1. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Chapter 5:
Creating the
Constitution
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

2. “The Supreme Law of the Land”
Section 3
“The Supreme Law of the Land”
Section Outline:
The Goals of Our Government
The Articles
Limited Government
Main Idea:
The Constitution establishes a federal government, protects the rights of citizens, and provides general rules that government must follow.
Key Terms:
Amendments
Federalism
Concurrent Powers
Reserved Powers
Checks and Balances
Impeach
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

3. The Goals of Our Government
To Form a more Perfect Union
To Establish Justice
To Insure Domestic Tranquility
The Provide for the Common Defense
To Promote General Welfare
To Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

4. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
The Articles
The Legislative Branch
The Executive Branch
The Judicial Branch
The States
Amending the Constitution
The Supremacy of the Constitution
Ratification
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

5. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Limited Government
Federalism
The division of power between the states and the federal or national government
Concurrent Powers
Powers shared by the federal and state governments.
Reserved Powers
Powers that the Constitution neither gives to Congress nor denies to the states.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

6. Limited Government (cont.)
Separation of Powers
Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches
Checks and Balances
The system that gives each branch of government ways to limit the powers of the other two.
Impeach
To accuse or wrongdoing
This is an example of a “check” the House of Representatives has on any high officials.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

7. Civics: Government and Economics in Action

8. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Chapter 6:
The Bill of Rights
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

9. Chapter Links Section 1 “Adding the Bill of Rights” Section 2
“Protections in the Bill of Rights”
Section 3
“Interpreting the Bill of Rights”
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

10. “Adding the Bill of Rights”
Section 1
“Adding the Bill of Rights”
Section Outline:
The Amendment Process
The Debate in Congress
Main Idea:
After some debate, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to protect Americans’ individual rights and freedoms.
Key Terms:
Bill of Rights
Amendment Process
Convention
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

11. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
The Amendment Process
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

12. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
The Debate in Congress
Congress, June 1789
James Madison declared that Americans believed that the Constitution did not adequately protect their rights.
Congress, August 1789
Congress begins preparing the Bill of Rights
Influences include the Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, Colonial Charters, and state constitutions
Congress, December 15th, 1791
The Ten Amendments (Bill of Rights) are ratified and become part of the Constitution.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

13. “Protections in the Bill of Rights”
Section 2
“Protections in the Bill of Rights”
Section Outline:
Protections of Individual Freedoms
Protections Against Abuse of Power
III. Protections of the Accused
IV. Protections of Other Rights
Main Idea:
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to guarantee the basic rights of citizens. These rights include protections of individual freedoms, protections against the government’s abuse of power, and the protections of the accused.
Key Terms:
Separation of Church and State
Eminent Domain
Due Process of Law
Double Jeopardy
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

14. Protections of Individual Freedoms
The First Amendment
Freedom of Religion
Separation of Church and State: Government may not favor any religion or establish an official religion.
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of the Press
Freedom of Assembly
Right to meet together or gather
Freedom of Petition
Right to ask government to make or change a law or solve a problem.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

15. Protections Against Abuse of Power
The Second Amendment
The Right to Bear Arms (Gun Ownership)
The Third Amendment
Protection from the housing of Soldiers
The Fourth Amendment
Protection from unreasonable search and seizures
The Fifth Amendment (part I)
Eminent Domain: the right for government to take private property; however owner has the right to a fair price for his or her property.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

16. Protections of the Accused
The Fifth Amendment (part II)
Citizens are guaranteed Due Process of Law; A process by which the government must treat accused persons fairly according to the rules established by law.
Citizens are protected from Double Jeopardy; being placed on trial twice for the same crime.
The Sixth Amendment
Citizens are guaranteed the right to a trial by jury in criminal cases.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

17. Protections of the Accused (cont.)
The Seventh Amendment
Citizens are guaranteed the right to a trial by jury in most civil cases.
The Eight Amendment
Prohibits excessive bail, fines, and punishments.
No “cruel and unusual” punishment
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

18. Protections of Other Rights
The Ninth Amendment
Declares that rights not mentioned in the Constitution belong to the people.
Citizen Rights are not limited to the one mentioned in the Constitution.
The Tenth Amendment
Declares that powers not given to the national government belong to the states or to the people.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

19. “Interpreting the Bill of Rights”
Section 3
“Interpreting the Bill of Rights”
Section Outline:
The Role of the Courts
Students and Free Speech
The Skokie Case: Freedom for Nazis?
The Continuing Challenge
Main Idea:
Many different situation call into question the meaning of our rights under the Constitution. It is role of the courts to interpret the Bill of Rights and to apply them to each case.
Key Terms:
Freedom of the Press
Freedom of Speech
Case Studies
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

20. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
The Role of the Courts
Freedom of the Press
The right to publish newspapers, magazines, and other materials without governmental restriction.
Freedom of Speech
The right to express one’s opinions publicly.
Case Studies:
Descriptions of situations or conflicts, the issues involved and decisions made.
Case studies help us learn about America’s legal history
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

21. Students and Free Speech
The Tinker Case, 1965
Should students be allowed to wear armbands as a form of political protest? (In this case, the Vietnam War)
The Supreme Court Ruling:
“It can hardly be argued that students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate…Students in school as well as out of school are persons under our Constitution.”
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

