Objectives for Constitution Unit
1.
You will be able to figure out the different powers that the
government possesses.
2.
You will be able to devise how your own rights are defended or
protected in this document.
3.
You will be able to explain how your rights have limits.
4.
You will be able to reinforce your own interpretation of the
Constitution
5.
You will be able to determine how the Constitution affects the
everyday business of government and life.
Some Loose Ends…
 Not everything about the
Articles of Confederation was
bad
 In 1785 the Congress got some of
the states like Virginia, New
York, and Massachusetts to give
up their claims out west
 This was called the Land
Ordinace of 1785
 It also allowed for them to survey
the land… more on the next slide
Land Ordinances
Other Things
 The reason for the ordinances was to encourage western
land sales
 This was an easy way for the government to make some
money
 A second ordinance, the Northwest Ordinance, organized
the creation of new states
 It also abolished slavery within the territory – establishing a
very important precedent
Constitutional Convention
 Goal: revise the Articles of
Confederation
 Key People:
 George Washington, James
Madison, Alexander Hamilton,
Ben Franklin
 Who wasn’t there?: John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry –
he thought something was up
 Why would some people be scared
of this?
What caused them to meet?
 Shays’ Rebellion showed that we needed some sort of
national defense
 The national government had no way to make money
– states paid dues each year, usually less than required
 There was no national trade policy – each state could
do what it wanted
 Some people thought we were in danger of collapse
Who was there?
 55 delegates from 12 states – what state didn’t show up?
 Why would Rhode Island refuse to show up?
 Occupations:
 32 Lawyers
 11 Merchants
 4 Politicians
 2 Military Men
 2 Doctors
 2 Teachers
 1 Inventor
 1 Farmer
Secrets, Secrets are no fun…
 While the state governments and the public knew that they
were meeting, they had no idea what the delegates were
discussing
 Here are some of the ‘rules’
 1. locked door to the room
 2. closed shutters and windows (it was really hot)
 3. no one was to speak in public about the proceedings
 4. destroy records of proceedings (private notes were OK)
Mr. Madison
 Madison was the most prepared guy in the room
 He wrote most of the ideas in the Constitution
 Although socially awkward, he dominated the
Convention
 He also wrote the notes that gave us an idea of what
happened during the Convention
 So we call him the “Father of the Constitution”
Key Arguments:
 Representation: why would this be an issue?
 What did ‘revise’ really mean?
 Slavery: count them?, slave trade?, abolish it?
 State power: how to maintain it while building a stronger
national government
Virginia Plan
 Most of the Virginia delegates showed up early
 They used their time (well, Madison did) to prepare a
new government
 Madison wrote it, but Edmund Randolph presented it
on May 25
 It shocked the room – why?
What did it have?
 3 branches of government: why would this be a good idea?




Congress would be broken up into two houses:
1. Lower House – chosen by people in each state
2. Upper House – nominated by state legislature
3. representatives would be determined by population
 Congress would have power to regulate trade and taxes
 Congress could also veto a state law
 Who would like this plan?
 How does it balance state and national power?
Uh oh…
 Delegates from smaller states were upset
 New Jersey delegate William Paterson presented his
own plan aka the New Jersey Plan
 It was similar to the Virginia plan except that there
would be one house of Congress, and it would have
equal representation
 It still had 3 branches, the power to tax, the power to
regulate commerce
Problems
 Virginia and the larger states were worried about the
NJ Plan – why?
 Hamilton then went up and spoke for six hours about
his own plan for government:
 1. bicameral legislature based on population
 2. upper house was chosen by the lower house
 3. upper house chose a President – who would serve for
life
 People obviously didn’t like this, but it did present an
opposite extreme to the NJ plan
Connecticut Compromise
 Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth presented a
compromise:
 1. two houses of legislature: a House of
Representatives based on population, and a Senate
with equal representation
 2. the people would elect their representatives, and
the Senate would be chosen by the state legislatures
 3. every 3 slaves out of 5 would count towards the
population
Philosophical Basis for Compromise
 Mixed Government!!
