Sentences with phrase «of the constitutional convention of»

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, someone asked Ben Franklin: «have we got a Republic or a Monarchy?»

He would go on to become the most influential member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, coauthor of The Federalist, the classic defense of that gathering's handiwork, and the primary sponsor of the Bill of Rights (which he viewed as a harmless palliative for such foes of the new regime as still remained).

One of them, Sarah Rosen, led her school in a protest demonstration because her sixth - grade teacher would not allow girls to participate in a reenactment of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

«One weekend I sat down to read James Madison's notes on the debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, all 500 - plus pages, from cover to cover.

Not exact matches

What I will not do, I can tell you right now, is hold a bunch of constitutional conventions and meetings because nobody wants to go back to that era.

The title of Metaxas» latest book, If You Can Keep It (Viking), is a reference to Benjamin Franklin's response to a woman who asked him, as he left the Constitutional Convention in 1787, «Dr Franklin, what have you given us, a monarchy or a republic?»

«Unless the federal judiciary is to be a floating constitutional convention,» Noonan added, «a federal court should not invent a constitutional right unknown in the past and antithetical to the defense of human life that has been a chief responsibility of our constitutional government.»

Those who are enamored of floating constitutional conventions are also the Energizer Bunnies of constitutional litigation.

He reported sarcastically that «there» were some members [at the Constitutional Convention] so unfashionable as to think that a belief of the existence of a Deity, and of a state of future rewards and punishments would be some security for the good conduct of our rulers, and that in a Christian country it would be at least decent to hold out some distinction between the professors of Christianity and downright infidelity or paganism» (IV: 642) This chapter also includes excerpts from state constitutions that imposed religious tests on government officers (Delaware, for example.

In 1787, at the age of eighty - one, Benjamin Franklin addressed the Constitutional Convention: «I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men.

Franklin's words spoken on the last day of the Constitutional Convention and quoted above express the somewhat somber mood.

What that course was Franklin made clear in his speech on the very last day of the Constitutional Convention, September 17, 1787:

His proposal for a federal veto of state laws went down to defeat, and most dispiriting for him, his opponents in the Constitutional Convention won equal representation of the states in the Senate.

But that effect of making constitutional change — by amendment or convention — so difficult doesn't mean the Constitution is good.

The story has been told that, shortly after the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, a professor of theology at Princeton rebuked Alexander Hamilton because, in the document they drafted, the founders of the republic failed to espouse Christianity.

When the nation was established as a democratic republic, the people of the former English colonies, acting in their various constitutional conventions, transferred all governing power to their states and to the federal government, reserving for themselves only certain rights and powers they previously claimed to enjoy as subjects of the British Crown.

The proof of Franklin's piety is his oft - cited plea for prayer at the Constitutional Convention.

Imagine the reaction of the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention if the justices had expressed these views to them.

The right - wing faction has promoted the school prayer amendment to the Consitituion and similar initiatives to declare America a «Christian nation;» it is workingintently to bring about a constitutional convention at which its representatives could propose curtailments of various freedoms; is drafting laws to confer official favor on specific religious establishments.

This right - wing faction has promoted the school prayer amendment to the Constitution and similar initiatives to declare America a «Christian nation»; it is working intently to bring about a constitutional convention at which its representatives could propose curtailments of various freedoms, is drafting laws to confer official favor on specific religious establishments.

He saw Providence in the almost impossible unanimity of the constitutional convention, which completed its work in 53 days.

It can be pointed out that this is a reckless kind of polity — allowing the Court to define the nature and scope of political power on an ad hoc basis, without benefit of the debates of a legislative assembly or a constitutional convention, and without the contest of facts typical of an ordinary trial court.

Opponents of holding a constitutional convention have over the last several weeks geared up their opposition to the coming referendum, arguing it could scale back gains made by organized labor, wreck the environment in he Adirondacks and be dominated by monied interest groups.

Setting out his plans for a British Constitutional Convention, Mr Clegg said: «It would examine the role and powers of parliament and ministers; the way in which parliament is elected and held to account; the relationships between the nations of the United Kingdom; the concentration of power in Whitehall; and the need to strengthen basic individual rights and liberties against the abuse of state power.»

The Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, see the convention as a way of «mak [ing] sure all the new arrangements [i.e. recent constitutional changes] work together coherently».

