1. Unit 2 Civics Packet PowerPoint
Jason Brandt
Pasteur Middle School
San Juan Unified School District

2. Unit 2
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights

3. Article 1 Creating Congress
Congress = the legislative (law making) branch
They are responsible for turning citizen’s wants and needs into laws
Bicameral legislature = 2 houses
Senate = upper house
House of Representatives = lower house

4. Article 1 Creating Congress

5. Article 1 Powers of Congress
Collect taxes
Give patents to new inventions
Borrow money and pay debts
Create the lower federal courts
Make rules for how to become a citizen
Punish pirates
Regulate commerce with other nations, between states, and with Indian tribes
Declare war and support an army and navy
Make any other laws that are “necessary and proper” to carry out its other powers.
Coin money and punish counterfeiters
Establish post offices

6. ARTICLE II Executive Branch
President is the head of the branch
Executive branch carries out the laws
Office of the President
35 years old
Naturally born US citizen
4 year terms
Can serve two terms only, for a total of 8 years

7. ARTICLE II Electoral College
Same number of electors as a state has in Congress
Originally the person with the most votes becomes president and the second most becomes vice president
Changed to a president and vice president now run on the same ticket

8. Presidential Powers __________-in-Chief Negotiate _______
Maintains a ________ of advisors who are the heads of each executive department
_______ ambassadors, Supreme Court Justices, federal court judges, and Cabinet members
Grant _______ (for federal crimes) and _______ (postpone punishments and executions)
Make a State of the Union address to Congress
Make sure laws are ________
Power to ______ a law

9. ARTICLE 3 - Creating The courts
Article 3 creates the _______ __________
Article 3 directs what cases the supreme court and federal courts hear
The Judicial Branch interprets laws, what the laws mean, and whether they are followed in certain cases this is called ________ _________
Under article 3, federal judges are _________, not elected
Judges are benched until they ______, _____, or are _________
Article 3 creates the Supreme Court and authorizes congress to create _______ _______below the supreme court
Article 3 grants trial by jury for criminal cases
The federal courts deal with U.S Laws, not state laws

10. ARTICLE 4 - The States States can create and ________ their own laws
___________ is when a criminal flees the state to another, the state where the crime was committed can request the criminal be returned to face charges
Court decisions and laws of other states must be ________ by each state
Article 4 says how new states can be ____________ All states must have a republican, or representative, type of government

11. Amending the constitution: ARTICLE 5
The Constitution is not set in stone and can be _______
A change or addition to the Constitution is called an __________

12. Amending the constitution: ARTICLE 5
STEP 1: ________
STEP 2: _______
___________ Vote
2/3 of both houses of Congress vote YES to the amendment.
State _________ Vote
3/4 of state legislatures vote YES to ratify the amendment.
THEN OR OR
Congressional ___________
2/3 of state legislatures ask Congress to hold a convention.
Special _____ Conventions
Each state holds a special convention to consider the proposed amendment.
¾ of state conventions must vote yes to ratify.

13. Amending the constitution: ARTICLE 5
Only ___ amendments have received enough votes to actually be proposed.
Only ___ have been ratified and are now part of the Constitution.
____ amendments were proposed less than __________ after the Constitution took effect.

14. Amending the constitution: ARTICLE 5
The first ____ amendments are called the Bill of Rights.
The 21st amendment which repealed _____________, was the only amendment to be ratified by ___________________________.

15. ARTICLE 6 Supreme Law of the land
____________ is the idea that the national government shares power with the state governments
If a state law disagrees with a federal law, ____________ wins
Officials working in the state and federal government s to take an oath to support the ___________ no matter what
Laws and treaties of the U.S. Government (federal laws) are “________________”

16. ARTICLE 7 Ratification
The Constitution can not take effect until at least _________________ states approve it.
These amendments, called the __________, would list specific rights (for the people) not already mentioned in the constitution
Each state held its own ___________ to discuss and vote on the constitution’s plan for government
The constitution became the law of the land in __________
It was agreed that ____ amendments would be added to the constitution
The _____________ was added in 1791