Civics - Lesson 2

Civics : The United States Constitution
Lesson 2 Overview
The Articles of Confederation were soon found to be a poor plan for the new
American government. In this lesson, you’ll learn why the Articles needed to be
revised. As American leaders recognized this need for revision, they decided to call
a constitutional convention. You’ll also learn how that came about and how the framers
(writers) of the Constitution went about their work. When you complete this lesson, you’ll
have a good understanding of what’s in the Constitution of the United States. You’ll also
understand the main principles included in that document—principles such as liberty, basic
rights, and checks on the power of government.
2.1 Analyze the events leading to the ratification of the Constitution

After the Revolution
READING ASSIGNMENT
Problems with the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation provided for a weak central government. As a result, the nation
consisted of a loose alliance (union) of independent states. This alliance was called a
“league of friendship” among states. The central government consisted of a Congress in
which the representative of each state had one vote. Each state was expected to honor the
laws of the other states. But there was no central court to handle disputes among the states.
There was no president or executive branch.
The Congress had the power to declare war and enter into treaties with foreign powers. It
could establish a postal service and coin money. However, the Congress couldn’t levy taxes.
Money for the central government depended on donations from the states, based on how
much land they controlled. In other words, the Congress couldn’t fund an army without
© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 1

hoping that money would be provided from the states. It could do little to control the western
lands, since money might not be available for that purpose. The weaknesses in the Articles
of Confederation are summarized in the figure below. Let’s take a closer look at some of
these flaws.
[Illustration listing the problems with the Articles of Confederation]
As the new independent nation began to apply the Articles of Confederation, they soon
recognized its weakness.
Levy is a term generally used to refer to taxes. To levy taxes means to impose or collect the
taxes.
Congress's Inability to Collect Taxes
Congress couldn’t levy taxes. Think about what that meant. The central government could
send bills to the states for the services it provided. However, that didn’t mean that the states
would always pay—or always pay on time. If you were trying to make a budget for the central
government, how would you go about it? With no firm idea about revenues or taxes coming
in, you could make no firm plans. You couldn’t be sure how many cannons to buy for the
army. For that matter, you couldn’t be sure there would be money to pay the soldiers. These
types of events actually did happen.
This weakness almost caused the end of the United States, just as it began. The British
crossed boundaries into the United States in violation of the Treaty of Paris of 1783. The
Spanish also violated the borders of southern states. The central government could do
nothing about it because the states didn’t pay requested taxes.

Who Will Enforce the Laws?
As mentioned, states and individuals sometimes ignored laws sent to them by the federal
government. When that happened, what could the government do? Send a nasty letter? The
central government had no real power to enforce laws. It couldn’t even use the army without
the unanimous consent of all the states.
In 1786, a bankrupt farmer named Daniel Shays led an uprising in Massachusetts. The
incident is called Shays Rebellion. Shays had fought in the American Revolution. He
resigned from the army in 1780 because he hadn’t been paid. At home, he faced a mountain
of debt. To make matters worse, the Massachusetts legislature in Boston was coming down
hard on debtors. Poor farmers were often sent to debtor’s prison. Others had their property
unfairly confiscated and sold. Shays organized a rebellion made up of Continental Army
veterans. Massachusetts sent its militia to restore order, but many of them ended up joining
the rebels. The state militia was finally able to end Shays Rebellion when the group tried to
take weapons from the federal armory.
Through it all, the central government could do nothing. It couldn’t act to override
Massachusetts laws that were unfair. It could do nothing to restore order. Even though the
Shays Rebellion was unsuccessful in itself, it did have one useful outcome. It encouraged
national leaders to seek alternatives to the Articles of Confederation.
Paris, France, January 30, 1787
In a letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson wrote this thought:
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political
world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the
encroachments on the rights of the people who have produced them. An observation of this
truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as
not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of the
government.”
Basically, Jefferson is saying that rebellions, if they’re unsuccessful, sometimes give the
government more control in certain areas.
Who Will Regulate Commerce?

Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government had no power to regulate trade.
If a group of Connecticut dairy farmers wanted to protect prices on goods it produced within
that state, they might ask their legislature to charge a tariff on out-of-state cheese. They
would want to keep cheese prices high in neighboring states, such as New York, so that
citizens of Connecticut would buy cheese from Connecticut producers.
A tariff is a tax on goods that one nation (or state) buys from another nation (or state).
Now let’s say that Connecticut townsfolk have been selling textile goods to people in New
York. The New York legislature could respond to the cheese tariff by placing a tariff on
Connecticut textiles. The result could be a battle over tariffs. Meanwhile, because the central
government couldn’t control interstate trade, it could do nothing about the tariff problem. This
cheese and textile example may seem trivial, but it should help you get an idea of one of the
problems created by the Articles. There were also much bigger problems. For example,
states were freely making trade agreements with foreign powers. In this way, if one state set
a price for an export, it might drive competing states out of the foreign market for the same
export. Because the central government couldn’t regulate foreign trade, it was powerless to
solve this problem.
Interstate trade refers to trade from one state to another. New York sending cheese into New
Jersey is an example of interstate trade.
An export is a product taken from one country to another for the purpose of trade.
No Courts and No President
The Articles of Confederation served as the law for the entire nation. However, it made no
provision for a president or a central court system. With no central court, there was no way to
interpret that law. Without a central court, there was no way to manage legal disputes
between the states. And, of course, with no president, there was no one to lead or enforce
the laws passed by the Congress.
IMAGINE THAT IT’S 1786.
While on a tour of Italy, you’re in a restaurant in Rome. After finishing your meal, you begin to
write a letter home. A curious waiter notices that you’re writing in English. His name is

