The United States Constitution

The United States Constitution

Article 1: Legislative • Acceptance of two house (bicameral) plan • House of Representatives • Senate

Article 1: Legislative • Enumerated Powers • Senate Only • Trials for all impeachment cases • Ratification of presidential appointments • Ratification of treaties • House Only • Origination of all revenue bills • Impeachment of all officials

Article 1: Legislative • Enumerated Powers cont. • Both Houses of Congress • Lay & collect taxes, duties, imposts, & excises • Pay the debts • Provide for the common defense & general welfare • Borrow money on credit • Regulate commerce (Foreign nations, Among the states, & with Indian tribes) • Constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court • Define & punish piracies and felonies on the high seas • Declare war • Grant letters of marque and reprisal

Article 1: Legislative • Enumerated Powers cont. • Both Houses of Congress • Establish uniform rule on naturalization • Establish uniform laws on bankruptcies • Coin money, regulate the value thereof • Fix standard of weights and measures • Provide for punishment of counterfeiting • Establish post offices & post roads • Provide for progress of science & useful arts (patents) • Make rules concerning captures on land and water • Raise & support armies • Provide and maintain a navy

Article 1: Legislative • Enumerated Powers cont. • Both Houses of Congress • Makes rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces • Provide for the calling forth of the militia • Provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia • Exercise exclusive legislation in all cases over the district seat of the national government

Article 1: Legislative • Implied Powers • Also known as the Elastic Clause • Makes all laws necessary and proper for execution of powers

Article II: Executive • Election by Electoral College • Formal Enumerated Powers • Serve as commander-in-chief of the army and navy and militia • Require in writing the opinion of the principal officer in executive departments • Grant reprieves and pardons • Make treaties with advice and consent of 2/3 of the Senate • Appoint embassadors, public ministers and consuls, justices of the Supreme Court with advice and concent of 2/3 of the Senate

Article II: Executive • Formal Enumerated Powers cont. • Fill vacancies during recess of the Senate • Deliver a state of union address • Call special sessions of Congress • Receive ambassadors and other public ministers • Execute the laws • Commission all officers of the United States

Article III: Judiciary • Establishment of the Supreme Court • Creation of lower courts by Congress • Changes in Power • Introduction of judicial review with Marbury v. Madison (1803) • Jurisdictions of the Supreme Court • Original • Appellate

Article IV: The States • Full Faith and Credit to acts, records, proceedings of one state by any other state • Entitlement to all privileges & immunities of citizens in the states • State extradiction • Criminals • Persons held to service or labor (slaves)

Article IV: The States Control of territories by Congress Guarantee of republican government

Article V: Amendments • Two means of proposing constitutional amendments • 2/3 of both houses of Congress • 2/3 of specially called state conventions • Two means to ratify a constitutional amendment • 3/4 of state legislatures • 3/4 of state conventions • Limitations • No actions against the slave trade until 1808 • No loss of a state’s two votes in the Senate without its consent

Article VI: Legality Actions under Confederation binding under Constitution Recognition of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land No religious test for office

Article VII: Ratification Need approval by nine of thirteen states

Amendments – The Bill of Rights The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights because some of the Founding Fathers wanted to guarantee the rights of individuals, which are NOT listed in the Constitution

1st Amendment • Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, & Petition • “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government • Known as the Four Freedoms

1st Amendment cont. Establishment Clause - No official (state) religion in U.S. Free Exercise Clause – protects any/all religious practices Free Speech Clause – pure & symbolic speech protected but has limits (i.e. obscenity, defamation, etc.) Prior Restraint Clause – gov’t can’t censor work prior to its publication Freedom of Association – we can associate with anyone

2nd Amendment • Right to Bear Arms • Originally intended to safeguard a militia (part-time citizen soldiers – think the Minutemen), the 2nd Amendment allows citizens the right to purchase and own firearms • The Supreme Court has held that the 2nd doesn’t apply to the states, so some states/local governments have banned guns (i.e. City of Chicago)

3rd Amendment • Quartering of Troops • This amendment was in response to one of the Intolerable Acts (Quartering Act) enforced by England before the Revolutionary War • Although it does allow troops to be quartered (without owners’ consent) during wartime ONLY, the 3rd Amendment has long been understood to reinforce a citizen’s right to privacy

