The framers of the U.S. Constitution advocated that the power of government would be limited.?

Question

The framers of the U.S. Constitution advocated that the power of government would be limited. They ensured this by providing:

A. A federalist system of government.

B. that President and Vice President were to be directly elected by the people.

C. The states were permitted to regulate trade and commernce among themselves

D. Congress and the President were required to have the Supreme Court assess the constutionality of all legislation prior to passage.

E. All the above.

Answer 1

Answer - A For many of the reasons Doc stated.

Not B - President and Vice President are elected by electoral college, or in case of a tie, by the House of Representatives. (Article II, Section 1)

Not C - Congress regulates trade among the several states. (Article I, Section 8)

Not D - Supreme Court only assesses Constitutionality of laws after passage, and only if those laws are challenged and not decided satisfactorally by 'lower' courts. Besides, this power isn't delegated to the Supreme Court by the Constitution (See Article III, Section 2 for powers delegated to Supreme Court by the founders). It was assumed (usurped?) by the Court in the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803, over a decade after the Constitution was ratified.

Answer 2

The framers limited power by carefully delimiting the power of government and then add an amendment that said, in effect, "If it ain't in the constitution, it ain't a federal power."

That'd be the 10th, I believe, that says anything not enumerated in the constitution is either the right of the states or the right of the people individually.

They limited power by a series of checks and balances so that no one branch of government would have too much power. Which is why there are three branches, each with their own sphere of interest, and also why there is a "separation of powers" clause.

The idea is that you need to make it harder to pass laws by forcing the laws to go through two houses of Congress, where the two houses have different bases of representation. Then another branch (executive) has to approve and the third branch (judicial) has to not disapprove if the law is ever tested in a court.

Answer 3

True that they wanted a limited federal government, but wrong in all the proposals you list.

A) They saw the states having more governmental control.

B) President and Vice President are to be elected by the Electoral College, not the people themselves.

C) The states did maintain some control over the interstate commerce, but it soon became filled with too many issues.

D) The Supreme Court was set up as the final decision making branch of the government, but it was never seen as the one giving the final approval for each and every bill passed.

E) None of the above.