They reversed a well-known political framework.
The world-renowned revolutionary results notwithstanding, the Framers did not start from scratch. They used a rather familiar political framework to create the United States Constitution.
- Spoiler alert: Had they used the known political framework unaltered, the United States would not have been able to become a large nation.
The Framers revolutionized the political world of their days, establishing the independence of the United States, removing themselves from underneath the royal powers of Britain. Yet they had some good examples to work with, and once completed, the revolutionary aspect they put in place was based on turning the original political framework inside-out.
To understand what happened, one must know what the Framers knew in their days. Two places had their utmost attention, for they were a federation (Switzerland) and a republic (the Netherlands), just what they desired for the United States.
The political setup of Switzerland (Confederation Helvetica) and the Netherlands (Republic of the United Provinces) is not very difficult to understand. Starting with the powers on the bottom, working our way up:
Bottom: the powers of cities and lands
Middle: the powers of these powers united (in cantons and provinces)
Top…