22. The Skokie Case: Freedom for Nazis?
Should the American Nazi Party be allowed to march through a small town in Illinois?
The Supreme Court Decision
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the American Nazi Party.
Our Constitution protects “the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

23. The Continuing Challenge
Our Rights
The rights of the American citizens are not simply guaranteed because they are written down in the Constitution, they have been protected by citizens who firmly believe in the American system of government.
Protecting the Constitution is a basic duties all citizens have.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

24. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Chapter 7:
Our Enduring
Constitution
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

25. “Changing the Law of the Land” “A Flexible Framework”
Chapter Links
Section 1
“Changing the Law of the Land”
Section 2
“A Flexible Framework”
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

26. “Changing the Law of the Land”
Section 1
“Changing the Law of the Land”
Section Outline:
Abolishing Slavery
African Americans and the Right to Vote
III. Women and the Right to Vote
IV. Youth and the Right to Vote
V. The Voice of the People
Main Idea:
Citizenship and voting rights have undergone dramatic change in our country’s history. The amendment process enables our Constitution to adapt to a constantly changing society.
Key Terms:
Suffrage
Poll Tax
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

27. Civics: Government and Economics in Action

28. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Abolishing Slavery
The Southern States
Feared collapse of their economy if slave labor was outlawed.
Tensions
Missouri Compromise, 1820: divided new lands into “Free” and “Slave” territories.
Dred Scott Court Decision
The Supreme Court ruled that slaves were property and not citizens.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

29. Abolishing Slavery (cont.)
The Civil War
War fought between the Northern States (The Union) and the Southern States (The Confederate States of America)
Southern States wanted to be a separate country with their own weak federal government.
600,000 lives lost during this conflict
The Thirteenth Amendment, 1865
Abolished slavery
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

30. African Americans and the Right to Vote
The Fourteenth Amendment, 1868
Established that all persons born or naturalized in the United States qualified for citizenship.
This included African Americans and former slaves.
No state may “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law” or “ deny to any person …the equal protection of the laws.”
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

31. African Americans and the Right to Vote (cont.)
The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870
Guarantees suffrage or the right to vote for all [male] citizens.
No state may deny the vote to any person on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
The Twenty Fourth Amendment, 1964
Outlawed poll taxes or fees for voting
Some states used poll taxes to keep minorities from voting.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

32. Women and the Right to Vote
Left Out
For the most part, women had been excluded from full citizenship and subsequent rights.
Women’s Suffrage Movement,
Seneca Falls convention: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”
The Nineteenth Amendment, 1920
Guaranteed suffrage for women
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

33. Youth and the Right to Vote
The Twenty Sixth Amendment, 1971
Lowered the voting age to 18
The voting age had previously been 21
However thousands of citizens ages had fought in foreign wars to preserve the American way of life, and it seemed unfair that they could not vote.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

34. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
The Voice of the People
Amendments
The “Framers” of our Constitution were wise to allow a way to amend and ratify our government.
The Constitution is very flexible, and allows itself to be changed if a strong majority of representatives agrees on the proposed changes.
There have been twenty seven total Amendments to the Constitution.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

35. “A Flexible Framework”
Section 2
“A Flexible Framework”
Section Outline:
The Role of the Supreme Court
Equality and Segregation
III. Equality and Affirmative Action
Women and Equality
A Framework for the Future
Main Idea:
Amendments to the Constitution have enlarged the rights of African Americans and women with respect to equality. The Supreme Court applies the principles of the Constitution to the cases of issued that it hears.
Key Terms:
Equal Protection
Segregation
Affirmative Action
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

36. The Role of the Supreme Court
Overturning a Decision
Court decisions set important precedents, but can be changed by amendments.
Interpreting a Principle
Justices on the Supreme Court have the job of interpreting the Constitution and its amendments as they apply to specific cases.
Equal Protection
Means that people must be treated fairly, but it does not mean that everyone must be treated exactly the same way.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

37. Equality and Segregation
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Many states passed laws requiring segregation, or separation of blacks and whites in public places such as hotels, schools, and trains.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1896 that segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, so long as blacks and whites had access to “separate but equal” facilities.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

38. Equality and Segregation (cont.)
Opposition to Segregation
NAACP and Thurgood Marshall
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
The Supreme Court ruled that the “separate but equal” standard in Plessy v. Ferguson had no place in public education.
Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned and segregation laws were declared unconstitutional; segregation was now illegal.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

39. Equality and Affirmative Action
Steps to counteract the effects of past racial discrimination and discrimination against women.
The purpose is to help undo past wrongs.
University of California v. Bakke, 1978
Allan Bakke was rejected from medical school despite having better credentials than minority applicants.
He sued the Medical School at UC Davis for reverse discrimination; but
The Supreme Court ruled that race could be a factor in deciding admissions.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

40. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Women and Equality
Women in the Workplace
May a company hire only males?
May they have different rules for women and men?
May they pay men and women differently?
Many of these issues are being debated in the American judicial system today
The Phillips Case: Companies may not have “one hiring policy for women and another for men”
Civics: Government and Economics in Action

41. Civics: Government and Economics in Action
Women and Equality
The Supreme Court and the Constitution
All American citizens are entitled to equal protection
New questions about equal protection are constantly arising, and the judicial system must review such cases to determine whether or not the Constitution is being followed.
Civics: Government and Economics in Action