Mar 4, 1789: Government under the U.S. Constitution begins

[boilermaker55]

The first session of the U.S. Congress is held in New York City as the U.S. Constitution takes effect. However, of the 22 senators and 59 representatives called to represent the 11 states who had ratified the document, only nine senators and 13 representatives showed up to begin negotiations for its amendment.
Government under the U.S. Constitution begins ? History.com This Day in History ? 3/4/1789
In 1786, defects in the Articles of Confederation became apparent, such as the lack of central authority over foreign and domestic commerce and the inability of Congress to levy taxes, leading Congress to endorse a plan to draft a new constitution. On September 17, 1787, at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the new U.S. Constitution, creating a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of 41 delegates to the convention.

 

[Little-Acorn]

Mar 4, 1789: Government under the U.S. Constitution begins


Mar. 5, 1789: Big-government liberals of the day, begin trying to find ways to evade the Constitution's restrictions on the size and scope of the Federal government.

As dusk follows the dawn....

 

[BreezeWood]

Mar 4, 1789: Government under the U.S. Constitution begins


Mar. 5, 1789: Big-government liberals of the day, begin trying to find ways to evade the Constitution's restrictions on the size and scope of the Federal government.

As dusk follows the dawn....

no, liberals "won" the day - and have since been trying to secure their victory from radical reactionaries.

 

[regent]

Mar 4, 1789: Government under the U.S. Constitution begins


Mar. 5, 1789: Big-government liberals of the day, begin trying to find ways to evade the Constitution's restrictions on the size and scope of the Federal government.

As dusk follows the dawn....

Who were the big government liberals of the day? Was it Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, just who were the big government liberals of the day?

 

[JakeStarkey]

Mar 4, 1789: Government under the U.S. Constitution begins Mar. 5, 1789: Big-government liberals of the day, begin trying to find ways to evade the Constitution's restrictions on the size and scope of the Federal government.
As dusk follows the dawn....

The reactionaries' attempts to evade their constitutional responsibilities have been numerous and inevitably always ends in failure. What a blessing of liberty that the great majority of Americans are not reactionary right in their souls!

 

[bucs90]

May 4th, 1789: Our Founders still did not ban slavery.

Glad things change as society evolves.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

May 4th, 1789: Our Founders still did not ban slavery.

Glad things change as society evolves.

They had just won a grueling revolution. Slavery was not dealt with at that time due to the fragility of the newly formed united states.

 

[boilermaker55]

Try explaining that to someone, even today, who lives under tyranny and hatred and oppression.

May 4th, 1789: Our Founders still did not ban slavery.

Glad things change as society evolves.

They had just won a grueling revolution. Slavery was not dealt with at that time due to the fragility of the newly formed united states.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Slavery was "dealt with." It was recognized and perpetuated in the Constitution.

 

[Little-Acorn]

The restrictions on government imposed by the Constitution in 1789, were mostly restrictions by omission.

The Const created the govt as it is set up today (at least on paper). And in doing so, it gave the Fed govt all the powers it has... by naming them in the text of the Constitution. And any power not named, was forbidden to the Fed govt. If you wanted the Fed to have more powers, you had to amend the Constitution to do it.

(Although the first ten amendments to the Constitution did not add any powers to the Fed govt... in fact, they mostly spelled out restrictions on government in even-clearer language instead.)

As I said, the big-govt advocates immediately began to insist that this restriction by omission, wasn't really so much of a restriction. They pointed to language saying the Fed could regulate interstate commerce, language saying that Congress could pass whatever laws it needed to carry out the listed powers, etc., pretending these gave the govt license to make any laws it wanted.

I shouldn't have called the big-govt advocates of the founding era, "liberals". Because back then, "liberal" meant "supporting liberty", which is what "liberals" back then actually did.

Since then, "liberal" has pretty much done a 180, to the point where today's so-called "liberals" actually do everything they can to have govt take over more and more formerly-private functions, thus restricting genuine liberty wherever it is found. Usually in the name of "safety".

 

[JakeStarkey]

Little Acorn has been cracked: silly twaddle. Hey, corny, we are not living in 1791.