LYMUN IV. Constitutional Convention. Chair: Xander Allison

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1 LYMUN IV Constitutional Convention Chair: Xander Allison

2 Table of Contents Letter From Chair: Pages 3 Position List: Page 4 Committee Background: Page 5-6 Topic 1: 7-8 Topic 2: 9-11 Topic 3: Topic 4:14

3 Letter From Chair: Welcome to LYMUN IIII. My name is Xander Allison and I will be your chair for the The Constitutional Convention. I began my involvement in MUN at the beginning of my freshmen year and I am currently in my Junior year of my high-school career. I participated as vice-chair during LYMUN II in a very enjoyable JCC Communist Chinese Party and during LYMUN III chaired the Mars Future Crisis Committee. Our committee s sole focus will be on writing the document on which are country will be founded. The Committee will begin with the introduction of topics that must be addressed throughout the final document, but issues and public demand may motivate the committee to write on other topics as well All positions within this committee where members of the real constitutional convention and all hold equal power within the committee. It is important that you work with others to find effective solutions to the problems that must be addressed as after a certain problem is finally agreed upon, another topic will be brought to the committees attention. The decisions you as an individual, and as groups of individuals make, will decide the future of the country. This background guide should help you on you way to becoming an important and impactful member of our committee. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to me at xandercallison5@gmail.com Thank you and Good Luck, Xander Allison

4 Positions List: Alexander Hamilton John Blair James Madison Jr. George Washington Benjamin Franklin William Samuel Johnson Abraham Baldwin Nathaniel Gorham Rufus King William Livingston Hugh Williamson Gouverneur Morris John Rutledge Pierce Butler George Read James McHenry

5 Committee Background: The year is The newly freed people of the United States recognize their inability to grow and prosper under the Articles of Confederation and now send their most distinguished leaders to debate the creation of a stronger central authority. The failures of the Articles of Confederation range from a lack of interstate judiciary powers all the way to the failure to create a federal military in case of an attack from foreign nations. With these, and other failures in mind, the people and states of America send their leaders to the Constitutional Convention in hopes of a long-term solution that will satisfy the diverse array of problems the United States finds themselves in today. The delegates sent from twelve newly formed and esteemed states should keep in mind the creation of a system of government to enforce laws and a system that is created to interpret the laws. Both of these efficient systems were absent from the Articles of Confederation. Granting true power to the authority of congress should be of high importance to this committee as the old legislative branch of the Articles of Confederation which held very little true power. Taxation, tariffs, and uniform currency must be addressed, as should a system to solve issues across state

6 lines. The federal government must have a certain precedent over the states should we hope to keep this nation unified. The failures of the Articles of Confederation have prompted uprisings and a dismal economic performance from the New United States. It is the hope of the people of the nation that the delegates sent to the convention will correct these problems and implement new policy to strengthen the new core of the United States. The discussion of the representatives will not be limited to simply two or three topics as the future of the nation is much too diverse to be covered by such a number but will rather be guided by three topics the people of the United States feel most passionately about. Those three topics are the division of power, the federal oversight on taxation, and the structure of the economy. Though there are three background guide topics, delegates are expected only to write a single paper on their general political policy at the time.

7 Topic 1: Constitutional Decision on Taxation The most glaring issue with respect to the Articles of Confederation authority, was the inability to tax. The inability to tax the states left the federal government largely incapacitated and without the ability to perform some of the most basic functions of a national government. The Articles of Confederation left the duties of taxation to the states and had no authority to force states to share a portion of that revenue. This effectively left the federal government with a minuscule budget compared to the much smaller individual states. The representatives must find a way to effective tax the people of the united states on a federal level. There are a countless number of problems that arise from addressing this issue. The first of those issues is, what body has the obligation or right to raise federal taxes on the behalf of the American people? What body will the representatives create to fulfill this duty? What type of people will serve on this body and how will these people be selected? What percentage of this people will be needed to pass an effective federal tax? The representatives will soon find another issue concerning taxation. How will these federal taxes coincide with state taxes? Will there be maximums or minimums on the the total

