Presentation Pro
Magruder’s
American Government
CHAPTER 3
The Constitution
© 2001 by Prentice Hall, Inc.
CHAPTER 3
The Constitution
SECTION 1
The Six Basic Principles
SECTION 2
Formal Amendment
SECTION 3
Informal Amendment
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Chapter 3
SECTION 1
The Six Basic Principles
• What are the important elements of the
Constitution?
• What are the six basic principles of the
Constitution?
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Chapter 3, Section 1
An Outline of the Constitution
• The Constitution sets out the basic principles
upon which government in the United States was
built.
• The Constitution is a fairly brief document.
• We can read it and do a worksheet
on it in less than two class
periods!!!
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Chapter 3, Section 1
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Structure of the Constitution
•
Preamble (Intro)
• Purpose- To define the broad purposes of the republican
government created by the document and to set out specific
goals for the nation
• Example- The words “to form a more perfect Union”
establishes a goal of cooperation among the states and
between the states and the national government
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•
Articles (7)
• Purpose- To establish and define the powers of the 3
main branches of government as well as to establish
relations among the states, the supremacy of national
law, & the amendment process
• Example- Article 1 establishes the legislative branch and
lays out the powers of Congress, including the powers to
make laws
•
Amendments (27)
• Purpose- To list formal changes to the Constitution and
to ensure the protection of individual civil liberties
• Example- 1st Amendment- protects freedoms of speech,
religion, press, assembly, and petition
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Articles of the Constitution
Section
Preamble
Subject
States the purpose of the Constitution
Article I
Legislative branch
Article II
Executive branch
Article III
Judicial branch
Article IV
Relations among the States and with the National
Government
Amending the Constitution
Article V
Article VI
Article VII
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National debts, supremacy of national law, and oaths of
office
Ratifying the Constitution
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Chapter 3, Section 1
Powers – Enumerated v Implied
•
Enumerated Powers (Expressed)
• Specifically listed in the Constitution
• Ex- power to collect taxes
•
Implied Powers
• not specifically listed but those that can claim as a part of its
lawmaking responsibility
• Article 1, Section 8,Caluse 18 allows Congress to make all laws
necessary for carrying out its duties
• Necessary & Proper Clauses; AKA Elastic Clause
• Ex- federal government creating the 1st National Bank,
forcing integration, civil rights, affirmative action, creation of
the Air Force, mail fraud, tax invasion, military draft
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6 Principle of the Constitution
• Popular Sovereignty
• Limited Government
• Separation of Powers
• Checks & Balances
• Judicial Review
• Federalism
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Popular Sovereignty
•
The principle of popular sovereignty asserts that the
people are the source of any and all government power,
and government can exist only with the consent of the
governed.
• This principle lies at the heart of democratic rule.
• The principle of popular sovereignty is expressed in the
opening phrase of the Preamble:
“We the people.”
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Popular Sovereignty Examples
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen
every second Year by the People of the several States.
—Article I, Section 2, Clause 1
•Under this provision, the more representative body of Congress, the
House, is made up of members elected by the people.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government. —Article IV, Section 4
•By guaranteeing republican government in the states, the Constitution
extends the principle of popular sovereignty to the states.
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Limited Government
• The framers’ main goal in crafting the Constitution was to
create a system of limited government.
• absolute power often leads to the abuse of rights
• lack of governmental power could result in chaos and
instability.
• The principle of limited government states that
government is restricted in what it may do, and each
individual has rights that government cannot take away.
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Chapter 3, Section 1
Limited Government
This is “the other side of the coin” of popular sovereignty
•
The framers tried to make sure that the Constitution
1. gave the government enough power to ensure peace and
order
2. but not so much that its power went unchecked
•
•
“rule of law”- government & officials are subject
& never above the law
James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 51,
“You must first enable the government to control the
governed; and in the next place to oblige it to control itself.”
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Separation of Powers
•
•
Separation of powers is the principle in which the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
government are three independent and coequal
branches of government.
