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Here's how your new government will work

By johnmanders on July 24, 2024

Alexander Hamilton

James Madison

John Jay

Here at Western Civ User's Guide World Headquarters we're all about ideas. The idea that drove the American Revolution was that every person is born with rights and freedoms given to us by our Creator. Kings and governments ought not take away those rights and freedoms. Every person is sovereign—you own yourself and your property. That's a great idea—so far, so good.
The Thirteen Colonies fought and beat the British Empire. After that it was time to reimagine the Colonies as a nation with a government. What kind of government?
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote essays which appeared in New York City newspapers. These essays talked about the new country being a representative republic with 3 branches of government—Executive (the president and administration), Judicial (judges who rule on laws), and a Legislative branch (they make the laws) with 2 chambers—representatives (who are voted in by citizens) and senators (who are appointed*). The goal was to spread out government's power so the power wouldn't get centralized. If one branch got out of line, the other 2 would rein it in. There would be a Bill of Rights to protect citizens from the government—the Bill of Rights limits the government's power. A republic has leaders who are elected (voted in) and represent the people. So, no kings. Also, only a democracy on election day—the elected leaders vote on issues rather than every citizen in the nation voting on every bill. If the voters decide they don't like a leader, they vote him out next election.
I'm oversimplifying a little. But Hamilton, Madison & Jay wrote 85 essays that hammered out what the new government and the United States Constitution would be like. These essays together are known as the Federalist Papers. Thanks to the printing press, newspapers, and literacy, the Federalist Papers were read by lots of people. In fact, the American colonies may have boasted a higher literacy rate—more people there could read and write—than anywhere else in the world.

* Senators are voted in nowadays. Dumb idea—it monkeys with the purpose of having 2 houses (one represents the people, one represents the states), but nobody ever asks me. By the way, what I described above is the way our government is supposed to be run. We've gone a bit off the rails lately. For instance, there's an astonishing amount of people who work in the government who weren't elected—and yet they make regulations and policy.

https://bensguide.gpo.gov/m-federalist-papers-1787-1788#:~:text=The%20Federalist%20Papers%20were%20a,1787%20and%20August%20of%201788.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/republic
https://guides.loc.gov/sb.php?subject_id=162830
https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-essays-in-historic-newspapers/
https://meynercenter.lafayette.edu/publius-journal/#:~:text="Publius"%20was%20the%20pseudonym%20used,that%20make%20up%20The%20Federalist.
https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-average-literacy-rate-in-the-13-Colonies-during-the-drafting-of-the-Declaration-of-Independence-1776#:~:text=Short%20answer%3A,many%20have%20reached%20only%2070%25.
https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/journal/Winter11/literacy.cfm

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