US Government Basic Concepts
Here’s What We’ll Cover…
• Main principles of government
• Structure of the Constitution
• Federalism
• Amending the Constitution
• You get to change the
Constitution!
Basic Constitutional Principles
• Social Contract & Popular Sovereignty
• Limited Government
• Representative Government
• Written Constitution
• Separation of Powers
• Checks & Balances
• Federalism
• Judicial Review
Structure of the Constitution
• Preamble
• Articles
• 1: Congress
• 2: Executive
• 3: Judicial
• 4: Relationship among the states (same
rights in each state)
• 5: Supremacy clause
• Amendments
Powers & Federalism
• What is federalism?
• Powers
• Expressed (Enumerated)
• Implied Powers; Necessary & proper
(carry out enumerated)
• Reserved (states)
• Concurrent Powers
• Denied Powers (tax exports)
State Guarantees in the Constitution
• Denied Powers
• No treaties with foreign nations
• Can’t coin money
• Can’t grant titles of nobility
• Bill of Rights applies to states (after
passing of 14th Amendment)
• What do states get?
• Republican government
• Protection
• Territorial integrity (r-e-s-p-e-c-t!)
The Amendment Process
109th Congress Proposed Amendments
• To ensure reproductive rights of women
• To force the Congress and President to agree to a
balanced budget, with overspending allowed only in
the case of a three-fifths vote of Congress
• To ensure that all children who are citizens have a
right to a "free and adequate education"
• To specifically permit prayer at school meetings and
ceremonies
• To allow non-natural born citizens to become
President if they have been a citizen for 20 years
• To specifically allow Congress to regulate the
amount of personal funds a candidate to public
office can expend in a campaign
More Proposed Amendments
• The "Every Vote Counts" Amendment providing for direct election of the President
and Vice President, abolishing the Electoral
College
• To clarify eminent domain, specifically that no
takings can be transferred to a private person
except for transportation projects
• To allow the President to reduce any
Congressional appropriation, or to disapprove
of same (akin to a line-item veto)