8 taxation percentage of these two bodies combined? In the end, which body will have higher authority, the federal taxing body, or the state taxing body? After the these issues are sorted through, the representative must determine how new laws that effect income on a social level will be decided. How will laws that effect higher and lower income countrymen be implemented into law? Will this consist of a new body of men or the same that decided the original laws of taxation? The ability and way in which laws that will effect taxation and their implementation is nearly as important as the founding laws of federal taxation themselves. Most importantly, representatives must, though keeping in mind the importance of the states they represent, put aside regional agendas, and think of what is best for the American people as a whole. Taxation is arguably the topic the greatest number of Americans feel most passionately about and thus rigorous attention and discipline must be applied to the creation of their laws.

9 Topic 2: Articles of Confederation s failure to successfully Divide Powers One of the most fundamental errors found within the Articles of Confederation was the lack of acknowledgement concerning the importance of a division of powers, or a separation of the central governments power into multiplies bodies. Most notably is the body of congress holding almost all of the central governments authority. It would be most appropriate for the representatives to compile a list of the most important functions of the government. These functions will include but are not limited to: writing the laws, enforcing laws, taxing the people, raising an army, and arbitrating the laws. After this list of functions is analyzed the representatives must create bodies that handle all of these functions. Once again, though keeping in mind the importance these rulings have for the delegates respective states, the entirety and security of the newly formed nation must be taken into account when deciding the best way to divide these powers. Possibly the most important aspect of divisions of powers to consider, is to make sure many different bodies that have been created have a stake in each different function of

10 government. For example, if the body were to consider the duty of taxation, it would be wise to split the powers of who to tax, at what percentage to tax them, and on what goods, amongst at least two different bodies, both equally representative of the people. Equally as important as splitting up these powers amongst multiple bodies is assuring the people of the new nation that though these processes will be split between more then one body that this will not slow down the process of action. Timely decision making is important especially in areas of important legislation and the raising of a militia. Makings sure that the division of powers within the committee conforms to a pattern of timeliness will be of the utmost importance. The process of divisions of powers will never be the primary topic of discussion throughout committee but

11 will rather be something to keep in the back of each representatives mind as they pass legislation. Making sure they compartmentalize each of these duties amongst multiple bodies will be paid close attention too.

12 Topic 3: Economic Disturbances under the Articles of Confederation The new government also had drastic shortcomings concerning the young economy of the country. Many of the initial economic problems America faced were related to the difficulty faced when conducting trade over state lines. The Articles made this nearly impossible. The Articles also failed to institute a national currency. The lack of national currency forced each individual state to mint their own money leading to extreme inflation in many regions of the United States. Each state trading with its own currency made commerce between states difficult as the method of payment would often leave the seller unsatisfied if the other state s currency was used as the medium. This allegiance to individual states and the inability of the federal government to regulate this trade led to tariffs placed by the governments of states on goods from other states to support their own

13 economy. The Articles could have solved so many of the issues that were bi-products of their negligence if only they had understood the necessity of a national currency and had given themselves the authority to regulate trade. Unfortunately, the Articles were constructed so poorly, these fundamental government responsibilities were left unattended and this body must now pass legislation to correct these failures.

14 Topic 4: Disclaimer Though the topics listed above are of the utmost importance to the future stability of this young country. It is vital representatives understand the necessity of passing legislation concerning all parts of the future country while constructing this constitution. Delegates should pay attention to the questions asked within the previous three topics as those are wonderful places to begin forming opinions and starting research. Small pieces of legislation can be introduced and voted on at any time throughout the convention however these pieces cannot be written before the committee is in session. Delegates should prepare a single page of paper discussing their general political policy but should be well versed in all parts of their policy should they hope to find success. Best of luck, Xander Allison