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TERMS AND QUESTIONSCHAPTER 3 SECTION 1The Six Basic Principles • What is the purpose of the Preamble to the Constitution? • What are the six basic principles of the Constitution and explain each? • Constitutionalism • Rule of Law • Separation of powers • Checks and balances • Veto • What Presidents have been impeached? • Constitutional

An Outline of the Constitution • The Constitution was written in 1787 and took effect in 1789. The Constitution is this nation’s fundamental law. It is in its own terms, “the supreme Law of the Land” – the highest form of law in the United States. • The Constitution sets out the basic principles upon which government in the United States was built. • It a fairly brief document, 7,000 wordsand can be read in half an hour. • The Constitution’s greatest strength is that its words deal largely with matters of basic principle.

An Outline of the Constitution • The Constitution is organized into eight sections: the Preamble -introduction and seven articles – or sections. The original document is followed by 27 amendments. • The first three articles deal with the three branches of the National Government. They outline their organization and powers of each branch and how they are chosen. • Article IV deals with the place of the States in the American Unionand their relationship with the National Government and one another. • Article V explains how formal amendments may be added. • Article VIdeclares the Constitution as the supreme law. • Article VIIstates the requirements for ratification.

Articles of the Constitution Section Preamble Article I Article II Article III Article IV Article V Article VI Article VII Subject States the purpose Legislative branch Executive branch Judicial branch Relations among the States and with the National Government Amending the Constitution National debts, supremacy of national law, and oaths of office Ratifying the Constitution

The Six Basic Principles of the Constitution

Six Basic Principles

POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY • The principle of popular sovereigntyasserts that the people are the source of any and all government power, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed. • The people have given their government the power that it has through the Constitution.

LIMITED GOVERNMENT • The principle of limited government holds that no government is all-powerful, that a government may do only those things that the people have given it the power to do. The government must obey the law. • Constitutionalism – that government must be conducted according to constitutional principles. • The concept of limited government is also described as the rule of law, which holds that government and its officers are always subject to the law. • This is set out in the First Amendment, which begins with the words: “Congress shall make no law . . .”

SEPARATION OF POWERS • In a presidential system, separation of powers the basic powers are distributed among three distinct and independent branches of government. • The Constitution distributes the powers of the National Government among the Congress, the President, and the courts. • Article I, II and III finds the powers being divided.

Separation of Powers

CHECKS AND BALANCES • The national government is organized around three separate branches. The Constitution gives each branch its own field of governmental authority. • Checks and balances– means that each branch is subject to a number of constitutional restraints by the other branches. Each branch has powers to check the operations of the other two. • Congress can make law. • The President may veto or reject, any act of Congress • The judicial branch can rule acts unconstitutional.

Checks & Balances

JUDICAL REVIEW • Judicial reviewis the power of courts to determine whether what government does is in accord with what the Constitution provides. • Unconstitutional– to declare illegal, null and void, of no force and effect– a governmental actions found to violate some provision in the Constitution. • Marbury v. Madison 1803established the power of judicial review.

Judicial Review

FEDERALISM • The powers held by government are distributed on a territorial basis. The National Government holds some of those powers, and others belong to the 50 States. • Federalism– the division of power among a central government and several regional governments – came to the Constitution out of both experience and necessity. • The colonist had rebelled against the harsh rule of a powerful and distant central government.

Roots of Federalism

Section Review

Section 1 Assessment 1. Article II of the Constitution establishes the powers of the (a) executive branch. (b) legislative branch. (c) States. (d) judicial branch. 2. The principle of popular sovereignty asserts that the (a) government should be divided into three branches. (b) monarch is the supreme ruler. (c) means of production should be owned by the proletariat. (d) people are the source of any and all government power. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!

TERMS AND QUESTIONSCHAPTER 3 SECTION 2 List two steps involved in the first method of amending the Constitution. List two steps involved in the second method of amending the Constitution. List two steps involved in the third method of amending the Constitution. List two steps involved in the fourth method of amending the constitution. Bill of Rights List and explain the Civil War Amendments. Amendment Formal amendment process Explain each Amendment: 11th Amendment 18th Amendment 26th Amendment 27th Amendment

THE AMENDMENT PROCESS

Amending the Constitution • The Constitution provides for its own amendment—that is, for changes in its written words. • Article V sets out two methods for the proposal and two methods for the ratification of constitutional amendments, creating four possible methods of formal amendment.

FIRST METHOD OF AMENDMENT • An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress and be ratified by three fourths of the State legislatures. • 38 State legislaturesmust approve for it to become a part of the Constitution. • 26 of the 27 amendmentshave been adopted using this method.

The Amendment Process

SECOND METHOD OF AMENDMENT • An amendment may be proposed by Congress and then ratified by conventions in three fourths of the States. • 21st Amendmentonly adopted this way.

THIRD METHOD OF AMENDMENT • An amendment may be proposed by a national convention, called by Congress at the request of two thirds of the State legislatures • 34 State legislatures is needed • It must then be ratified by three fourthsof the State legislatures. • Congress has not called such a convention.

