…