Transcript The Constitution - Welcome to SchoolPage

The Constitution
Who Do You Trust?
From a noted scholar on the
Constitution…
“The fundamental characteristic of the Constitution is distrust.
The Constitution was, in fact, borne of distrust: distrust of
democracy, distrust of popularly-elected legislatures, and
distrust of the public. This distrust is best seen in the
electoral system that keeps the public at arm’s length and in
the system of checks in which the popularly-elected House of
Representatives is severely constrained by the Senate as well
as the other branches of government.”
Why would the Founders distrust…
• democracy?
• popularly-elected legislatures?
• The public?
Democracy
The Founders
How do the following prove the
Founders’ distrust?
• The electoral system
• the system of checks that
allows the Senate to
constrain the House of
Representatives
Sooo….do you agree?
Is the Constitution an instrument of
distrust?
• Who didn’t the framers trust?
• Do we have similar beliefs
today?
• Do you trust Americans to make
good decisions? Why or why
not?
• If you don’t trust
Americans…what can be done?