FOURTH METHOD OF AMENDMENT • An amendment may be proposed by a national convention and ratified by conventions in three fourths of the States. • The Constitution was adoptedin much the same way. • Need 38 State conventions.

The four different ways by which amendments may be added to the Constitution are shown here: Formal Amendment Process

FEDERALISM AND POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY • The formal amendment process emphasizes the federal character of the governmental system. Proposal takes place at the national level and ratification is a State-by-State matter. • When the Constitution is amended, the action represents the expression of the people’s sovereign will. The people have spoken.

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS • The Constitution places only one restriction on the subjects with which a proposed amendment may deal. Article V declares that “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.” • Once a State has approved an amendment, that action is final and unchangeable. • More than 10,000 joint resolutionscalling for amendments to the Constitution have been proposed in Congress since 1789. Only 27have been finally ratified.

Collectively, the first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.They set out many of our basic freedoms. Amendments to the Constitution

THE BILL OF RIGHTS • The first ten amendmentswere added to the Constitution less than three years after it became effective. They were proposed by the first session of the First Congress in 1789 and were ratified by the States in late 1791. • The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

THE LATER AMENDMENTS • Each of the other amendments that has been added to the Constitution over the past 200 years also grew about because of some particular set of circumstances. • 11th Amendment declares that no State may be sued in the federal courts by a citizen of another State or by citizen of any foreign state. • 12th Amendment in 1894, was added to the Constitution in 1804 after the electoral college had failed to produce a winner in the presidential election of 1800. The election went to the House of Representatives. • 13th Amendment, 1865, abolished slavery in the United States.

Amendments to the Constitution After the Bill of Rights

THE LATER AMENDMENTS • 14th Amendment 1868, gave the freedmen citizenship • 15th Amendment 1870, gave them the right to vote. • 18th Amendment 1919, established a nationwide prohibition of alcohol. • 21st Amendment 1933, repealed the 18th Amendment. • 22nd Amendment 1951, limited the number of terms a president could serve. • 26th Amendment added in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 in all elections in the United States. • 27th Amendment 1992, forbids members of Congress from raising their own pay during that term.

Section 2 Assessment 1. A formal amendment (a) changes the Constitution by passing laws. (b) changes the written language of the Constitution itself. (c) allows States to secede from the United States. (d) none of the above. 2. Many of the basic rights of citizens are constitutionally guaranteed in (a) English common law. (b) the Declaration of Independence. (c) the Magna Carta. (d) the Bill of Rights. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!

TERMS AND QUESTIONSCHAPTER 3 SECTION 3 • What are the 5 basic ways that Constitutional interpretation takes place? • How do informal procedures for interpreting the Constitution differ from formal amendment? • Judiciary Act of 1789 • 25th Amendment • What is an executive agreement? • Treaty • Electoral college • Cabinet • Senatorial courtesy

Informal Amendment Processes Informal amendment is the process by which over time many changes have been made in the Constitution which have not involved any changes in its written word. The informal amendment process can take place by: 1.) the passage of basic legislation by Congress; 2.) actions taken by the President; 3.) key decisions of the Supreme Court; 4.) the activities of political parties; 5.) custom.

Executive Action Presidential actions have produced a number of important informal amendments, such as the use of the military under the power of commander in chief. An executive agreement is a pact made by the President directly with the head of a foreign state. Treaty – formal agreement between two or more sovereign states. Court Decisions The nation’s courts, most importantly the United States Supreme Court, interpret and apply the Constitution in many cases they hear. Executive Action and Court Decisions

The Power to Make Treaties

PARTY PRACTICES • Political parties have also been a source of Constitutional interpretation. The Constitution makes no mention of political parties. • Neither the Constitution nor any law provides for the nomination of candidates for the presidency. • Electoral college -a group that makes the formal selection of the nation’s President.

The Electoral College

CUSTOM • Unwritten customs may be as strong as written laws. • Cabinet– an advisory body to the President traditionally made up of the heads of the executive departments and other officers. • Each time when a President died in office, the Vice President succeeded to that office. • 25th Amendment– 1967 finally made it a law that the VP would become President. • Senatorial courtesy– a long-established custom that the Senate will only approve those presidential appointees that are acceptable to the senator or senators of the President’s party from the State involved. • For nearly 150 years, “no third term tradition” was a followed rule in presidential politics. FDR broke the no third term custom • 22nd Amendment– 1951, was passed to assure of only 2 terms.

22ND AMENDMENT

Section 3 Assessment 1. An informal amendment can be established by (a) actions taken by the President. (b) custom. (c) key decisions of the Supreme Court. (d) all of the above. 2. An executive agreement is (a) a promise from the President to the legislature. (b) a pact made by the President directly with the head of a foreign state. (c) a decision made by the President and his cabinet members. (d) the contract the President signs when he accepts the office. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!

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