The Seven Principles
of Government
The Constitution is built upon seven basic
principles of government.
The Framers of the Constitution used these
principles to create the “supreme law” of our
land.
Independence Hall,
Philadelphia, PA
Who were the framers?
• The framers were the builders of our Constitution.
Hamilton
Franklin
Washington
• These men debated for the interests of their states,
the people and the nation.
The signing of the Constitution.
Popular Sovereignty
Definiton:
What does popular refer to?
Population, or
people.
A sovereign king does what?
Rule
So together, Popular Sovereignty means?
People Rule
Popular Sovereignty
(people rule)
The Preamble to the Constitution begins with this bold
phrase,
“We the People...” These
words announce that in the United States, the
people establish government and give it its
power.
The people are sovereign. Since the government
receives it power from the people, it can govern
only with their consent.
Example: So How do we rule?
The people’s power comes
in the form of democracy.
We have the right to push into a touch screen
our choices for our government!
Republicanism
• Define:
− Power is held by the people and
exercised through the efforts of
representatives elected by those people.
Limited Government
Government
• Because the people
are the source of
government power,
the government has
only as much
authority as the
people give it.
People
Authority
More…Limited Gov’t.
• Much of the
Constitution, in
fact, consists of
specific
limitation on
government
power.
Our rights and freedoms protect
us from Government rule.
More…Limited Gov’t.
• Limited government
means that neither
the government nor
any government
official is “above the
law” and can
overstep these
constitutional
bounds.
Separation of Powers
Limited
Power
Government
• Government
power is not
only limited: it is
also divided.
Separation of Powers
• The Constitution assigns
specific powers to each
of the three branches:
Legislative (Congress),
Executive (President)
and Judicial (Supreme
Court).
Checks and Balances
• The system of check and balances extends the
restrictions established by the separation of
powers.
• Each branch of
government has the builtin authority and
responsibility to restrain
the power of the other two
branches. This system
makes government less
efficient, but also prevents
tyranny by one branch.
(p58)
Federalism
•
•
•
A federal system divides
power between a
central government and
smaller, local
governments. (states)
This sharing of power is
intended to ensure that
the central government
is powerful enough to be
effective, yet not so
powerful as to threaten
States or citizens.
It also allows individual
States to deal with local
problems at the local
level—so long as their
actions are
constitutional.
Individual (Unalienable) Rights
• John Locke
proposed that we
have certain rights
that we are born
with (they cannot
be taken away from
us). These rights
should be
guaranteed and
protected by the
government and
from the
government.
State and Local Government:
• Why do we collect taxes?
to pay for services that are provided to
the citizens (Police, EMS, Fire, etc.)
• Governors (state executive branch) has
several powers. One of those is that they
can call the legislature in to a special
session (meeting) if there is an emergency
decision pending.