 Every voice/class is heard
 Many examples in history of
Mixed Government
 USA
 Exec = one
 Senate = few
 House = many
 England
 King = one
 Lords = few
 commons = many
 Rome
 Consul = one
 Senate = few
 Plebians = many
The End
 Once the Great Compromise was proposed, most of
the debate calmed down
 On Sept. 17, 1787 they approved the document
 Not everyone signed it – some feared the idea of not
having individual rights protected
 The states would approve them individually – once 9
states approved it, the Constitution would be the law
of the land
Goals of the Constitution
1.
Lay out a plan for our new government that would
not be misinterpreted and would deal with long term
issues
2.
Prevent any one person from achieving power, which
would lead to tyranny
3.
In order to solve #2, they balanced the power across
the three branches of government.
4.
Lay out what the government can and cannot do.
5.
Protect the rights of both individuals as well as states
Fundamental Principles
 Checks and balances: ensures that each branch of
the government watches over the others. An example
of this would be impeachment
 Federalism: the idea that local, state, and national
governments share responsibility over their respective
areas, but that the national government has the most
authority
 Separation of powers: each branch has it’s own job
and they don’t overlap
The Original Document
 Made up of 7 ‘articles,’ or sections that allude to a specific
part of the government or issue
 No Bill of Rights- they came in 1791
 Did not account for the future of slavery, in fact the words
‘slave’ and ‘slavery’ do not appear in the document
 The first three articles pertain to the three branches of
government
Legislative Branch
What is the Legislative Branch?
 House of Representatives:
 1. currently 435 members
 2. representation based on state’s population
 3. introduce any bill regarding spending
 4. led by Speaker of the House
 Senate:
 1. 2 Senators per state – why would this be important?
 2. currently 100 members
 3. originally chosen by State legislatures – why?
 4. Vice President has tie breaking vote
Key Jobs of the Legislative Branch
 Create laws
 Regulate taxes – hmm, but who always gets the blame?
 Approve any spending by the other branches
 Declare war
 Impeachment of officials
Requirements for Office
Senate:
- 30 years old
- citizen for 9 years
- resident in the state you represent
House:
- 25 years old
- citizen for 7 years
- resident of the state you represent
Powers of Congress
1.
Raise and collect taxes: common federal tax laws
2.
Regulate trade with other countries: why would this be
important?
3.
Regulate currency: what does this improve?
4.
Declare war: why wouldn’t the President do this?
5.
Pay for the armed forces
6.
Approve any Presidential nominee
7.
Allowed to create forts and other federal buildings in
various states
Other things
1.
Habeas Corpus shall not be removed, except for rebellion
2.
No taxes on exports
3.
Must keep records of money spent, only money spent that is
allowed by the budget
4.
Impeachment of officials in the other branches- House of
Reps
5.
Trial for impeached official- Senate
Structure of Legislative Branch
Review Questions for Legislative Branch
1.
How did this section reflect the ideas presented
in the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and
Connecticut Compromise?
2.
How did this section reflect Whig ideology?
3.
Did this section provide a balance of power
between the states and the federal government?
The White House: My future home
What is the Executive Branch?
• ‘executes’ or enforces the laws that Congress creates
• Largest branch of the national government
• Usually what people are complaining about
• The President is in charge of it
• Arguably has the most power of any branch of
government
How do you become President?
 Presidents are not directly elected by the people, instead
they are chosen by the Electoral College
 In order to win, a President must gain a majority of the votes,
which is now 270
 If a candidate falls short, the House of Representatives will
vote on who becomes the next President
 Five times (1800, 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000), there was
controversy regarding the outcome of the Electoral College
What the Constitution Doesn’t Say
 It’s written with G Dubs in mind
 What to call the President… that came later
 What the role of the Vice President is… one Vice President,
James Garner said it ‘wasn’t worth a bucket of warm spit’
 If the President can simply fire his officials, it’s really unclear
 Until FDR, it didn’t say how many terms you could serve, just
that you had 4 year terms
 GDubs established the precedent of leaving after two
consecutive terms
Requirements for Office, etc.
