Stuff You May Not Have Known
About the Constitution
The Constitution does not
Create a Democracy
• The United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union a Republican Form of
Government (Art. IV Sec. 4)
There is no Right to vote for
President in the Constitution
• Each State shall appoint, in such Manner
as the Legislature thereof may direct, a
Number of Electors, equal to the whole
Number of Senators and Representatives
to which the State may be entitled in the
Congress (Art. II Sec. 1)
Originally We Didn’t Elect
Senators
• The Senate of the United States shall be
composed of two Senators from each
State, chosen by the Legislature thereof
(Article I Sec. 3)
• Superseded by 17th Amendment, 1913
But Representatives Must Be
Chosen By Popular Election
• The House of Representatives shall be
composed of Members chosen every
second Year by the People of the several
States (Art. 1 Sec. 2)
There is no Right of Habeas
Corpus in the Constitution
• The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when in
Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public
Safety may require it. (Art. I Sec. 9)
Better Late Than Never
• No law, varying the compensation for the
services of the Senators and
Representatives, shall take effect, until an
election of Representatives shall have
intervened (Amendment 27: took 202
years to ratify)
The Only Amendment Not
Ratified by State Legislatures
• The article (Amendment 21) shall be
inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the
Constitution by conventions in the several
States, as provided in the Constitution,
• Abolished Prohibition; it was felt that
conventions were less subject to voter
retaliation
Is Our Children Learning?
• The Congress shall have Power To lay
and collect Taxes (Art. I Sec. 8)
• The Congress shall have Power to
dispose of and make all needful Rules and
Regulations respecting the Territory or
other Property belonging to the United
States (Art. IV Sec. 3)
“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness”
• That’s in the Declaration of Independence,
not the Constitution