Constitution
The Constitution
• Sets up the Six basic principles
• Lays out the framework and procedures
• Sets limits for the government
Characteristics of the Constitution
• 7,000 words• Introduction: Preamble • 7 articles
– 1-3 deal with three branches of National Government
– 4: place of states in the Union – 5: Adding amendments – 6: Declares Constitution Supreme Law– 7: Ratification of the Constitution
Section Subject Preamble States the purpose of the Constitution
Article I Legislative branch
Article II Executive branch
Article III Judicial branch
Article IV Relations among the States and with the National Government
Article V Amending the Constitution
Article VI National debts, supremacy of national law, and oaths of office
Article VII Ratifying the Constitution
Six Basic Principles
• Popular Sovereignty
• Limited Government
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• Judicial Review
• Federalism
Popular Sovereignty
• All political power resides in the People
• Source of any and ALL power
• Govern with the Consent of the people
• Present in Preamble
–WE the PEOPLE of the United States of America
Limited Government
• No Government is ALL-Powerful – May only do those thing the people have given the
power to do
• Government MUST OBEY the LAW– Constitutionalism: government must be conducted
according to constitutional principles
• Rule of Law: always subject too – never above – the law
• 1st Amendment
Separation of Powers
• Presidential system• Legislature
– Congress– Law Making Branch
• Executive – President – Law-executing, enforcing,
administering Branch
• Judicial – Courts – Interpret and apply the
laws
Separation of POWERS
Checks and Balances
• Although Separate…..they are TIED together
• Subjected to Constitutional CHECKS by other branches
Checks and Balances
• Worked as the Framers planned– Prevented an unjust combination of the
majority
• Has created some gridlock between Congress and President
• Today: Democratic President but Democrats are losing ground in Congress (republican majority in Senate)
Judicial Review
• Power of courts to determine whether what the government does is in accord with what the Constitution provides
• Power of the Courts to determine constitutionality of a governmental action – Unconstitutional = illegal,
null and void, violated some provision in the Constitution
Judicial Review
• Intended for Supreme Court to have the power • Federalist no. 78:
– Alexander Hamilton – Independent judges would proved to be “an essential safeguard
against the effects of occasional ill humors in society.” • Federalist no. 51
– James Madison – Judicial power one of the “auxiliary precautions” against the
possible dominance of one branch of government over another • Judicial Review established:
– Marbury v. Madison (1803)• Most cases: the action of government are found to be
constitutional•
Federalism
• The division of power among central government and regional governments
• How to build a new, stronger national government while preserving States and the concept of local self government
• Colonists had fought for the right to manage local affairs
• Used as a compromise