John MarshallJohn Marshall is considered one of the most influential Supreme Court Justices in American History

The Constitution, an overview

The Preamble•Preamble: A preamble is a statement to introduce the purpose and content of a document.•The preamble of the U.S. constitution lays out the basic principles on which the government should operate.•The Preamble is the first of three sections of the Constitution.

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The Articles•The Second part of the Constitution contains seven articles that lay out the actual law for the United States.•The first three Articles explain and establish the three branches of the government and their function.•The other four articles establish: how state and federal government are connected, how to change the constitution, the Constitution is supreme law, and the last article ratified the Constitution.

Limited Government

•To prevent government from becoming too powerful, the framers included, in many parts of the Constitution, the principle of Limited Government. •This principle means that the Government developed by the Constitution can only do what people allow it.

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Popular SovereigntySimilar to Limited Government. Popular Sovereignty states that the people are the source or power in the government.

Separation of Powers

The framers wanted the Constitution to prevent the rise of tyranny, which is one of the reasons they left England in the first place. The three branches of our Government have separated powers that do not allow any branch to control the others.

Checks and BalancesChecks and Balances set the principles that allow for the separation of powers. Each branch of the Government can exercise powers over the other two.

Judicial Review•Judicial review is the power that the courts have to interpret laws, and determine if they are unconstitutional.•When the U.S. Supreme Court decides that a state or federal law violates the Constitution, the law is deemed unconstitutional.

FederalismOur nation’s Constitution was built to from a Federalist Government in which the National government reserves some power, while other powers are reserved to the states.

Natural RightsThese are not rights granted to individuals by their government, but individuals maintain these rights simply because they were born human beings.

Marbury v. MadisonThis court case was solved by John Marshall, who decided that the courts did not have the power to issue writs of mandamus. Congress granted the courts the right to do so, but the Constitution did not grant congress this power. This result of this case granted the Judicial branch the power to “say what law is.”

Writ of Mandamus

An order issued by the Judicial Branch to a Government official to require them act is a Writ of Mandamus.

Ought versus ShallOught was used by the British Government, in which it states what the government should do.

Shall is used in the U.S. Constitution to tell what the government must do.

Introducing an Amendment

Amendments can be introduced in one of two way.

1.A two-thirds vote in Congress will introduce an amendment. All twenty-seven amendments have been introduced using this method.2.A request by two-thirds of the state legislatures may call an amendment convention in which they may propose amendments to be ratified.

Ratifying amendmentsThere are also two ways of having an amend ratified.

1.When a proposed amendment receives a three-fourths vote in Congress, it is ratified.2.Three-fourths of the states can approve an amendment at special conventions.

Commerce ClauseThis part in the Constitution grants the legislative branch power to regulate trade between the states and with foreign nations.

Informal amending of the Constitution

The Constitution has been informally amended by the following ways: Congressional legislation, Presidential actions (like when the President sends troops to foreign nations), Judicial Review, Political Parties, and Custom and usage.

Bill of RightsThe Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments and they were written and so that the states would ratify it. Virginia was the last state to ratify the Constitution and established the basic framework of our government.

Amendment I: Freedom of speech, religion, press, assemble, and petition the government.

Amendment II: The right to bear arms for a well-equipped militia.

Bill of RightsAmendment III: The quartering of soldiers in someone’s home during peacetime is prohibited without the owner’s consent.

Amendment IV: Prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures of people or their property.

Bill of RightsAmendment V: The right of trial by jury, due process of law, fair payment if private property is taken for public use, and prevention of double jeopardy.

Amendment VI: Grants an accused criminal a speedy and public trial by a fair jury.

Bill of RightsAmendment VII: Grants an accused individual a trial by jury in a case involving twenty dollars or more.

Amendment VIII: Prohibition of excessive bails and cruel and unusual punishment.

Bill of RightsAmendment IX: People posses rights in addition to those that are stated in the Constitution.

Bill of RightsAmendment X: Any rights not denied to the states or granted to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.