Discussion Questions

1. Why was the phrase “We the People of the United States ….” so important to the founders and the new nation? What does that phrase mean to you today?

2. What had happened to republics prior to the founding of the United States? What did Madison fear would happen? In what ways did he try to structure a new government that would avoid the problems he observed in previous republics?

3. How could Madison reconcile his support for the principle of “all men are created equal” with his personal ownership of slaves? Were these ideas mutually exclusive even in that era? Why or why not?

4. Generally speaking would you rather live in a government with strong states and a weak national government or vice versa? Why did you answer as you did? How close do you feel to you state representatives? Your national representatives? Your governor? Your president?

5. Try to imagine how you would have reacted to the problems with the Articles government. Would you have supported a change to the system and, if so, what changes would you have supported?

6. How important is that the Founders met in secret to discuss the Constitution? In what ways would that have made discussions easier? In what ways might the secrecy have made convincing the public more difficult? Would modern Americans have accepted this kind of agreement being made in secret?

7. How important was it that the Founders did not keep a written record of the votes cast on each issue? In what ways would that make future compromises easier? In what ways might this lack of record keeping be undemocratic? Would modern Americans have accepted this kind of arrangement?

8. What were the motivations of the small states (such as NJ and DE) at the Constitutional Convention? What did they hope to gain? What did they fear losing? How successful were they in defending their interests?

9. What were the motivations of the large states (such as NY and VA) at the Constitutional Convention? What did they hope to gain? What did they fear losing? How successful were they in defending their interests?

10. One of the major issues at the Constitutional Convention dealt with whether the country would have a plural or a single executive. What would the strengths be in each approach? The weaknesses?

 

11. What is meant by the term “separation of powers”? In what ways does it make the government stronger? Less prone to abuse? In what ways does it weaken the government? Make it more prone to abuse?

12. Think about the amendment process. In what ways is the process inclined to strengthen the government? Democracy? Weaken the government? Democracy?

13. Given what you know about the Constitutional Convention, was there any chance for the delegates to have outlawed slavery? Why or why not? In other words, given the ambivalence of the delegates, were there any compromises that might have been reached? Given the lack of a solution on the issue, did the founders effectively sow the seeds for the Civil War in Philadelphia?

14. Why was slavery such an important representational issue at the Convention? How satisfying do you find the solution?

15. Why was it important that the supporters of the newly written Constitution seized the moniker of Federalists? Why was that name possibly problematic? What “better” names might there have been? Now think about the Anti-Federalists. In what ways was that name important? Did it generally weaken or strengthen their case? Were their “better” names available?

16. What was a faction to Madison and how could a faction be dangerous to a republic? What does Madison propose to deal with factions? How do you feel he would assess factions in our modern society?

17. Madison was concerned with both the tyranny of the majority and tyranny of the minority. Describe each one. Madison was more concerned with tyranny of the majority, was he right to put his emphasis there? Why or why not? Which one seems more likely in modern America and why?