"The easiest examples are in the Senate and Article II," says Mosvick. Constitution, wasn't quite as cut-and-dried as Montesquieu's, Mosvick says. The system devised by the founders, which is described in Articles I, II, and III of the U.S. The republican government, he believed, needed to have separate and independent executive, legislative and judicial branches, in order to prevent one another from abusing their various powers. In short, Madison acted like a radical decentralist committed to states’ rights.But the most prominent influence may have been French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, author of the 1748 treatise " The Spirit of the Laws," who described what should distinguish Republican self-government from monarchies and despotic countries. Still, throughout his presidency he vetoed federal funding for internal improvements, such as roads and canals, on constitutional grounds. He opposed the constitutionality of the national bank in the 1790s on the grounds that is was not “necessary and proper” for carrying out the functions of the national government, although by the time of his presidency (1808-1816) he had reversed his position due to the popularity and entrenched status of the bank. For instance, he interpreted Congress’s power to “lay and collect taxes” to pay for “the general welfare” as a restricted power to fund only the federal powers enumerated in the Constitution, whereas Hamilton argued the Congress could appropriate money for any object it deemed to promote the welfare of the nation. He adopted a “strict constructionist” interpretation of the Constitution, which interpreted the constitutional power the federal government as minimally as possible. Over the course of his subsequent career, Madison generally supported “states’ rights” against federal power. Through these avenues, Madison expected the states to be able to fend off challenges to their authority from the federal government. Third, a similar effect would ensure that presidential electors, most of whom at this time were also chosen by the state legislatures, would select presidents favorable to state power. Second, since senators were selected by the state legislatures (prior to the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913), senators would reflect and serve the interest of the state governments. First, as mentioned above, the localist bias of the average voter would ensure the election of federal politicians with pro-local views. In the American context, Madison specified several “means of contestation” that would enable the states to defend their jurisdiction by directly representing states interests in Congress. On this view, preserving liberty requires establishing two relatively equal levels of government and empowering each to keep the other in line by deploying constitutional checks and balances. In 1787, widespread sentiment in favor of reform finally prompted calls for a convention to draft a new constitution. The political situation exacerbated a post-war economic recession, and the federal Congress found itself unable to pay the interest on its debts or secure any further loans. Perhaps worst of all, only the unanimous vote of all thirteen states could amend the Articles, virtually eliminating the possibility of reforming these defects. The country lacked a single, independent executive, or even a judiciary. Moreover, Congress could not regulate commerce, either between the states themselves or with foreign nations. officially demand) funds and soldiers from the states, who predictably failed to comply fully with these demands. Lacking any power to imposes taxes or raise troops directly, it was obliged to “requisition” (i.e. However, it soon became clear that the national Congress created by the Articles could not meet the needs of the American union. In 1781, the Articles of Confederation established a loose American federation headed by a weak central government. While formerly connected only by their common ties to the monarchy, virtually all former colonists shared a common identity as “Americans” and therefore sought political union. Beginning in 1776, thirteen British colonies in North America declared their independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Because Madison was an active politician, not a speculative philosopher, this analysis consists largely of an overview of his political career and its relationship to American federalism.
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