How to Make Constitution Soup…

A Recipe for Great Government

Begin with the Basics…

• A hot kitchen in Philadelphia in 1787.

• 55 hungry delegates from all over the country, led by Chef George Washington.

• Create a fire with flames of foreign debt, the heat of disorganization, the instability of Shays’s Rebellion, and the pressure of the failing Articles of Confederation.

Independence Hall

Use High-Quality Ingredients…

• Start with ideas about Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic.

• Stir in the Magna Carta (1215), English Bill of Rights (1689), Virginia House of Burgesses (1619), the Mayflower Compact (1620), and Articles of Confederation (1777).

Slowly Add…• Enlightenment ideas like

Locke’s Natural Rights (1690) and Montesquieu’s Separation of Powers (1748).

• Great Awakening notions of equality and freedom of religion from the 1740s.

• Unifying experiences that brought the nation through the American Revolution in the 1760s and 1770s.

Mix in…• A blend of national

government powers and state powers called Federalism.

• Three branches of government to do the work: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.

• A system of Checks and Balances so that no single branch is too powerful.

The White House

The Capitol

The Supreme Court

Final Touches…• Pepper in individual protections

like the right to remain silent and jury trials.

• Garnish with basic rights and freedoms like speech and religion.

• Season to taste with ways to change the Constitution by adding Amendments from time to time.

• Cook for 220 years and enjoy. Voila!