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Crash Course US History Episode 8 "The Constitution"

Added Sep 27, 2016 •

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Material corresponding to BTP Chapter 6

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hi I'm John Green this is Crash Course u.s. history and today we're going to talk about the United States Constitution doing so we're going to explore how the American style of government became the Envy of the tire world so much so that everyone else copied us don't say nothing intro So today we're going to learn why the green areas of not America didn't copy us Americans made dimly remember from history classes the Constitutional system we've been living under since 1788 the year of the first presidential election was not the original American government the first government set up by the continent Congress was called The Articles of Confederation and it was in a word bad into words it was not good which is why I'd only lasted 10 years narration it wasn't so much a framework for a national government does it was a firm League of friendship which unfortunately only sounds like a team of Care Bear superhero set up a government sister to be one house body of delegates with each state having a single vote who acting collectively could make decisions on certain issues that affected all the states you can try to tell me the John Hanson the president of the Congress was the first American President but it just not any decision required 9 of the 13 Congressional votes which pretty much guaranteed that notice would ever be made a supermajorities always so efficient it could actually do the government declare war conduct Foreign Affairs and make treaties basically the stuff you need to do to go to war with England it could coin money but it couldn't collect taxes that was left to the states so if you money to say go to war with Britain you had to ask the states politely logically from Americans fear of tyrannical governments taxing them and quartering soldiers in their houses and so here's the thing week government is like non-alcoholic beer celestica government did a couple things first and won the war so unless you were Native American in which case can the government developed rules for dealing with one of the most persistent problems facing the new nation Ohio which was called the Northwest presumably because it is north and west of Virginia muddled and taking it from the Indians who were living there and the Articles government was empowered to make treaties which it did crash course world history you can in the weak suffer what they must and the Americans definitely went to the Athenian School of treaty-making through treaty signed at Fort stanwix and Fort McIntosh the Indian surrendered Land north of the Ohio biggest accomplishment of the Articles government was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which set up a process to create five new States between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers what did acknowledge that American Indians had a claim to the land in that they had to be treated better if settlers wanted to avoid violence robot slavery in all five of the new States the Articles government was a complete disaster for exactly one reason it could not collect taxes schedule States it racked up massive debt to pay for the war and their main source of Revenue became tariffs but because Congress couldn't impose them States had to do it individually and this made international trade nightmare effect worsen by the British being kind of cranky about us winning the war and therefore unwilling to trade with us who was up and close the courts to prevent them from foreclosing upon their debt encumbered farm this is called Shays Rebellion after Revolutionary War veteran and indebted farmer Daniel Shay English a buddy this was the sign that the Articles government which couldn't deal with the crisis at all had to go but not for everyone Thomas Jefferson was a fan of Shays Rebellion when that is a good thing the tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants which is Patriots are tyrants show most elite Shays Rebellion show bit too much Democratic Liberty among the lower classes could threaten private property also people who helped government bonds were nervous because without tax revenue they were unlikely to play back and when rich people feel like something has to be done something is usually done get better regulating International Trade only six states sent delegates but they agreed to meet the next year in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation the delegates who in Philly the next year had a funny definition of revision though rather than make tweaks to the articles of government significant alterations the same when did Americans live under and argue about today in Philadelphia ordinary especially for the time most were wealthy so I'm very much so more than half had college education switch was super rare since .001% of when's attended college at the time about 40% and served in the army during the war but one thing they all shared was a desire for a stronger national government the delegates put on many things the government should at executive legislative and judicial branches and should be Republican with Representatives rather than direct democracy but the devil appeared in the details Hamilton probably the biggest proponent of very strong government one of the president and sent it to serve life terms for example that idea went nowhere because the overarching concern of almost all the like it's wish to create a government that would protect against both tyranny by the government itself and tyranny by the people they didn't want too much government but they also didn't want too much which is why our presidents are still technically elected not directly by regular people but by 538 members of The Electoral College this system is so Byzantine and strange that when a mare politician speak of spreading democracy