The Crisis of the 1780s

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-73
Author(s):  
Gordon S. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
Great Power ◽  
State Legislation ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Paper Money ◽  
Federal Constitution

This chapter describes the crisis that led to the calling of the convention that created the federal Constitution in 1787. Although the Articles of Confederation that united the thirteen states lacked the powers to tax and regulate trade, the country was not doing too badly economically or demographically. But the state legislatures were abusing the great power that had been granted to them in the revolutionary state constitutions and tending to ran amuck. The multiplicity, mutability, and injustice of state legislation, especially with the printing of paper money, led reformers to use the weakness of the Confederation as a cover to scrap the Articles and to create an entirely new and powerful central government.

State-Issued Currency and the Ratification of the U.S. Consitution

1989 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary M. Schweitzer
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Money Supply ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Paper Money ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
The U.S

Paper money, a major component of the colonial money supply, was critical to the economic policies of the colonial legislatures. Why did the state legislatures relinquish the power to issue money to the new federal government through the ratification of the Constitution? Hostility between states with radically different philosophies regarding paper money raised concerns about the viability of the union, and it was this fear which led to the clause in the Federal Constitution that prohibited state paper money issues.

Part III Structure of State Government, 9 The State Legislative Branch

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Williams Robert F
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
The People ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
State Legislative

This chapter discusses the fact that state constitutions create a legislative branch that is substantially different from the federal Congress. Most importantly, state legislatures exercise reserved, plenary power subject only to limitations in the state or federal Constitutions. The federal Congress, by contrast, exercises enumerated, delegated power. In addition, the state legislatures are subject to a variety of limitations on the process of lawmaking that are contained in state constitutions. The chapter discusses the variety of approaches to judicial enforcement of these procedural limitations. Finally, in a number of states, the state legislature's lawmaking power is shared with the people, who can enact or defeat laws through direct democracy, or the initiative and referendum processes.

Schulform- und Schulstrukturgarantien in den deutschen Landesverfassungen

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Köster
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
School System ◽  
The State ◽  
Education Law ◽  
School Systems ◽  
State Law ◽  
State School ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
German States

Should the state school system separate different students into different schools by their level of intelligence? The book analyses and compares the constitutional regulation of the secondary school systems in the 16 German states. As education law is state law in Germany, the federal constitution (Grundgesetz) is much less important in this area than the 16 state constitutions.

The Colorado State Constitution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Collins ◽  
Dale Oesterle
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Home Rule ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
State Constitution ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
Strong System

The Colorado State Constitution (2020) is the second edition of the state’s contribution to The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States. The book opens with a detailed history of the constitution that focuses on events and amendments that transformed the state. As expected in the West, it features some lively adventure stories. Since the first edition in 2002, the state’s population has grown by more than a third. The book explains the many new challenges its legal system has faced. The main section analyzes in detail every provision of the constitutional text. All relevant judicial interpretations are examined. A comprehensive index and a table of cases guide researchers. Interaction with the federal Constitution is carefully explained. Background and interpretations of Colorado’s complex and unique tax revolt, known as TABOR, are carefully analyzed. The state’s extensive provisions for direct democracy, the initiative, veto referendum, and recall of elected officials, are studied in detail. The Colorado Bill of Rights is fully reviewed. The state’s strong system for constitutional home rule for cities, counties, and towns is examined from its adoption into today’s governing system. The state’s strong system for all levels of public education is explained. Its leadership in the marijuana legalization movement is another subject well covered.

scholarly journals Constitutional Challenges of Creating New Local Government Areas in Nigeria

2012 ◽  
pp. 104-115
Author(s):  
Jude Okafor
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Grassroots Development ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Secondary Methods

Local government is purposely established by law to provide grassroots development. In federal states, it is usually created by law of the federating units, and in unitary states it is created by central government. However, since the entrenchment of local government as a third-tier level of government in the 1979/1999 federal constitutions of Nigeria, there have been a lot of difficulties in creating new local governments. This paper examines the dynamics of this structure and the challenges posed to the orderly creation of new local government areas in Nigeria. The paper adopts secondary methods of data collection and analysis. It finds that the conflicting constitutional provisions which vest in the state and federal governments powers to create new local government areas have created many controversies in the polity. It recommends that the creation and statutory finance of local government councils in Nigeria should be expunged from the federal constitution.

