THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

REVOLUTION John Locke - life, liberty, & Introduced “unalienable rights” Social contract theory Articles of Confederation is the original government of the United States.

Articles of Confederation Weaknesses 1) no national military 2) can’t tax 3) 4) no executive, no judicial branch 5) no 6) changes require a unanimous vote SHAYS REBELLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A NEW BEGINNING The founding fathers decided to create a new government. Their goal was to create a national government that was strong, but by law. And one that established an executive, also with limited power. Two plans were merged to form the Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise.

VIRGINIA PLAN Virginia Plan- created by the states, strong central government with a legislature. One house elected by the masses (based on representation), the other chosen by the elected officials. The executive would then be chosen by this branch.

NEW JERSEY PLAN Created by the states. Their idea was to create a legislature based on equal representation. They also came up with the idea of national supremacy. The national government should also be able to tax and regulate under this plan.

CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE The Virginia Plan gave us: 1)Two Chambers in the legislature 2)one based on (House of Rep/lower chamber) - elected by the people New Jersey gave us: 1) Senate or upper chamber based on equal representation elected by the 2) nat’l supremacy and interstate commerce

Compromise Other things decided in the Conn Comp 1) ALL acts must originate in the House of Representatives 2) Creation of the Electoral College 3) 3/5 compromise Main reason for compromise was to settle the in Congress. (Big states vs. small states)

Basic Concepts in Constitution Formal Controls of the Constitution 1) Republicanism 2) Federalism 3) Separation of Powers 4) Checks and balances

INFORMAL CONTROLS OF THE CONSTITUTION 1) political parties - government 2) inefficiency of our system- Congress must be cautious and deliberate when passing legislation. Most proposed bills die due to external pressures.

TYPES OF POWERS Delegated/Enumerated - written directly in the Implied - inferred from the wording of the Constitution. Inherent - self-evident powers Concurrent- between the federal and state governments - Government cannot do these Reserved- State powers (10th Amendment)

Prohibited Powers Government cannot do the following 1) pass bills of - punish an accused person without a trial. 2) pass laws- laws that arrest people for committing acts were legal at the time they engaged in them. 3) suspend habeas corpus- arrest/hold someone indefinitely w/out due process.

US CONSTITUTION Its main author is, considered the father of the Constitution. The US Constitution is comprised of articles. Of the three concepts of gov’t, the Constitution includes freedom & order, but not equality.

Article I Created the Branch It was intended to be the most powerful of the branches. Very specific, delegated powers of Congress spelled out. (17 clauses) After all of these, the necessary & proper clause ( clause) is also included to give Congress more power.

Article I Delegated powers of Congress include: levying and collecting taxes, regulating commerce, overriding vetoes, impeachment and removal of the president and federal judges, the creation of and the jurisdiction of all federal courts except the Supreme Court, and making laws.

Necessary & Proper Clause Congress may “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested in…..the government of the U.S.” First used to create a (McCulloch v Maryland (1819)

Article II Created the Branch. Purposely vague - founders did not want another king. Delegated powers include commander in chief, power, power to laws, appoint ambassadors, federal judges, and make treaties. States the qualifications of the prez, term of office and electoral college procedure.

Electoral College The electoral college was created to ensure that the citizens would not popularly elect a “BAD” president. It was also created to ensure that the states would not be neglected by those running for office.

Article III Created the judicial branch Established the but did not establish its power or how many would sit on the court. Did establish its original jurisdiction: 1) If a state is named in a case 2) if a foreign ambassador is involved 3) if maritime/admirality law is involved. The power of judicial review was not established until 1803 with the decision in

Marbury v Madison Established that not the legislature or the president had the power to the constitution. This is known as judicial - the power of the courts to decide on the constitutionality of laws.

Article IV Deals with how states deal with each other. (Interstate Relations) 1)Full faith & 2)Interstate & Immunities 3) Extradition 4) Interstate Compacts

Article V How to formally amend the Constitution There are formal ways to propose and two formal ways to ratify a constitutional amendment. All amendments have been proposed the same way and of 17 have been ratified the same way. The Bill of Rights (1st 10) were added to the original Constitution.

Proposing an amendment Two ways 1) both chambers (House and Senate) propose it with at least in agreement. All passed amendments have been proposed in this manner. 2) a national convention is called at the request of 2/3 of the state legislatures.

Ratifying an Amendment Two ways 1) All state legislatures meet and 3/4 of them (38 states) agree to ratify the amendment. All except for the amendment have been ratified this way. 2) Each state has a ratifying convention of the people and they vote. 3/4 of the states (38) must agree to ratify. (21st) LETS HAVE A DRINK!!!!

Other ways to change the Constitution There are two ways to informally change the meaning of the Constitution 1) Judicial Review- decisions of the courts can change the interpretation of the document. 2) Custom & Usage ( ) - when the legislative or executive branch does something and is not challenged it becomes their power. This generally applies to the president. i.e. executive privelege, making war

ARTICLE VI The clause- the Constitution is the “supreme law of the land”. Reinforced by the McCulloch v Maryland decision (1819). Any contracts left over from the Articles of Confederation will be honored by the new government. The oath of offices of elected officials are mentioned here

Article VII How to ratify the Constitution states in state ratifying conventions needed to pass it. This was done to prevent the state legislatures from voting on it, because they might vote against as their power was being taken curbed by the new government. added to guarantee passage To convince people to support the Constitution, the Federalist papers were circulated around the country.

Federalist Papers A collection of about the merits of the Constitution. Authored by James Madison, John Jay, and Out of the papers, the most popular ones are 10, 51, and 78. The goal of these papers was to convince the people that the Constitution was GREAT!!!

Federalist papers Fed #10- “ ” (groups) are inevitable, but the government will not allow one group to gain too much power. (Madison) Fed #51 - separation of powers/ checks and balances (Madison) Fed #78 - independence of is essential (Hamilton)