 Four year term, can only be elected twice, even if
not consecutive
 Elected by the Electoral College, need 270 to win,
usually Electoral College coincides with the
popular vote
 Have to be a native born citizen to hold office; 35
years old
 If the President dies, then the Vice President
succeeds him, followed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives
 Must take oath of office
Powers of Office
 Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces: can not declare
war, but can send military anywhere, and can ‘push the
button’
 Can make treaties with other nations, after consulting
with the Senate
 Can nominate Federal judges, Senate and House must
approve before they are given position
 Must deliver a State of the Union Address each year
 Veto any bill given to him/her by Congress
Impeachment
 If convicted of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’
the President, along with any other member of
his/her cabinet shall be removed from office
 Only two Presidents have ever been impeached…
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. For the record..
Richard Nixon most likely would have been
impeached had he not resigned.
Chart
Summary Questions
1.
How does the Constitution limit the powers of the
Executive Branch?
2.
In what ways does the Executive Branch bear the
most responsibility in regards to making decisions
about the future of the Country?
Judicial Branch
Structure of the Federal Court System
Originally…
 Article III only refers to the
Supreme Court
 No mention of how many
courts or judges
 Congress was given power to
create the various district
courts (94 as of now)
 They were not given the
power of reviewing laws
Powers of the Judicial Branch
 Judicial Review- check to see if
any law is unconstitutional
 Try any case involving more
than one state- why was this
created?
 Any case involving federal
government
 Appeals from lower state
courts- once the State Supreme
courts hear a case, the Federal
Supreme Court can hear a case
 Checks both the Legislative and
Executive Branches by
evaluating constitutionality
Supreme Court
 Highest Court in the land
 Is the final say in any court decision, there is no appeal
to their decision
 Made up of 9 members, with 1 Chief Justice, all of
whom serve life terms
 Must be nominated by a President and approved by the
Senate
 Usually takes years to get case heard there, because of
the length of trials that precede it
 Can hear both state cases and federal cases if appeals
are made
How does a case go to the Supreme Court?
Overview Questions
1.
Are there any famous cases that you know of that
involved the Supreme Court?
2.
Why do you think that the Supreme Court has
final say on any ruling?
3.
How does the Supreme Court keep the other
branches in check?
The Actual Document
Problems
 Not everyone was pleased by the Constitution, in fact
many members of the Convention refused to sign it
 The convention said that each state had to form a
separate convention in order to ratify it
 They thought having the legislatures ratify it would
be a bad idea- why?
 Legislatures have to worry about a bunch of different
things at once, but the convention would only be
about one thing: the Constitution
 Once 9/13 states approved it, then it would become
the law of the land
Federalists
 Were the strongest
supporters of the
Constitution
 Most lived in big cities
 Created the Federalist
Papers
 Hamilton and Madison were
the key leaders
 Not all of them agreed on
everything
Anti-Federalists
 Were fearful of the Constitution
 Some feared a national government that would trample the
states
 Others feared the idea that a few people had power over so
many people
 Some just wanted protections of individual rights – like
George Mason
 Although a minority, held up ratification in Virginia and
New York
Result of Debates
 Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut all
ratified immediately- what is significant about those first
two states?
 NC and RI refused to vote on it, rejected it all together: No
Bill of Rights
 SC and Maryland passed it by early 1788
 Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York ratified it by June
1788, very close though: Now had 9 states, so central
government was legitimate and had power over the states
 Most states recommended that some sort of Bill of Rights
be added
Bill Of Rights
 Were adopted to ensure that the states
that had not ratified the Constitution (North
Carolina and Rhode Island) would join the
Union
 12 Amendments were sent out to the
states for approval: at least 9 of them had
to approve it
 ¾ approved ten of the amendments by
1791, and after all the states were now a
part of the Union
 These first 10 amendments are popularly
called the Bill of Rights