The Seven
Principles of
Government
The Constitution is built upon seven basic
principles of government.
The Framers of the Constitution used these
principles to create the “supreme law” of our
land.
Who were the framers?
The framers were the builders of our Constitution
These men debated for the interests of their states,
the people, and the nation..
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Basic Principles
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Popular Sovereignty
Definition:
What does popular refer to?
Population, or
people.
A sovereign king does what?
Rule
So together, Popular Sovereignty means?
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People Rule
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Popular Sovereignty
(people rule)
The Preamble to the Constitution begins with this
bold phrase,
“We the People...” These words
announce that in the United States, the people
establish government and give it its power.
The people are sovereign. Since the government
receives it power from the people, it can
govern only with their consent.
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Example: So how do we rule?
Voting!
The people’s power comes
in the form of democracy.
We have the right to push into a touch screen
our choices for our government!
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Limited Government

Because the people are
the source of
government power, the
government has only
as much authority as
the people give it.
Government
Authority
People
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More…Limited Gov’t.

Much of the
Constitution,
in fact, consists
of specific
limitation on
government
power.
Freedom of Speech
Bill of Rights
Freedom of Press
Freedom of Petition
Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Assembly
Counsel, Fair Trial
Privacy
No Cruel/Unusual
Punishment
Bill of Rights
Our rights and freedoms protect
(Amendments
1-10) rule.
us from Government
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More…Limited Government

Limited
government
means that
neither the
government nor
any government
official is “above
the law” and can
overstep these
constitutional
bounds.
No one
is Above
the Law,
or
Constitution
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Separation of Powers
Limited
Power
Limited
Government
Power
Power
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Limited
Power
Government
power is
not only
limited: it
is also
divided.
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Separation of Powers
The Constitution assigns
specific powers to each
of the three branches:
Legislative (Congress),
Executive (President)
and Judicial (Supreme
Court).
(President)
(Congress)
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(Supreme Court)
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Checks and Balances
The system of check and balances
extends the restrictions
established by the separation of
powers.
Each branch of
government has the built-in
authority and responsibility
to restrain the power of the
other two branches. This
system makes government
less efficient, but also
prevents tyranny by one
branch. (p58)
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Republicanism
People are sovereign
Liberty and Rights!!
Perform civic duties
Corruption
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Individual Rights
The Bill of Rights
guarantees certain
individual rights
Examples:
• Freedom of speech,
religion, press
• Right to bear arms
• Due Process
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Federalism



A federal system divides
power between a central
government and smaller, local
governments.
This sharing of power is
intended to ensure that the
central government is
powerful enough to be
effective, yet not so powerful
as to threaten States or
citizens.
It also allows individual States
to deal with local problems at
the local level—so long as
their actions are
constitutional.
Federal Government
State and Local Governments
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