James Madison stated in Federalist Paper 47,
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive,
and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a
few, or many… may justly be pronounced the very
definition of tyranny.”
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Checks and Balances
•
•
Checks and balances is the system that allows the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches to check, or restrain, the actions of one
another.
Ex- president’s veto power
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the
Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of
the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return
it, with his Objections to the House in which it shall have originated.
—Article I, Section 7, Clause 2
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Judicial Review
• The principle of judicial review consists of the
power of a court to determine the constitutionality
of a governmental action.
•
•
An independent judiciary, was considered essential by the
framers to support the rule of law and preserve limited
government.
In The Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton wrote, “The
independence of the judges may be an essential safeguard
against the effects of occasional ill humors in society.”
• independent judiciary would protect against abuses of
the system by self-interested parties.
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Chapter 3, Section 1
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court,
and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and
establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their
Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their
Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their
Continuance in Office.
—Article III, Section 1
•
•
•
“during good Behaviour,” means “for life,” unless there is
just cause to remove them.
In addition, the salaries of judges may not be reduced while
in office.
These two provisions—lifetime tenure and a secure
salary—help to insulate federal judges from political
pressure and influence, and thus preserve their
independence.
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Federalism
•
Federalism is a system of government in which the powers of
government are divided between a central government and several local
governments.
• Delegated powers are those powers granted to the national
government.
• include regulating immigration, making treaties, and declaring
war.
• Reserved powers are those powers kept by the states.
• marriage and divorce laws, issue driver’s licenses, and establish
public schools, among many other things.
• much of the exercise of day-to-day power affecting citizens is
carried out by the states.
• Concurrent powers are those that are shared by the federal and
state governments.
• taxation and law enforcement.
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Examples of Powers
Example of a Delegated Power
•This clause, known as the Commerce Clause gives the federal
government the power to regulate trade across state lines within the United
States and to both regulate and tax foreign trade.
The Congress shall have Power . . . To regulate Commerce with foreign
Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.
—Article I, Section 8, Clause 3
Example of a Concurrent Power
•The federal government and the states share the power to amend the
Constitution.
The Congress . . . shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on
the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall
call a Convention for proposing Amendments.
—Article V
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Example of a Reserved Power
•This amendment reserves for the states or the people any powers that
are not given to the federal government.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
the people.
—Tenth Amendment
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Section 1 Review
1. Article II of the Constitution establishes the powers of the
(a) executive branch.
(b) legislative branch.
(c) States.
(d) judicial branch.
2. The principle of popular sovereignty asserts that the
(a) government should be divided into three branches.
(b) monarch is the supreme ruler.
(c) means of production should be owned by the proletariat.
(d) people are the source of any and all government power.
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Chapter 3, Section 1
SECTION 2
Formal Amendment
• What are the different ways to formally
amend, or change the wording of, the
Constitution?
• How many times has the Constitution been
amended?
• What is the Bill of Rights?
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Chapter 3, Section 2
Constitutions should consist only of general
provisions: The reason is, that they cannot
calculate for the possible changes of things
~Alexander Hamilton
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Amending the Constitution
• The Constitution provides for its own
amendment—that is, for changes in its
written words.
• Article V sets out two methods for the
proposal and two methods for the
ratification of constitutional
amendments, creating four possible
methods of formal amendment.
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Chapter 3, Section 2
Formal Amendment Process
•
The four different ways by which amendments may be added to the
Constitution are shown here:
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Chapter 3, Section 2
Amending the Constitution
• Every amendment except for 1 has proposed in Congress
• The exception was the 21st Amendment to repeal the 18th
Amendment
• More than 11,000 amendments have been introduced
• Only 33 have made it to the states for ratification
• Power to amend the Constitution lies exclusively with
Congress & the states
• Only 1 provision in the Constitution can’t be amended
• Equal representation in the Senate (Article V)
• Controversial- 18 of 100 senators represent ½
population of the US
• ERA (Equal Rights Amendment)- proposed 1n 1923 & 1972
• Guarantees equal right to women
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Amendments to the Constitution
Collectively, the first ten amendments are known as the Bill of
Rights. They set out many of our basic freedoms.