4th Amendment • Unreasonable Searches & Seizures • Maintains that citizens have a “reasonable” expectation of privacy and cannot be searched without probable cause (reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime) • Examples of “reasonable” searches (airport searches, sobriety checkpoints, drug testing, etc.) • Maintains that police must have a warrant (court order) to perform a legal search otherwise evidence can be dismissed (the exclusionary rule) if gained during an illegal (no warrant) search

5th Amendment • Due Process of the Law • Guarantees 5 different rights • Right against self-incrimination (“plead the 5th”) • Right to have charges screened by a Grand Jury • Right to avoid being charged twice for the same crime (Double Jeopardy) • Right to have due process of law • Right to compensation when property is taken for public use

6th Amendment • Right to a Fair Trial • Must be a speedy and public trial • Must have an impartial jury & be held in the locality in which the crime was committed • Must be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation/charges • Must have the right to confront one’s accuser(s) • Must have the right to obtain witnesses for one’s defense • Must have the assistance of counsel (lawyer) regardless of money

7th Amendment • Trial by Jury in Civil Cases • Right of a jury trial in civil (disputes between 2 or more parties, like injuries or contracts; non-criminal) when the issue exceeds $20.00 • Also includes the right that a judge must obey a jury’s decision in a civil case

8th Amendment • Cruel & Unusual Punishment • Maintains that excessive bail (money posted as security to obtain release from jail pending a trial) is NOT required • Also maintains that excessive fines cannot be imposed • Bans punishments that are “cruel & unusual” – although it does not define what those are • Is connected with a habeus corpus petition (court order that directs law enforcement to show just cause of a prisoner in custody)

9th Amendment • Unenumerated Rights • Serves as a catch-all protection of individual rights – includes all the rights listed in the Constitution (including Amendments) but also includes unenumerated rights (not specifically mentioned) like the right to vote, travel, & to have privacy

10th Amendment • States’ Rights • Protects powers (not rights) of the states • Establishes federalism – the system of shared power between national and state governments • Also creates the idea of states’ rights (doctrine that the states have sovereign powers equal to the national government)

Amendments 11-27 • We won’t cover ALL of the additional amendments but we will discuss the following: • #13-15: Ending Slavery & AA Rights • #18 & 21: Prohibition (& its repeal) • #19: Voting Rights for Women • #24: Ending the Poll Tax • #26: Lowering Age Requirements for Voting

13th Amendment • Abolishing Slavery • Occurred after the Civil War and has two main parts: • Makes slavery/involuntary servitude illegal in the United States (and any of its territories) except as a punishment for a crime • Gives Congress the power to create any/all legislation necessary to enforce ending slavery

14th Amendment • Equal Protection of the Laws • Connected with the 13th Amendment, this amendment has 5 parts and part one gives African Americans (and anyone else who was born here or naturalized) citizenship • Prohibits the states from making any laws that would infringe on the rights of these new citizens • Prohibits the states from denying anyone “life, liberty, or property without due process of law” • Prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the law” in their state(s)

14th Amendment cont. • Equal Protection of the Laws • Pt 2: Ends the 3/5ths Compromise (slaves only counted as 3/5 of a person for representation in elections), gives males (21 or older) the right to vote, and only counts the males in a state as the basis for representation • Pt 3: Prohibits anyone who served in the Confederate Army/Navy from holding federal office

14th Amendment cont. • Equal Protection of the Laws • Pt 4: Stipulates that southerners will NOT be compensated for the financial loss of their slaves • Pt 5: Gives Congress the power to make any/all laws to enforce this amendment

15th Amendment • Suffrage for Black Men • Part one – Gives the right to vote to African American men only and makes it illegal to deny the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” • Part two – Gives Congress the power to make any/all laws to enforce this amendment

18th Amendment • Prohibition • Makes the “manufacture, sale, transportation” and possession of any alcoholic beverage illegal and gives Congress the power to make any/all laws necessary to enforce this amendment

19th Amendment • Women’s Suffrage • Gave the right to vote to all citizens and no state (or the federal) government can deny a person’s right to vote “on account of sex” • Also gave Congress the power to make any/all laws to enforce this amendment

21st Amendment • Repealing Prohibition • Repealed (crossed out of the legal record) the 18th Amendment • Gives the power to regulate (i.e. tax) alcohol to the states

24th Amendment • Banning the Poll Tax • Made it illegal for states to charge a tax to vote in federal (primary or other) elections • The poll tax was commonplace in the Southern states

26th Amendment • Suffrage for Young People • Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years old

The United States Constitution