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The Constitution

The Constitution. Chapter 3. Basic Principles of Democracy. Popular Sovereignty: All political power is with the people Limited Government: Government is not all-powerful, only has the power people give it Constitutionalism — gov’t must follow the Constitution

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The Constitution

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  1. The Constitution Chapter 3

  2. Basic Principles of Democracy • Popular Sovereignty: All political power is with the people • Limited Government: Government is not all-powerful, only has the power people give it • Constitutionalism—gov’t must follow the Constitution • Rule of Law—government and its officers are always subject to the law, and are never above it • Examples?

  3. Separation of Powers: power is distributed among separate branches of the government • Legislative • Executive • Judicial • Checks and Balances: Each branch keeps an eye on the others to keep them from using too much power • Judicial Review: the Court has the power to decide if the government is following the Constitution • Can declare things unconstitutional

  4. Federalism: dividing power among a central government and several regional governments • Federal and state governments, local decisions made • States wanted more rights than they would have with a completely powerful National government • Why?

  5. Formal Amendments—pg 73 • The Constitution was written over 200 years ago. How has it kept up with so much change? • Amendments! • Changes in the written words of the Constitution • Article V of Construction explains how to amend • There are 4 ways to amend

  6. First method: 2/3 vote in each house of Congress, and ratified by ¾ of state legislatures • 26 of the 27 amendments were done this way • Second method: Proposed by Congress and ratified by ¾ of states—21st amendment • Third method: proposed at a national convention called by 2/3 of state legislatures • Fourth method: proposed at a national convention and ratified by ¾ of the states

  7. Proposed Amendments—pg 76 • 1 rule: cannot keep any state from voting in the Senate • Congress can reject amendments, but they don’t go away • More than 10,000 attempted amendments since 1789, only 33 have made it to vote, and 27 have been ratified • The first 10 amendments=Bill of Rights

  8. Other ways to change the Constitution • Congress adds more detail • Executive Agreement: president makes an agreement with another country • Custom: unwritten concepts that become traditional and accepted (the Cabinent)

  9. What other ways can you think of?

  10. Challenges to Constitution Government • Civil War • Expanding Suffrage • Great Depression • Civil Rights Movement

  11. Civics Homework: Due Monday, October 4 at beginning of class • Read your document • WRITE a 2-3 paragraph summary of the document • Explain where you found Core Democratic Values (CDVs) in the document, what CDVs they are, and why you think they are relevant to the document, and WRITE that in 1 paragraph • Does NOT need to be typed, but does need to be legible!

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