The Origins of the American Political System

Tomorrow's class will deal with questions about the origins of the American political system:

• What went on during the revolutionary era?
• Why was a constitutional convention held in 1787?
• What challenges did the delegates face in designing the new government?
• What are the key features of the Constitution its participants produced?
• How does it compare to the United States' first governing document, the Articles of Confederation?

To get a head start, check out this interactive timeline of early US history. It should give you a good sense of why the American colonists sought independence from Britain, how they articulated their revolutionary ideas, and the issues and controversies that dominated their political debates and discourse.

If you're feeling extra ambitious, check out James Madison's notes on the constitutional convention debates. While the language is sometimes tough to muddle through, Madison's notes (which were made public only after the last of the convention delegates had died) demonstrate well just how difficult it was for the convention delegates to arrive at any consensus.
For example, on June 1, they argued about how best to design the presidency: Should it consist of a single person or an executive council? How should the president(s) be selected? What should the relationship between the president(s) and the legislature be like? Should the president(s) have the power to make war? If you read down to the end, you'll see they didn't manage to resolve anything at all that day; in fact, many of the suggestions they made on June 1 didn't make it into the Constitution at all!