> Behalf Of J. van Baardwijk
> At 15:27 17-12-00 -0500, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
> >The Electoral College was an entirely original invention on
> >the part of the Founding Fathers
>
> Working from abovementioned memories again: weren't the
> FF's British
> themselves?
>
>
> Jeroen
They certainly didn't think of themselves that way. They thought of
themselves as Americans first, and citizens of their respective states
second. They had, after all, fought just fought an eight-year war for
the right to _not_ call themselves British. The American Revolution
ended in 1783, at which time the United States of America was
established under the Articles of Confederation. After five years of
this, plus Shays rebellion, the Founders realized that the national
government under the Articles was simply too weak to survive, and thus
met in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention to create a
stronger one. Their Constitution was then ratified over the course of
several months, during which time several states demanded the addition
of a Bill of Rights, which was added immediately following
ratification. The Constitution and the new national government came
into effect in 1789 with the inauguration of George Washington. At
that point, the United States had declared itself an independent
nation a full 13 years before, and had been accepted as a full and
equal member of the society of states for six years by everyone,
including the British.
********************Gautam "Ulysses" Mukunda**********************
* Harvard College Class of '01 *He either fears his fate too much*
* www.fas.harvard.edu/~mukunda * Or his deserts are small, *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Who dares not put it to the touch*
* "Freedom is not Free" * To win or lose it all. *
******************************************************************
