USHX 2.1: Citizenship and the Constitution
Drill: Intolerable & Malnutrition
Intolerable – unbearable, not able to tolerate
Malnutrition – lack of food or proper nourishment
OBJECTIVE: Student will be able to describe the balance of state and federal
powers by listing the three branches of the federal government and analyzing
the division of power.
Notes:
1. The framers of the Constitution created three branches of
A. Judicial Branch – Supreme Court/ Interprets/ Supreme Court Bldg.
B. Executive Branch – President/ Enforces / The White House
C. Legislative Branch – Congress / Makes Laws / Capital Building
2. Later added the Bill of Rights to protect the citizens’ most basic rights.
3. coining: making money
4. diplomacy: maintaining relations with other countries
5. census: official counting of the population
6. pro tempore: temporary; existing just for the present time
Odds & Ends
1. House of Representatives - a current membership of 435
2. delegated powers -granted to the federal government, including the power
to coin money, to regulate interstate and international trade, and to declare
war
3. reserved powers - powers retained by the state governments
4. concurrent powers - shared by both the federal and state governments, 5.
including the power to tax, to borrow money, and to enforce laws
5. president pro tempore - leader of the Senate in the absence of the vice
president
6. elastic clause - found in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which
allows Congress to stretch its delegated powers to address issues that the
nation’s founders could not have foreseen
7. executive orders - issued by the president to carry out laws that affect
administrative matters or executive policy
8. representative democracy -government by representatives of the people
9. Speaker of the House - leader of the House of Representatives
USHX 2.1: Citizenship and the Constitution
Reading Review:
1. b
2. h
3. d
4. f
5. j
6. a
7. k
8. g
9. c
10. I
PRIMARY SOURCE
1. This selection addressed the “necessary and proper” clause in Section 8 of
Article I
2. No; the author thinks that it will be one central government
3. The author thinks individual states will eventually be done away with by
the growing power of the federal government
4. Some of the “great and uncontrollable” powers are laying and collecting
taxes, duties, regulating trade, raising and supporting armies, organizing,
arming, and disciplining the militia, instituting courts, and other general
powers
5. The principle of human behavior that the author points to is that those
vested with power usually want to increase it and remove everything that
stands in their way.
Summary: In today’s lesson we describe how the framers of the Constitution
addressed concerns about the balance of state and federal powers. We also
listed the three branches of the federal government and analyzed the division
of power.
Homework: Reserved Powers & Concurrent Powers
Reserved Powers – Are the powers held by the states, such as to issue licenses,
and diplomas.
Concurrent powers are those shared by the state and federal governments,
and include collecting taxes.
Name __________________________ Class _______________ Date ________________
USHX 2 .1 Citizenship and the Constitution
MATCHING: Match each of the following terms with the correct description by writing the
letter of the description in the space provided. Some descriptions will not be used.
______ 1. delegated powers
______ 2. elastic clause
______ 3. reserved powers
______ 4. concurrent powers
______ 5. representative democracy
______ 6. House of Representatives
______ 7. Speaker of the House
______ 8. president pro tempore
______ 9. impeach
_____10. executive orders
a. larger of the two houses of Congress, with a current membership of 435
b. powers granted to the federal government, including the power to coin money, to
regulate interstate and international trade, and to declare war
c. bring charges against a president who may have committed a crime or violated the
essential presidential duties
d. those powers retained by the state governments or by citizens, such as conducting
elections, establishing local governments, and regulating education
e. smaller of the two houses of Congress, with a current membership of 100
f. those powers shared by both the federal and state governments, including the power to
tax, to borrow money, and to enforce laws
g. leader of the Senate in the absence of the vice president
h. found in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to stretch its
delegated powers to address issues that the nation’s founders could not have foreseen
i. issued by the president to carry out laws that affect administrative matters or executive
policy
j. government by representatives of the people
k. leader of the House of Representatives
l. cancel legislation.
12. How is power divided among the three branches of government? (What does each
branch do?)
2.1 PRIMARY SOURCE READING Antifederalists Papers
Although the Constitution was eventually ratified by all 13 states, citizens engaged in
heated public debates about its adoption. Supporters and opponents of the Constitution carried
on their debates in a series of letters and editorials that were published in many newspapers.
Supporters of the Constitution, known as Federalists, and opponents of the Constitution, known
as Antifederalists, argued about the meaning of the Constitution and its power to create a strong
central government. In this selection from Antifederalist No. 17, one of the most brilliant of the
Antifederalist writers, BRUTUS, predicts exactly how and why federal powers would increase,
through an interpretation of the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution. As you read
this excerpt, consider which of BRUTUS’s arguments were most convincing, and which might
still raise questions.
2.1 PRIMARY SOURCE READING Antifederalists Papers ….continued
This [new] government is to possess absolute [complete] and uncontrollable powers,
legislative, executive, and judicial, with respect to every object to which it extends, for by the
last clause of section eighth, article first, it is declared, that the Congress shall have power “to
make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing
[previous] powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the
United States, or in any department or office thereof.”
It appears from these articles, that there is no need of any intervention of the State
governments, between the Congress and the people, to execute [carry out] any one power vested
in [held by] the general government, and that the Constitution and laws of every State are
nullified [canceled] and declared void, so far as they are or shall be inconsistent with this
Constitution, or the laws made in pursuance [support] of it, or with treaties made under the
authority of the United States. The government, then, so far as it extends, is a complete one, and
not a confederation.
It is true this government is limited to certain objects, or to speak more properly, some
small degree of power is still left to the States; but a little attention to the powers vested in the
general government, will convince every candid [honest] man, that if it is capable of being
executed, all that is reserved for the individual States must very soon be annihilated [destroyed],
except so far as they are barely necessary to the organization of the general government. The
powers of the general legislature extend to every case that is of the least importance—there is
nothing valuable to human nature, nothing dear to freemen, but what is within its power. It has
the authority to make laws which will affect the lives, the liberty, and property of every man in
the United States; nor can the Constitution or laws of any State, in any way prevent . . . the full
and complete execution of every power given. But what is meant is, that the legislature of the
United States are vested with the great and uncontrollable powers of laying and collecting taxes,
duties, . . . regulating trade, raising and supporting armies, organizing, arming, and disciplining
the militia, instituting courts, and other general powers; and are by this clause invested with the
power of making all laws, proper and necessary, for carrying all these into execution; and they
may exercise this power as entirely to annihilate all the State governments, and reduce this
country to one single government. . . . [I]t is a truth confirmed by the unerring [accurate]
experience of ages, that every man, and every body of men, invested with power, are ever
disposed to increase it, and to acquire a superiority over everything that stands in their way.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU READ
1. What part of the Constitution is the author concerned with in this selection?
2. Does the author think that the federal government will be a confederation of the separate
states?
3. What does the author think will eventually happen to the power of individual states under the
new federal system?
4. What are some of the “great and uncontrollable” powers of the new federal government listed
by the author?
5. What is the principle of human behavior that the author points to as a reason not to give so
much power to a central government?
In your own words, summarize today’s lesson.