Warmup
• What interest group did you pick for Friday’s
assignment?
• What was the Laswell model for that group?
• (WHO gets WHAT and HOW.)
Constitution
Constitutional Convention
Philadelphia, Feb. 1787 for the “sole and express
purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation”
Constitution
• -55 delegates attended from the various states except
Rhode Island
•
-revised the Articles and reconstituted our
government with the creation of the Constitution
• -ratification required 9 of 13 states (previously was
unanimous)
• -constitution ratified in 1789 and Bill of Rights
approved in 1791
Constitution
Bill of Rights
• written by Madison to appease the anti-federalist
contingency
• originally 12 Bill of Rights; however, only 10 approved
• 27th amendment -- pay raises for Congressmen do not go
into effect until reelection - originally one of the twelve Bill
of Rights proposed by Madison
• **27 amendments**
Constitution
Bill of Rights
• Amendment I- Limits on Congress
• Amendment II, III, IV- Limits on Executive
• Amendment V, VI, VII, VIII- Limits on Courts
• Amendment IX, X- Limits on National Gov’t
• Amendment 14-No state shall deprive any person of
•
•
1. “Due Process of the Law”-- Civil Liberties
2. “Equal Protection of the Laws”-- Civil Rights
Constitution
• -Key Philosophical Underpinnings:
• -federalism (sharing of power between state and federal
government with both entities retaining power and
sovereignty)
• separation of powers
• checks and balances (separate institutions sharing power &
dividing power)
• individual rights
• HOBBES, LOCKE, ROUSSEAU
Background
• Thomas Hobbes – Humans need an absolute monarch
to control them.
• John Locke – Life, liberty, and property should be
protected. If not, people have the right to revolt.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Social contract between ruler
and ruled.
• Charles de Montesquieu – Separation of powers into
three branches.
Constitution
• Article I- Created legislative Supremacy (evolved over
time to Imperial Presidency since 1937)
• Bicameral Legislature
• Series of expressed (FORMAL) powers-- 17 expressed
powers (formal powers) specifically written in the US
Constitution
Constitution
• Article 1 – Expressed powers of Congress
• -power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, excises
• -borrow money, coin money regulate INTERSTATE
commerce (much power derived from this expressed power
to tip scales of federalism in favor of national government)
• -naturalization and set standards for bankruptcy
• -standards for weights and measurements and set penalties
for counterfeiting (Secret Service)
• -to establish post-office and post-roads
Constitution
• Article 1 – Expressed powers of Congress
• -copyrights and patents
• -felonies and high crimes committed on the high seas
• -”to establish tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court”-- check on the judicial
branch
• -DECLARE WAR - not a presidential power (PREZ only deploys troops)
--Powers denied to Congress—
• -suspend writ of habeas corpus (unless in case of invasion or rebellion or
when public safety may require it),
• pass a bill of attainder or ex post facto law
Constitution
INFORMAL POWERS• -powers Congress derives from its implied powers or
from the necessary and proper clause…
• ex.- congressional oversight, federal highways, use of
money to sway states to adhere to their rules, mandates
Constitution
• Article II-- Executive Branch - FORMAL POWERS• Commander in Chief,
• Grant pardons and reprieves,
• make treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate (2/3s
approval),
• shall appoint ambassadors, public ministers, justices of the
Supreme Court with the approval of the Senate (majority
approval),
• the President has the right to fill up all vacancies while the Senate
is in recess until the end of the next session,
• State of the Union address to Congress
Constitution
• Article II-- Executive Branch
INFORMAL POWERSUse of Media to coerce Congress,
Leader of the Party,
Use of the Bully Pulpit,
foreign policy
ability to meet with foreign leaders,
crisis manager
Constitution
• Article III-- Judicial Branch
• -creates the Supreme Court but leaves lower federal
courts to be determined by Congress
• -judges to serve during good behavior and a
compensation which will not be diminished
• -original jurisdiction when involving ambassadors,
public ministers, and states
• -original and appellate jurisdiction
Constitution
• Article IV--Full faith and Credit clause
• - “shall be given in each state to the public acts,
records, & judicial proceedings of every other state”
• -Privileges and Immunities Clause- extradition and
service/labor clause
Constitution
• Article V --Amendment Process- to provide for a peaceful
reconstitution of our government
• -2/3s of both Houses of Congress and 3/4s of State Legislatures
• -2/3s of State legislatures request a Constitutional Convention
• -3/4s of State Conventions
• -Amendments not allowed- any changes to the slave trade prior to
1808 and no state without its consent be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate
• **Informal methods of amending the Constitution** Not in
Constitution developed over years-- Supreme Court decisions,
Congressional laws
Constitution
• Article VI
• -debts and contracts from Articles transferred unto the
Constitution
• --supremacy of the laws of land and treaties made
• -no religious qualification test to enter public office
• Article VII
• -ratification of the Constitution
Warmup
• Name one power enumerated to
• The legislative branch
• The executive branch
• The judicial branch
Weekly Court Cases
Oyez.com
• Summarize the Court Case (at least a ¼ page)
• What Constitutional question is being debated?
• What is the majority opinion?
• What was the dissenting opinion?
• What constitutional amendments/arguments did they use
in their decision?
• This week – DUE FRIDAY
• Marbury v. Madison
• McCulloch v. Maryland
Constitution
• Checks and Balances
• Executive over Legislature
•
•
•
•
1. Can veto acts of Congress
2. Can call Congress into a special session
3. Carries out laws of Congress via the bureaucracy
4. Vice president casts a tie-breaking vote in the Senate
Constitution
• Executive over Judicial
•
•
•
•
1. Nominates Supreme Court justices
2. Nominates federal judges
3. Can pardon those convicted in federal court
4. Can refuse to enforce Court decisions
Constitution
• Legislature over Executive
• 1. Can override presidential veto
• 2. Can impeach and remove president
• 3. Reject presidential appointments and refuse to approve
treaties
• 4. Can conduct investigations into President’s actions
• 5. Can refuse to pass laws or approve of funding that
president requests
Constitution
• Legislative over Judicial
• 1. Can change size of federal court and # of Supreme Court
justices
• 2. Can propose constitutional amendments
• 3. Can reject Supreme Court nominees
• 4. Can impeach and remove federal judges
Constitution
• Judicial over Legislative
• 1. Judicial Review
• 2. Chief Justice presides over impeachment
Constitution
• Judicial over Executive
• 1. Can declare executive actions (i.e. orders)
unconstitutional
• 2. Power to issue warrants
• 3. Chief Justice presides over proceedings of
impeachment of President