At the other end of the spectrum, the Constitutional Convention decided to forbid the English practice of allowing the government to seize the entire estate of a person convicted of treason.

«The structure of a Constitutional Convention allows for every part of the process to be dictated by the voting public,» Kolb wrote.

The mechanism for that could be amendment or Constitutional Convention or revolution, and is expressly mentioned in 39 of the states» constitutions.

Both advocate the 16 - year - old vote, a constitutional convention, House of Lords reform, and an in / out referendum on EU membership when a proposed treaty change would transfer (substantial) powers to Europe.

Constitutional convention of cabinet collective responsibility - Baroness Miller of Hendon Regulation of healthcare assistance in the light of the Health and Care Professions Council's preliminary finding that there are significant shortcomings in a voluntary register - Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

House of Lords reform and EVEL are both folded into the constitutional convention process.

This was the subject of the opening talk by Oxford's Stuart White who gave an overview of different options for a UK constitutional convention.

Alexander, who includes adviser to U2 singer Bono on global poverty among his portfolio of jobs, also called for EU powers over fisheries and agriculture to be handed to Holyrood post-Brexit and backed Gordon Brown's call for a constitutional convention to consider further devolution to the nations and regions of the UK.

But it's not impossible either — just think about the work of the Scottish Constitutional Convention back in the 1980 - 90s, the democratic thrust generated by the referendum, all the impossible that became the possible.

However, the story of the Scottish Constitutional Convention also tells us that such a process will take time, and can not be rushed or accomplished overnight.

This convention represented the first attempt by any Irish government to provide for a citizen - led programme of constitutional reform.

In a different sphere, I was right to argue that English local government should be rescued from its status as the «humiliated Cinderella of English governance», but I should have argued much more forcefully for a constitutional convention to decide how the nations, regions and localities of the United Kingdom should relate to each other and to the centre.

Those measures, which had included lowered campaign contribution rates, a cap on the amount of money lawmakers can earn outside of their government work and reforms to the constitutional convention process, have been seemingly scaled back.

White highlighted four crucial questions for any constitutional convention in the UK: 1) Its membership (politicians, the public or both); 2) Its agenda and whether or not it has agenda - setting powers; 3) What happens to its output (whether it goes to parliament or straight to a referendum); 4) How co-ordinated it is across the territories of the UK.

From this angle, the regionalist parties that are emerging in the North of England have a great potential, especially if they succeed in joining forces with civil society organisation and movements, mobilising grassroots support and pushing for the creation of some form of «Northern Constitutional Convention» capable of influencing decision and policy - making at the centre.

The Irish Government has still to respond on these later reports, but already it is clear that the Convention recommendations on many matters will lead to the holding of referendums on specific issues in 2015; and we are likely to see real and significant constitutional change made as a result.

Article V of the Constitution does in fact contemplate a new constitutional convention, though, of course, one has never taken place.

On January 26th we'll be launching the first «Crowd Sourced» Constitutional Convention on the future of Wales, and the UK.

Over the past couple of weeks, as the referendum campaign reached its climax in Scotland, a concept has suddenly started springing up all over the place in English political debate: the idea of a constitutional convention.

One possibility, of course, is that the United Kingdom will, at long last, emulate its errant child, the United States, one of whose major 18th century contributions to world constitutionalism was precisely the notion of a formal «constitutional convention» that ostensibly possessed a constituent power to propose radically transformations of the existing political order (even if ratification was in the hands of some other body).

A British «constitutional convention» would presumably adopt (or suggest to a national referendum the adoption of) a truly written constitution specifying the ways that a clearly «federalized» country will operate in the future.

Meanwhile the likelihood of a hung parliament after 7 May and the inter-party deals that will be required to form a coalition, plus the existence of unresolved and urgent constitutional questions which require resolution provides the necessary political backdrop for the establishment of a constitutional convention.

The Government's «command paper» on English devolution, published on 16 December 2014, made reference to a constitutional convention as a means of civic engagement (though it fell short of a full commitment).

The Liberal Democrat approach to English concerns is based on five interconnected devolution proposals: EVEL; a constitutional convention; the local level as the main recipient of decentralised powers; more City Deals (like Devo Manc) to prompt economic growth; and «devolution on demand», to allow councils to take control of the services that matter most to them.

It may be relevant, though, that I am one of the few American legal academics who has publicly endorsed the desirability of holding a new constitutional convention within the United States.