Today’s Agenda
Any Announcements?
Any Questions?
Let's Review our Bellwork....
Now...
Let’s Begin Today’s Lesson…..
Today's State Standards
Standard 4.0: Governance and Civics
4.6 understand the concept of federalism.
Standard 5.0: History
5.4 understand the United States Constitution as a "living
document" in both principle and practice.
Our objectives today
1. Outline the important elements of the Constitution.
2. List the six basic principles of the Constitution.
3. Identify the four different ways by which the Constitution may be
formally changed.
4. Outline the 27 amendments that have been added to the Constitution.
5. Define Federalism and explain why the Framers chose this system of
government.
6. Identify powers delegated to and denied the National Government, and
the powers reserved and denied to the States.
7. Understand that the National Government holds exclusive powers, it
also holds concurrent powers with the states.
Our Goal Today
The Constitution is a brief, straightforward
document that has guided American
government for over 200 years. Its authors
wrote the Constitution based on the
principles that political power resides with
the people, and that the National
Government should be limited and divided
into three branches to limit the power of any
of of those three branches.
Objective #1 - Outline the important elements of the
Constitution.
Preamble – States the Purpose of the Constitution
Article I – Legislative Branch
Article II – Executive Branch
Article III – Judicial Branch
Article IV – Relations among the States
Article V – Amending the Constitution
Article VI – National debts, supremacy of national law,
and the oaths of office
Article VII – Ratifying the Constitution
Objective #2 - List the six basic principles of the Constitution
1) Popular Sovereignty - “We, the People of the United States....” - draw
the nation's power FROM the people.
2) Limited Government – Government MUST obey the law –
Constitutionalism
3) Separation of Powers – Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches
4) Checks and Balances – Each branch has oversight over the other two
and each branch may be overseen by the other two.
5) Judicial Review – Is it Constitutional or Unconstitutional?
6) Federalism – Division of power between a central government and
several regional governments.
Objective #3 - Identify the four different ways by which
the Constitution may be formally changed.
Objective #4 - Outline the 27 amendments that have
been added to the Constitution.
th
27
Amendment
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution reads:
No law, varying the compensation for the
services of Senators and Representatives,
shall take effect, until an election of
Representatives shall have intervened.
It Took A While to Pass!
The long history of the Twenty-seventh Amendment
is curious and unprecedented. The amendment
was first drafted by James Madison in 1789 and
proposed by the First Congress in 1789 as part of
the original Bill of Rights. The proposed
amendment did not fare well, as only six states
ratified it during the period in which the first ten
amendments were ratified by the requisite threefourths of the states. The amendment was largely
neglected for the next two centuries; Ohio was the
only state to approve the amendment in that
period, ratifying it in 1873.
One Man Can Make A Difference!
In 1982 Gregory Watson, a twenty-year-old
student at the University of Texas, wrote a
term paper arguing for ratification of the
amendment. Watson received a 'C' grade
for the paper and then embarked on a oneman campaign for the amendment's
ratification. From his home in Austin, Texas,
Watson wrote letters to state legislators
across the country on an electric typewriter.
It Finally Passed!
During the 1980s, as state legislatures passed pay
raises, public debate over the raises reached a
fever pitch and state legislatures began to pass
the measure, mostly as a symbolic gesture to
appease voters. Few observers believed that the
amendment would ever be ratified by the required
thirty-eight states, but the tally of ratifying states
began to mount. On May 7, 1992, Michigan
became the thirty-eighth state to ratify the
amendment, causing it to become part of the U.S.
Constitution.
Objectives #5, #6 and #7
5. Define Federalism and explain why the Framers chose this system of
government.
6. Identify powers delegated to and denied the National Government, and
the powers reserved and denied to the States.
7. Understand that the National Government holds exclusive powers, it
also holds concurrent powers with the states.
Federalism & Democracy
"The federal and State governments are
in fact but different agents and trustees
of the people, constituted with different
powers, and designed for different
purposes."
James Madison
The Federalist, No.46
What is Federalism?
Defining federalism
Federalism is a system of shared power
between two or more governments with
authority over the same people and
geographical area.
Federalism Terms
Enumerated Powers - these are powers that
belong to the national government and are
set out in Article I, section 8 of the
Constitution (such as coining money and
conducting foreign relations)
Necessary and proper clause - this gives
Congress the power to create legislation
that is necessary and proper for it to carry
out its enumerated powers
More Terms
Full Faith and Credit Clause: Judicial
Decree; all contracts made in one state are
binding in all others.
Dual Federalism - The belief that having
separate but equal powerful levels of
government. "Layer Cake"
We Didn't Want to be England
Unitary System - A form of government
where all local and/or regional governments
draw all of their authorities from a centered
and strong national government, Great
Britain was a unitary government, and the
newly free Americans wanted to move away
from this system.
Who is more powerful?
Supremacy clause - National law is supreme
to all other laws passed by the state.
Concurrent powers - these are the powers
of government that are overlapped and
shared by the national and state
governments. For instance, both states and
the federal government have the power to
tax.
10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights
Tenth amendment - "Powers not delegated
to the U.S Government by the Constitution
nor prohibited by it to the states, Are
reserved to the states respectively, or to the
people."
Levels of Government
Some laws that the Federal
Government Force on the States
Federal Highway Funds tied to:
Speed Limit. DUI Level. Drinking Age. Seat
Belt Laws. HOV Lanes. Future: Distracted
Driver Laws.
Federal Education Funds tied to:
NCLB. Common Core. Race to the Top.
Question Time :-)
List two examples of checks and balances in
our Federal Governments
Describe three freedoms protected by the Bill
of Rights
Identify an issue you feel is better handled at
the local level. Why?
Identify and issue you feel is better handled at
the national level. Why?
Today's State Standards
Standard 4.0: Governance and Civics
4.6 understand the concept of federalism.
Standard 5.0: History
5.4 understand the United States Constitution as a "living
document" in both principle and practice.
Our objectives today
1. Outline the important elements of the Constitution.
2. List the six basic principles of the Constitution
3. Identify the four different ways by which the Constitution may be
formally changed.
4. Outline the 27 amendments that have been added to the Constitution.
5. Define Federalism and explain why the Framers chose this system of
government.
6. Identify powers delegated to and denied the National Government, and
the powers reserved and denired to the States.
7. Understand that the National Government holds exclusive powers, it
also holds concurrent powers with the states.
Our Goal Today
The Constitution is a brief, straightforward
document that has guided American
government for over 200 years. Its authors
wrote the Constitution based on the
principles that political power resides with
the people, and that the National
Government should be limited and divided
into three branches to limit the power of any
of of those three branches.