Constitution
and Law
Setup and Format of the Constitution,
Federalism, and
The Bill of Rights
Today’s Agenda
• Daily Assignments
• Today in History
• Setup and Format of
the Constitution
• Federalism
• The Bill of Rights
Today in History
November 29, 2010
• 1890: The first Army-Navy football
game was played, with Navy winning
24-0 at West Point, N.Y.
• 1929: Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E.
Byrd radioed that he'd made the first
airplane flight over the South Pole.
• 1961: Enos the chimp was launched
from Cape Canaveral aboard the
Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which
orbited Earth twice before returning.
• 1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson
named a commission headed by
Chief Justice Earl Warren to
investigate the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.
Birthdays
Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888)
C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)
Janet Napolitano (1957 - )
Mariano Rivera (1969 - )
Setup and Format of the Constitution
• The Constitution is divided
into seven articles
• Each Article is divided into
sections
• The Constitution currently
has 27 Amendments
• The first 10 amendments
are known as the “Bill of
Rights”
The Articles of the
Constitution
• Article I: the Legislative Branch
• Article II: the Executive Branch
• Article III: the Judicial
Branch
• Article IV: Admitting
states to the Union
• Article V: Amending the
Constitution
• Article VI: National Supremacy
• Article VII: Ratification of the Constitution
Articles I - III
• Article I:
– Explains how the legislative branch, called Congress is organized.
The chief purpose of the Legislative Branch is to make laws.
Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
• Article II:
– The President is the Chief Executive of the Executive Branch. It is
the job of the president to enforce the law. The framers of the
Constitution wanted the president’s and vice president’s terms of
office and manner of selection to be different from that of
Congress. They decided upon 4 year terms and the use of the
Electoral College.
• Article III:
– One of the first points that the framers of the Constitution agreed
upon was the formation of a national court system. In the
Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress provided for the formation of the
lower courts such as district courts, and circuit courts of appeals.
The Judicial Branch provides a check on the Legislative and
Executive Branches: it can declare a law unconstitutional.
Articles IV- VII
• Article IV:
– States must honor the laws, records, and court decisions of
other states. A person cannot escape legal obligation by moving
from one state to another. Also explains the process to admit a
new state into the Union.
• Article V:
– Explains the process necessary to propose and ratify an
amendment to the Constitution.
• Article VI:
– One of the biggest problems facing the Constitutional
Convention was the question of what would happen if a state law
conflicts with a federal law? Article VI answers that question:
the Constitution is the “supreme law of the land.”
• Article VII:
– The Constitution required 9 of the 13 states to ratify the
Constitution. It was ratified on September 17, 1787.
Federalism
Federalism
Defined: system of government in
which power is distributed between a
central authority and individual
states
The Federal
System
Delegated Powers: Powers
Delegated to the national
government
Concurrent Powers: Powers Shared
by National and State governments
Reserved Powers: Powers Reserved
to the States
Federalism
Defined: system of government in which power is distributed
between a central authority and individual states
Delegated Powers:
powers delegated to the federal government
Concurrent Powers:
powers shared by federal and state governments
Reserved Powers:
powers reserved to the states
The Bill of Rights:
A Brief History
• First 10 amendments to the
Constitution
• Federalists and Anti-Federalists
argued over ratification
• Madison created a list of 17 amendments,
Congress trimmed the list to 12
• October 2, 1789 President Washington sent the
12 amendments to states for ratification
• By December 15th ¾ of all the states ratified the
10 amendments now known as the Bill of Rights
How do these amendments impact your life?
Federalists v. Anti-federalists
• Define: Federalist
• Define: Anti-federalist
• Why did the Federalist oppose a Bill of
Rights?
• Why did the Anti-federalist refuse to sign
the Constitution?
The Bill of Rights
• Tiered Assignment
– Groups 1 A&B
• The Bill of Rights and You
– Groups 2 A&B
• Compare the Bill of Rights
– Groups 3 A&B
• Group A: Federalist
• Group B: Anti-Federalist