DISTRIBUTION OF POWER

This research paper discusses how and why power was distributed among various groups under the Federal Constitution of 1787 and whether the system the framers created was just or unjust.

A. Did the original Constitution create a representative democracy based on elections, a pluralist democracy based on factions, some form of elite system based on rule by a handful, or hyperpluralism with a weak central government dominated by factions (or state) interests?

The system created by the Constitution created a republican form of government in which existing propertied elites were the dominant influence in the late 1700s but which was structured in such a way as to permit the development of a much broader pluralist democracy over time. The truth of this statement can be seen in the experience of the late 1700s, the composition and philosophy of the framers and the specific institutions they created.

The experience of the American Revolution united most Americans in opposition to tyranny imposed from abroad which translated into a broadly shared distrust of a strong central government. Under the Articles of Confederation, power was concentrated in separate state legislatures leaving insufficient scope for the functioning of an effective national government. The leaders of the movement to correct the resulting imbalance which had manifested itself in inadequate state contributions to permit retirement of the Revolut

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at the new Federal Government had broad implied powers to encourage and protect manufactures, promote interstate and foreign commerce and protect law and order. They were opposed by the Jeffersonians who defended states' and individual rights. With British rule out of the way, it can be argued that the Federalists, consistent with their class interests, should have been in favor of a more oligarchic and centralized form of government. They were not, Wayne says, because "with an ocean for protection, a huge frontier, seemingly unlimited natural resources, this nation composed of largely self-sufficient farmers wasn't thought to need or desire a very strong national government" (64). A republican, as opposed to a democratic or an oligarchic form of government, was visualized by Madison as the best way to ensure a proper balance among the various factions within the nation. He said in Federalist No. 51: "whilst all authority . . . will be derived from and dependent on society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority" (Stewart et al Readings 17). He and other frame
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Approximate Word count = 1961
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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