The Six Basic Principles
• The Constitution sets out basic principles upon
which government in the United States was built
and operates today.
*The Constitution is a living/breathing document.
• The six basic principles are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Separation of Powers
Judicial review
Federalism
Checks and Balances
The Six Basic Principles
1. Popular Sovereignty
-In the United States, all political power resides in the
people, therefore, the people are sovereign.
-Government can govern only with the consent of the
governed.
“We the People of the United States….do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.”
The Six Basic Principles
2. Limited Government
-A lot like Popular Sovereignty.
-The Government has only the authority that the
people have given it.
-Constitutionalism- The government must be
conducted according to the Constitution’s
principles.
-Rule of Law- The government and its officers are
always subject to- never above- the law.
The Six Basic Principles
3. Separation of Powers
-The basic powers of government are distributed
throughout three distinct and independent
branches.
-The executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
*The idea of the Constitution was to ensure that a
stronger central government was made. However,
the framers used separation of powers to limit that
central government from becoming too powerful*
The Six Basic Principles
4. Judicial Review
The power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a
governmental action.
-Judicial Review is basically the power to declare a governmental
action unconstitutional.
5. Federalism
The division of power among a central government and
several lesser governments.
- The Framers used federalism as an alternative to a
system of nearly independent states (confederation).
Checks and Balances
• The 3 branches of government are not entirely separated
or independent from one another.
• They are tied together through a system of checks and
balances.
-Each branch is subject to a number of constitutional checks by the
other branch.
*This idea of separation of powers was introduced by
Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws.
*Montesquieu argues that the executive, legislative, and
judicial functions of government should be assigned to
different bodies (branches).*
This, he argues, will prevent one branch from becoming too
powerful.
Checks and Balances
• Main Aspects of the Checks and Balances
System
-The Judicial Branch can declare any acts of Congress or the
President unconstitutional.
-The President can veto legislation, but be overridden by a
2/3 vote from Congress.
-Congress can impeach the President and Supreme Court
Justices.
*For the most part this system works exactly the way that
the Framers of the Constitution intended it to.*
-Checks and Balances runs smoothly most of the time.
(when does it not?)
Interstate Relations
• The Constitution outlines how states should interact
with one another in which Article?
• As we know, states cannot enter into any treaty or
alliance.
• Interstate Compacts- with the consent of Congress,
states may enter into agreements with one another
and foreign states as well.
-The amount of compacts made has grown from 26 to well over
200 since 1920.
-Compacts include subjects ranging from conservation of national
resources, promoting motor vehicle safety, etc.
-ex: Colorado River Compact- several states share the water
resources of the Colorado River under this compact.
Full Faith and Credit Clause
“Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each state to the public acts,
records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.”
-Public Acts = laws of a state
-Records = documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc.
-Judicial Proceedings = outcome of court actions
Exceptions
1. One state cannot enforce another State’s criminal law.
2. Full faith and credit doesn’t need to be given to certain divorces
granted by one state to residents of another state.
Ex: Williams v. North Carolina
Extradition Clause
“A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other crime,
who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on
Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled,
be delivered up, to be removed to the state having Jurisdiction of
the Crime” –Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2
Extradition- The legal process by which a fugitive from justice in one
State can be returned to that State.
*Up until 1987, some State Governors would, on occasion, refuse to
return fugitives. Puerto Rico v. Brandstad allowed Federal Courts to
order an unwilling governor to extradite a fugitive.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
“ The Citizens of each state shall be entitled to all Privileges and
Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” –Article IV, Section 2,
Clause 1
-In other words, no state can draw unreasonable distinctions between
its own residents and those persons who happen to live in other
states.
-Examples:
-Each state must allow citizens of other states to travel or become a
resident in another State.
-States cannot create hiring preferences to in-State residents.
*But what about In-State or Out-of-State Tuition? Isn’t that granting
privileges and immunities to state residents?*