According to Greek political theory, each form of constitution was believed to be unstable and susceptible to decline until replaced by another.
He then claims that there are two forms of constitution from which the rest are derived, monarchy and democracy, and attempts to show the virtues of the moderate forms, and the vices of the extreme forms, of each constitution by considering Persia's development from a moderate to an extreme monarchy and Athens's development from a moderate to an extreme democracy.
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Once a product of armed rebellion, the revolution in Latin America today is taking place on paper in the form of new constitutions, a mostly peaceful process influenced by the work of European legal scholars who have played a behind-the-scenes role in drafting the populist documents.
The favorite example for Arendt is the American Revolution, because there the act of foundation took the form of a constitution of liberty.
Since reason by itself cannot determine the specific form of a constitution, it never lays down a mandate to abolish the established institutions of a country, and so it is permissible for the statesman to follow tradition.
Since reason cannot lay down specific maxims for moral conduct, and since it cannot determine the specific form of a constitution, it proves to be a useless guide to moral and political action.
Since knowing how to apply these principles is a matter of judgment, and since judgment depends on experience and expertise, only a few qualified individuals will be able to determine the best form of a constitution and the laws of a country.
At the end of the Convention, Hamilton was still not content with the final form of the Constitution, but signed it anyway as a vast improvement over the Articles of Confederation, and urged his fellow delegates to do so also.
But he stands on his oath of office as a Marine officer, which is not to the military or some martial ideal but to our democratic process and systems of laws in the form of the Constitution.
