THE CONSTITUTION
Structure and Principles of the Constitution
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The Constitution is broken into three parts: The Preamble, The Articles, and The Amendments. How many Articles are
there and how many Amendments do we have? (p.65)
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What is the Supremacy Clause and where can it be found in the Constitution? (p.94)
6 Major Principles of the Constitution: If you do not understand any of these then you should define it.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Popular Sovereignty
Federalism
Separation of Powers
Checks and Balances
Judicial Review
Limited Government
The Three Branches (The First Three Articles) of the Constitution
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Article I of the Constitution deals with the __________________________ Branch. (p.65) The founding fathers considered
it to be the most important branch because it is the law-making branch of American Government and is the ‘voice of the
people’. It is broken into 2 parts called the Senate and House of Representatives; together we call them Congress.
o Expressed vs. Implied Powers. Define and how are they different from each other? (p.89-91)
o
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What is the Elastic Clause, also called the Necessary and Proper Clause? If you having trouble understanding this
think of how a rubber band works and compare that to how our Congress works. Is it flexible and how flexible is
it? (p.90)
Article II of the Constitution was a brand new idea. The Articles of Confederation did not have an ___________________
because everyone feared the possibility of one person gaining too much power. The Executive Branch is also known as the
law-enforcing branch.
o
o
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The Powers of the President are quite vague (broad). This means there is a lot of room for interpretation and each
President usually interprets his powers differently. The founding fathers were not very specific because they felt
the President’s main job should be to keep the Legislative Branch in check and since the Legislative Branch had so
many powers it was and still is better to let each President decide how to use their far-reaching powers.
Some of the President’s powers are specifically listed. Here are the more important ones: 1) The President is
commander-in-chief of the armed forces 2) Appoints the Heads of the Departments, like the Secretary of
Defense. 3) May pardon people convicted of federal crimes. 4) Makes Treaties 5) Appoints Supreme Court
Judges, Ambassadors, etc. 6) Delivers an annual State of the Union address to Congress 7) Meets with
foreign officials
GET TO KNOW THESE, THEY WILL COME UP AGAIN IN A LATER CHAPTER
In recent years because of the lack of specifically written powers in the Constitution the President has taken on
much more authority than ever before. Question…Do you think the President has more power than Congress
nowadays? If you say yes do you think the founding fathers would be happy about this? Why not?
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Article III, The ____________________ Branch, was another new idea because there was no national court system under
the Articles of Confederation. The Judicial Branch is the law-interpreting branch.
o Supreme Court justices are appointed by the President and for how long do they serve? (Take a guess) ________
o Federal Courts, the ones set up by the Constitution, try cases involving the Constitution, U.S. laws, treaties with
other nations, bankruptcy cases, and laws of the sea. All the other kinds of courts that you know about, like the
one that tried OJ Simpson or the ones that deal with child custody are set-up by each state and are separate from
the Federal Court system.
o How can Supreme Court decisions be overturned? (take a guess)
How to Amend (Change) the Constitution (Ch.3-Sections 2 and 3)
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Define the following terms
o Treaty (p.80)
o Cabinet (p.80)
o Executive agreement (p.80)
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Amendments to the Constitution are proposed at a national level, but they are ratified on a state-by-state basis. Why is this
a good example of federalism?
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The book mentions that there are 4 methods to create an amendment to the Constitution. I put them below. Really there
are 2 ways to propose an amendment and 2 ways to ratify an amendment. Oddly though, in 26 of the 27 amendments only
one method has been used. Which is it and why?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Proposal by convention of states, ratification by state conventions
Proposal by convention of states, ratification by state legislatures
Proposal by Congress, ratification by state conventions
Proposal by Congress, ratification by state legislatures
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How many states must ratify a proposed amendment for it to take affect?
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Amendments may deal with any topic except one. Take a guess at what that topic is?
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Much of what Congress does is pass laws that help clarify the Constitution without resorting to the amendment process.
Why are informal changes to the Constitution important and why do you think the founding fathers made the amendment
process so complicated?
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Why is the Constitution called a living document?