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The Constitution [ ESSENTIAL QUESTION ] What Is the Right Balance of Power in Good Government? 3 The Constitution World War II 1 14.3 America Enters World War II MAG16_SE12_NA_Topic3.indd 1 4/3/2015 2:50:35 PM Topic 3 The Constitution Enduring Understandings • The U.S. Constitution provides the basic principles upon which the government is constructed and operates. • The Constitution is built around six basic principles: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism. • The Constitution also provides the methods required to propose and ratify amendments, allowing for changes in its laws and procedures. • The U.S. system of government is federalism, wherein the powers are divided between the National Government, with a set of powers given to it explicitly by the Constitution, and the States. >> Opening line of the Preamble of the United States Constitution Watch the My Story Video to learn more about the long battle to win the right to vote for American women. Access your digital lessons including: Topic Inquiry • Interactive Reading SavvasRealize.com Notepad • Interactivities • Assessments 77 MAG16_SE_T03.indd 77 25/02/20 11:31 AM 3.1 The Articles of Confederation had provided the new nation with domestic and international legitimacy, at the price of a weak general government. The new Constitution created a stronger federal government with a chief executive, the power to tax, and a court system. >> The U.S. Constitution is on display in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. At night, it is stored in a highly secure underground vault. Flipped Video >> Objectives Understand the basic outline of the An Overview of the Constitution. Understand the basic principles of the Constitution: popular sovereignty, limited Constitution government, and separation of powers. Understand the basic principles of the Constitution: checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism. An Outline of the U.S. Constitution >> Key Terms The Constitution of the United States begins with the Preamble. bicameral Executive Article “We the People of the United States, in Order inferior courts popular sovereignty to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, limited government constitutionalism insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the rule of law common defence, promote the general Welfare, separation of powers checks and balances and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves veto and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this judicial review unconstitutional Constitution for the United States of America.” federalism James Madison —United States Constitution Alexander Hamilton Andrew Johnson The Constitution of the United States dates from the latter part of Barack Obama the eighteenth century. Written in 1787, it took effect in 1789. The fact Donald Trump that it is more than 220 years old does not mean, however, that in the twenty-first century, it is only an interesting historical artifact, best SavvasRealize.com Access your Digital Lesson 78 MAG16_SE_T03.indd 78 05/03/20 7:21 PM left to museums and dusty shelves. On the contrary, it growth and change. One of the Constitution’s greatest remains a vitally important and vibrant document. strengths is that it deals largely with matters of basic The Constitution is this nation’s fundamental law. It principle. Unlike most other constitutions—those of the is, by its own terms, “the supreme Law of the Land”— 50 States and those of other nations—the Constitution the highest form of law in the United States. of the United States is not weighted down with detailed and cumbersome provisions. Sets the Rules The Constitution sets out the basic As you read the Constitution, you will also see that principles upon which government in the United States it is organized in a simple and straightforward way. It was built and operates today. The document lays out the begins with a short introduction, the Preamble. The ways in which the Federal Government is organized, balance of the original document is divided into seven how the leaders of that government are selected, and numbered sections called articles. many of the procedures those leaders must follow as The first three articles deal with the three branches they perform their duties. Of utmost importance, it sets of the National Government: Congress, the presidency, out the limits within which government must conduct and the federal court system. These articles outline itself. the basic organization and powers of each branch, and The Constitution also lays out the basic rules of the methods by which the members of Congress, the American politics. By doing so, it helps to determine President and Vice President, and federal judges are who wins and who loses in the political arena. To really chosen. understand government and politics in this country, Article IV deals mostly with the place of the States we must know a good deal about the Constitution and in the American Union and their relationships with the how it has been interpreted and applied throughout our National Government and with one another. Article V history. indicates how formal amendments may be added to the document. Article VI declares that the Constitution is Amendments Even with its 27 amendments, the the nation’s supreme law; Article VII provided for the Constitution is a fairly brief document. Its little more ratification of the Constitution. than 7,000 words can be read in half an hour. Remember that this document has successfully guided this nation through more than two centuries of tremendous Articles of the Constitution SECTION SUBJECT Preamble States the purpose of the Constitution Article I Creates the Legislative branch Article II Creates the Executive branch Article III Creates the Judicial branch Article IV Relations among the States Article V Amending the Constitution Article VI National debts, supremacy of national law, and oaths of office Article VII Ratifying the Constitution >> The body of the Constitution is made up of seven articles. These articles set out the basic shape of the Federal Government. Analyze Charts What is the purpose of the first three articles? The Constitution 79 3.1 An Overview of the Constitution MAG16_SE12_NA_Topic3.indd 4 4/3/2015 2:50:38 PM The 7 articles of the original document are followed Practical The Framers had to create a two-chambered by 27 amendments, printed in the order in which each body to settle the conflict between the Virginia and the provision was adopted. New Jersey Plans at Philadelphia in 1787. Recall, the most populous States wanted to distribute the seats in CATEGORIZE Describe the basic organization of Congress in proportion to the population of each State, the Constitution and why this organization was used while the smaller States demanded an equal voice in by the Framers. Congress. Bicameralism is a reflection of federalism. Each of the States is equally represented in the Senate and Article I each is represented in line with its population in the House. Immediately, the Constitution establishes a bicameral legislature—that is, a legislature made up Theoretical The Framers favored a bicameral of two houses. It does so for historical, practical, and Congress in order that one house might act as a check theoretical reasons. on the other. Historical The British Parliament had consisted of two A leading constitutional historian recounts a houses since the 1300s. The Framers and most other conversation between Thomas Jefferson and George Americans knew the British system of bicameralism Washington at Mount Vernon. Jefferson, who had quite well. Most of the colonial assemblies and, in just returned from France, told Washington that he 1787, all but two of the new State legislatures were was opposed to a two-chambered legislature. As he also bicameral. Among the original 13 colonies, only made his point, he poured his tea into his saucer, and Georgia and Pennsylvania had unicameral colonial and Washington asked him why he did so. “To cool it,” then State legislatures. Georgia’s legislature became replied Jefferson. “Even so,” said Washington, “we pour bicameral in 1789 and Pennsylvania’s in 1790. (Only one legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.” State, Nebraska, has a unicameral legislature today.) As a whole, the Framers were convinced that the legislature would dominate the new National Government. As Madison observed, THE CAPITOL THE HOUSE 435 MEMBERS THE SENATE Old House House Chamber The Rotunda Chamber (Statuary Senate Chamber Hall) Old Senate 100 Chamber MEMBERS >> Congress meets in the Capitol, which has undergone several additions as both the nation and Congress have grown. Analyze Maps Why are both chambers in the same building? The Constitution 80 3.1 An Overview of the Constitution MAG16_SE12_NA_Topic3.indd 5 4/3/2015 2:50:39 PM In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches. —The Federalist No. 51 The Framers saw bicameralism as a way to diffuse the power of Congress and so prevent it from overwhelming the other two branches of government. For more than 200 years now, some people have argued that equal representation of the States in the Senate is undemocratic and should be eliminated. They often point to the two extremes to make their case. The State with the least population, Wyoming, has only some 560,000 residents. The most populous State, California, now has a population of more than 37 million. Yet each of these States has two senators. Those who object to State equality in the Senate ignore a vital fact. The Senate was purposely created as a body in which the States would be represented as coequal members and partners in the Union. >> Patricia Schroeder (D., Colorado) was the first woman from Colorado to be elected to Congress. She served in Remember, if the Framers had been unable to agree that the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997.
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