Consitution is a set if rules and norms to organize a government

US Constitution is the oldest surviving written consitution of a nation
the brits do NOT have a written constitution
umm.... poland is the second oldest constitution. woo freaking hoo.

imposed constitutions dont really work too well, they generally have to come from within
american constitution doesnt have to be the model on which all else is based, but it has served as a structural model

basic principles of a constitution
-a constitution is law, but not the same as the law of a legislature
-its on a higher plane than legislature (i.e. supremacy clause)
-a constitution has to be entrenched
-entrenched: cannot be overturned or repealed or revised by the same system that a law can
-a constitution has to deal with how powers are allocated and seperated

so articles of confederation didnt work too well. 1786 there was lots of thought about how to amend the constitution
congress failed the first time to hold an effective convention
2nd convention was held in 1787 in philly, all but rhode island showed up
-they basically just threw away the articles of confederation (which was completely illegal)
problems with Articles of Confederation
-huge trade problems
-states were competing with oneanother, rather than cooperating (united states)
-states even would erect toll barriers among themselves
-didnt provide for a uniform currency
-disunity in foreign affairs
-no national executive (explains ^^)
-huge tension between agrarian and mercantile states
at least moderately strong central government was agreed to be necessary, but most people still wanted state sovereignty

the constitution was extremely newtonian (every action had an equal and opposite reaction)
-so much so, in fact, that in the original pristine version, absolutely nothing could get done, because the checks and balances were so intricate
-political parties provided the 'political lubricant' necessary to get the system to actually work (along with compromises in the constitution itself)
one of most contentious parts of the constitution came in amendment 10
-court pretty much derides it (dismisses it as a truism)
-now (since the 1970s), a campaign has been run by supreme court justices, basically a revival of the 10th amendment

poor grossman.
there are 56 versions of the word 'no' or 'negative' in the constitution
he needs to get some.

framers were really concerned with what the government COULDNT do, not what the people COULD do (for the most part)
-they were more concerned with preventing government abuses, cause people are bad

federalists believed that the constitution enumerated the powers of the government, so no bill of rights was really necessary
-other states didnt believe this, the bill of rights became necessary for ratification of the constitution
constitution was approved on september 17, 1787 by TWELVE delegations (minus rhode island, who wasnt there)
-on the day they were supposed to come back, only 42 of the original 55 returned, and of the 42, only 39 signed
-it was OK though, because they made provisions that only 3/4 of the states had to ratify