through the world they never actually advocate for american-style elections sex. Yes I know you have fantastic elections in turn it up okay all that to I get I get it place with big populations and those with small populations large states supported James Madison's Virginia plan which called for a two house legislature with representation in both proportional to Estates Elation and smaller States fearing that the big boys with dominate rally behind the New Jersey Plan New Jersey this called for a single legislative house with equal representation for each state guys with the Articles of Confederation to house a House of Representatives with representation proportional to each State's population and a senate with two members from each state house members also called fix your terms with one third of them being up for election and every two years cycle the house was designed to be responsive to the people while the Senate was created to never pass anything and it was so masterful did it still works to this day however this solution created another problem who should be counted in terms of representation slaveholding States wanted slaves to count toward their population lower course they could not vote because they were property states with useless argued that slave shouldn't be counted as people because just to be clear none of these dudes were not racist this issue was solved with the note Three-Fifths Compromise for the purpose of determining the population the total number of white people plus three fifths the population of other person's the word slave was never used would be the bay it's for the calculation so yeah that's the Constitution Samantha to sleep couldn't escape slavery by moving to a state where slavery was outlawed which meant that on some level some states couldn't enforce their own laws what except for the tyranny of slavery the framers really hated tyranny of the government the principle separation of powers and federalism play branches legislative executive and Judiciary and the Constitution Incorporated checks and balances each branch can check the power of the others the legislature can make laws but the resident convito those Vault themselves both in the National and the state government as an American I am a citizen both of the United States and of the state of Indiana and the national government the one set up by the Constitution is supposed to Limited in scope to certain enumerated powers especially the protection of health safety and morals are left to the states Listen to Too Much democracy can be the most framers were the people many of whom were poor and indebted might vote in Congress people or God forbid a president in favor of redistribution of property by the states usually by state legislators and they were supposed to be like tribes and have adulterous Affairs in airport bathrooms and patronize prostitutes and shoot Alexander Hamilton the other hand electoral college it has the potential to elect a president who did not win the popular vote but that's kind of the point collectors were supposed to be prominent educated men of property who were better able to elect a I didn't like the rabbit of the United States is a really impressive document especially when you consider its longevity I mean will remember the nation state is on the historical scene and the United States established by the Constitution is actually one of the oldest one Constitution would be meaningless if it hadn't been ratified which it was but not without a fight clarify America's political ideology in special conventions called for the purpose where's Alexander Hamilton James Madison and John Jay wrote a series of 85 essays that together are known as The Federalist Papers spin from a strong national government is necessary and ultimately not a threat to people's Liberty is there are simple if I named the all through the mystery document shocked and surprised if I don't cha cousins movable thing we got here any magnitude that Army can never be formidable to the Liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens little if it all inferior to them in discipline and the use of our who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens this appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army in the best possible security Stansted if it should exist Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton second amendment was that the people could protect themselves from a standing army by being equally well-armed which of these days would me nothing citizen should have the right to buy assault rifles but they should have the right to buy like on man drone s arguably suitcase nukes and by the way in the Constitution this is not listed as a privilege it is listed as a right and as a right if I can't afford my own for me it's almost as if Alexander Hamilton had no way of knowing that Weaponry would one day advance past the musket gun shot I'm on a roll so it would be easy to ignore the people who opposed the Constitution because you know rid of attention Foster trade in protected by the United States would be an empire in that no extensive Empire can be governed upon Republican principles listen to the people in better able to protect their rights to the Anti-Federalists that meant state government altimate Lee the Federalist one out and the Constitution was ratified the issue of how large when should be did not go away so the Constitution was really only a starting point it's a vague document and the details would be worked out in the political process and then on the battlefield still watching I'll see you next week by myself Sammy Sosa Britannica Johnson are Graphics team if your questions about today's video or anything about American history good news there are historians and common so ask away Thanks for liking crash person who sang My Hometown don't forget to be awesome

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Crash Course US History Episode 8 "The Constitution"

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