2 The Constitutional Crisis of 1983

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee HP
Keyword(s):  
National Interest ◽  
The State ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
State Legislation ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
The Government

This chapter examines the constitutional crisis of 1983, which focused on the King’s power to assent to legislation in relation to federal legislation and on the State Rulers’ equivalent power in relation to State legislation. The crisis should be viewed while considering that amendments to the Federal Constitution are common in Malaysia. However, intense national interest was generated by the refusal of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ahmad Shah, to assent to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 1983. What was the significance of the 1983 Amendment Bill? What were the motives of the government in mooting the amendments? The chapter reviews the chain of events and clarifies many of the constitutional issues that were clouded by the confrontation between the dissenting parties.

Power and Liberty

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon S. Wood
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
American Revolution ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
British Government ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Book Covers ◽  
The Revolution

This book covers major issues of constitutionalism in the American Revolution. It begins with the imperial debate over taxation and representation between the colonists and the British government. That debated climaxed with the Declaration of Independence. Each of the former colonies became republics and drew up written constitutions with several of them including bills of rights. These constitutions established patterns that later influenced the federal Constitution created in 1787, including bicameral legislatures, independent executives, and independent judiciaries. But because the Confederation of the states lacked the power to tax and regulate trade and the state legislatures were abusing their considerable power, the revolutionaries sought to solve both problems with a new federal Constitution in 1787. In addition to having to recognize the equality of each state in the Senate, the Convention faced the problem with slavery. Although most Americans thought that slavery was gradually dying, South Carolina and Georgia wanted to import more slaves and forced the Convention to guarantee twenty more years of slave importations and some protections for slavery in the Constitution. The institution that benefited most from the Revolution was the judiciary. It became very important in monitoring the demarcation between the public and the private realms that emerged from the Revolution.

A Case Study in Federalism - the United States and Michigan Constitutions: Not Double Vision, Double Constitutions

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-219
Author(s):  
MICHAEL WARREN
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Compare And Contrast

ABSTRACT Each citizen in America lives under two Constitutions - the United States, federal Constitution which applies to all citizens, and the constitution of the state in which the citizen lives. Often overlooked and basically unknown, the state constitutions play a vital role in governance and preserving our unalienable rights. Perhaps the best way to understand each constitution is to compare and contrast them. Accordingly, as a case study, this article examines the age, length, predecessors, drafting process, conventions, ratification process, and amendment procedures of the State of Michigan Constitution of 1963 and the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, this article examines how each of these constitutions addresses the separation of powers, legislature, executive, judiciary, local government, transportation, education, finance, taxation, and the protection of unalienable rights. Armed with this understanding, we will be better informed citizens, and more ably equipped to participate in self-governance and protect the unalienable rights of the citizenry. Note: At times this article quotes constitutional text which refers to “he” or “him.” The grammatical convention at the time was to make masculine all generic gender references. That this article quotes the text does not equate to an endorsement of the convention nor did the drafters intend that only men could serve as public officials.

scholarly journals The Democracy Principle in State Constitutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 859
Author(s):  
Jessica Bulman-Pozen ◽  
Miriam Seifter
Keyword(s):  
Majority Rule ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Lame Duck ◽  
The Many ◽  
Current Potential

In recent years, antidemocratic behavior has rippled across the nation. Lame-duck state legislatures have stripped popularly elected governors of their powers; extreme partisan gerrymanders have warped representative institutions; state officials have nullified popularly adopted initiatives. The federal Constitution offers few resources to address these problems, and ballot-box solutions cannot work when antidemocratic actions undermine elections themselves. Commentators increasingly decry the rule of the many by the few. This Article argues that a vital response has been neglected. State constitutions embody a deep commitment to democracy. Unlike the federal Constitution, they were drafted—and have been repeatedly rewritten and amended— to empower popular majorities. In text, history, and structure alike, they express a commitment to popular sovereignty, majority rule, and political equality. We shorthand this commitment the democracy principle and describe its development and current potential. The Article’s aims are both theoretical and practical. At the level of theory, we offer a new view of American constitutionalism, one in which the majoritarian commitment of states’ founding documents complements the antimajoritarian tilt of the national document. Such complementarity is an unspoken premise of the familiar claim that the federal Constitution may temper excesses and abuses of state majoritarianism. We focus on the other half of the equation: state constitutions may ameliorate national democratic shortcomings. At the level of practice, we show how the democracy principle can inform a number of contemporary conflicts. Reimagining recent cases concerning electoral interference, political entrenchment, and more, we argue that it is time to reclaim the state constitutional commitment to democracy.

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