1. Six Principles of Government

2. American democracy embodies:
Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Separation of Powers
Checks and Balances
Judicial Review
Federalism

3. Popular Sovereignty
“…government of the people, by the people, for the people…”
--Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address
“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
--T. Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence
“We the People of the United States,…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble, Constitution

4. Limited Government
Government’s power is limited to that which is given by the people it serves
Government and its agents are subject to a fundamental law (Constitution) and other laws made by the people or their representatives
“Rule of Law”
Bill of Rights
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…”

5. Separation of Powers
The executive, legislative, and judicial powers of government are divided into distinctly separate “branches” of government.
, "The accumulation of all powers...in the same hands...may be pronounced as the very definition of tyranny” – James Madison

6. Checks and Balances
Powers of each branch of government to restrain the powers of the others.

7. Judicial Review See “Rule of Law”
Power of the courts to rule on the constitutionality of laws and practices
Established in Marbury vs. Madison (1803)
Courts can rule on Substantive and Procedural issues

8. Federalism Shared sovereignty by national and state governments
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.“
10th Amendment to the Constitution