Objectives
 To outline the important elements of
the constitution
 List the 6 basic principles of the
constitution
 The constitution is fairly brief….7000
words.
 Sets forth the principles that the
government of the US is founded
upon.
Preamble
 The introduction to the constitution
 The remainder of the document is
divided into 7 sections called articles
 The first 3 articles deal w/ the 3
branches
 Article IV deals w/ states relationship
w/ national govt and each other
 Article V explains how amendments
may be made to the constitution
 Article VI declares the constitution is
the supreme law of the land
 Article VII provides for ratification of
the constitution
 The VII Articles of the constitution are
followed by 27 amendments, printed
in the order in which they were
adopted.
The Basic Principles
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Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Separation of Powers
Checks & Balances
Judicial Review
Federalism
Popular Sovereignty
 All political power is w/ the
people…the people are sovereign.
 Govt can only govern w/ consent of
the people
 The Ntl Govt gets its power from the
people of the US, and the people
have given govt its power through the
constitution.
 Also, each of the State govt’s gets its
authority from the people of that
state, through State constitutions.
Limited Govt
 No govt is all powerful; it can only do
those things that the people has
given it power to do.
 It is the opposite of popular
sovereignty- the people are the
source of govt authority, and the govt
has only the authority that the people
have given it.
 This concept can be stated another
way…Government must obey the law.
 When stated this way, this principle is
called constitutionalism.
 Constitutionalism means that govt
must be conducted according to
constitutional principles.
 The concept of ltd govt is also
described as rule of law, which holds
that govt and its officers are always
subject to ( and never above) the
law.
Separation of Powers
 Basic power is distributed (separated)
among the 3 branches of govt
 This concept is known as Separation
of Powers
 This idea is written into each state
constitution
 The separation of powers is set forth
in the 1st 3 articles of the Constitution
Checks & Balances
 This means that each branch is
subject to a # of checks (restraints)
by the other branches
 Or, each branch has certain powers
with which it can check the operation
of the other two.
 President has the power of veto.
 Congress may override a presidential
veto by 2/3 majority vote.
 It has been very effective in what the
framers intended it to do…”prevent an
unjust combination of the majority”.
Judicial Review
 One aspect of checks & balances
 JR is the power of the courts to
determine whether the things govt
does is constitutional
 JR can declare a govt action
unconstitutional, or illegal.
 This power is held by all federal
courts, and most state courts.
 The Supreme Court est. this power of
JR in Marbury v. Madison, 1803.
 Most of the time the courts have
upheld govt actions, but not always.
 To date, 150 cases have been decided
in which all or part of an act of
Congress was declared
unconstitutional.
 It has voided hundreds of state
actions and more than 1100 state
laws.