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Chapter 3, Section 2
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Breaking Amendments Down
•
•
•
•
•
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Bill of Rights- 1st Ten Amendments
2 Early Amendments Strengthen Fed Gov’t- 11th & 12th
3 Civil War Amendments- 13th, 14th, & 15th
4 Progressive Era Amendments (Political & Social Reform)- 16th, 17th,
18th, and 19th
4 21st Century Amendments about Governance- 20th, 22nd, 25th, & 27th
3 Civil Rights Amendments- 23rd, 24th, & 26th
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Section 2 Review
1. A formal amendment
(a) changes the Constitution by passing laws.
(b) changes the written language of the Constitution itself.
(c) allows States to secede from the United States.
(d) none of the above.
2. Many of the basic rights of citizens are constitutionally guaranteed in
(a) English common law.
(b) the Declaration of Independence.
(c) the Magna Carta.
(d) the Bill of Rights.
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Chapter 3, Section 2
SECTION 3
Informal Amendment
• How has basic legislation changed the
Constitution over time?
• What powers do the executive branch and the
courts have to amend the Constitution?
• What role do party politics and custom have in
shaping the Federal Government?
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Chapter 3, Section 3
Informal Amendment Processes
Informal amendment is the process by which over
time many changes have been made in the
Constitution which have not involved any changes in
its written word.
The informal amendment process can take place by:
(1) the passage of basic legislation by Congress;
(2) Executive actions taken by the President;
(3) key decisions of the Supreme Court;
(4) the activities of political parties; and
(5) custom.
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Chapter 3, Section 3
Informal Amendments
1. Basic Legislation
•
Congress has added laws to define what the constitution means
– Added muscles, tendons, and skin to the skeletal (outline) structure
of the Constitution
• Examples: Created federal courts, created many departments
and agencies of Executive Branch (ex: IRS, NASA, Department
of Defense, Department of Agriculture) counterfeit money
measures, regulation of interstate commerce, presidential
succession
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Informal Amendments
2. Executive Action
•
Congress has the power to declare war
• Numerous times, the president, as commander-in-chief, has used armed
forces abroad without any formal declaration of war
•
Treaties are formal agreements between two or more sovereign states
that must be approved by the Senate
• Executive agreements have become more commonplace over time. These
are agreements between the President and the head of a foreign state
• It does not require Senate approval
•
*Both of these are indicators of the growth in presidential powers
over the years.
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Informal Amendments
3. Court Decisions
•
•
Marbury V. Madison
• Court affirms its power of “Judicial Review,” which allows them to
determine the constitutionality of a law or government action
They determine the changing definition of “equality”
4. Party Practices
•
no mention of political parties in the constitution, so anything
we do because of them today is an informal change to the
Constitution
- examples: presidential appointments made on the basis of party
affiliation; changed the nature of elector’s vote in the Electoral
College; nomination of candidates (for president through a national
convention )
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Informal Amendments
5. Custom/Tradition
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•
•
15 leaders of the Executive Departments make up the Cabinet
• Chief purpose is to advise the president
Vice President taking over for President when there is a vacancy
-In 1967, the 25th amendment made this informal
amendment a formal amendment
Presidents serving 2 terms and then not running for re-election.
•
•
FDR broke this tradition, this became a formal amendment with the
passage of the 22nd Amendment
practice of senatorial courtesy
• The Senate will approve only those presidential appointees who are
acceptable to the senator(s) of the President’s party from the State
involved
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Section 3 Review
1. An informal amendment can be established by
(a) actions taken by the President.
(b) custom.
(c) key decisions of the Supreme Court.
(d) all of the above.
2. An executive agreement is
(a) a promise from the President to the legislature.
(b) a pact made by the President directly with the head of a foreign state.
(c) a decision made by the President and his cabinet members.
(d) the contract the President signs when he accepts the office.
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Chapter 3, Section 3
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