Giuseppe and his knowledge of the New World is sketchy.
“Ah,” he says, “you are English?”
“No,” you reply, “I’m an American.”
“Ah yes, America. Such a big place, America. You come from Canada?”
“I come from Virginia.”
Giuseppe looks puzzled. “Oh, yes. Virginia. Who is leader of your Virginia?”
“The governor. He holds office in a town called Williamsburg.”
Giuseppe still looks puzzled. “But I read in a newspaper that there is a revolution in America
and now there is a new country.”
“Yes,” you say, “the United States of America. Virginia is part of the United States.”
“Oh,” Giuseppe says, “and who is leader of United States of America?”
You think about that for a moment before you say, “No one person. We have a Congress in
Philadelphia. Each state has one vote in the Congress.”
“Then who is leader of this Congress?” Giuseppe wants to know.
“No one person. Each state sends delegates to the Congress. But no delegate is the leader
of the United States.”
“Ah,” Giuseppe replies. “This is strange to me. You live in Virginia. Virginia is in the United
States of America. Virginia has a governor. But the United States has no governor.”
You nod. “That’s right.”
Giuseppe shrugs. “So, this United States is not really a country. It cannot be a country
because it has no leader. It is just a lot of states.”
You have no answer to that. If you had been in contact with someone back home, you could
tell Giuseppe what has been happening.
In January of 1786, a group of Virginians called a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. They

wanted to have a national convention to discuss problems with the Articles of Confederation.
Since only five states sent delegates to the convention, no work could be done. Therefore,
plans were made to assemble in May of 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. Little
did those delegates who met in 1787 know at the time that they would end up drafting the
Constitution of the United States—a document that has survived over 200 years. If you go
back to Rome in 1790, you can tell Giuseppe that the United States now has a leader. He’s a
fellow Virginian named George Washington. Let’s take a look at how the Constitution of the
United States came about.
A delegate is a person who represents others at a meeting.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787
During the summer of 1787, delegates from all of the 13 states, except Rhode Island, met in
Philadelphia. Originally, they planned to revise the Articles of Confederation to eliminate the
problems it contained. However, once the delegates began to meet, they decided the
problems were too big to simply revise the Articles. They instead discarded the Articles and
started from scratch. This was a significant decision because it was outside of the rules that
Congress gave the delegates. In doing what they did, they could have been charged with
treason. This was one of the reasons that the delegates worked in secret and stayed silent
when they left each day. This also allowed the delegates to speak freely without fearing what
others outside the building would say. We only know about the debates in the convention
because of writings from delegates published later on.
To learn more about the meeting place for the convention, access this link (www.ushistory.or
g/tour/independence-hall.htm) and take the virtual tour.
The Constitutional Convention had a president and a number of different committees. The
president of the convention was George Washington. He had little part in actually drafting the
Constitution. Instead, he saw his job as overseeing the proceedings and keeping the people
focused on the job at hand.
Most of the committees were created to discuss particular issues that needed correction in
the Articles of Confederation, The style committee was responsible for the final draft of the
Constitution. A member of the style committee, Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, was
responsible for the final format of the document. Another member of the committee, James

Madison, was responsible for the Constitution’s language.
Over 100 working days, they completed a constitution that all the delegates could agree on.
But getting to that agreement wasn’t easy. The delegates came from states with different
interests. Some states, like Georgia, Virginia, and New York, were large. Other states, like
New Jersey, Delaware, and New Hampshire, were small. States of the South wanted to
protect their plantation economy and maintain slavery. States of the North were interested in
protecting the interests of their small farmers, while at the same time encouraging the growth
of thriving cities that were developing manufacturing and trade. Delegates from each state
brought different political philosophies as well. But there was one thing most of the delegates
clearly understood: The Articles of Confederation were flawed. They didn’t allow the United
States to function as a single nation. A government that can’t collect taxes or regulate
commerce is too weak to gain the respect of foreign powers. A central government that can’t
enforce its laws is hardly a government at all.
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention held their meetings in secrecy. Though it was
hot that summer in Philadelphia, they kept the windows closed and the doors sealed. They
allowed no newspaper reporters behind those closed doors. The delegates wanted secrecy
so they could speak their minds freely. Maybe that was a good idea. But we can wonder
what would have happened if the proceedings had been broadcast on C-SPAN.
Learn more about the Constitutional Convention of 1787 by visiting this link. (teachingameric
anhistory.org/convention/)
Two Plans
Because the delegates to the convention represented states with different interests, the men
soon split into two groups over how states should be represented in the new Congress. As
you probably remember, the Articles of Confederation had one chamber of Congress with
one vote per state. Each group had its opinions about what form of government was
appropriate for the new nation. Out of this division came two separate plans.
The Virginia Plan
James Madison of Virginia presented to the convention a proposal called the Virginia Plan.
Madison’s plan called for a strong central government with three branches, or divisions—an
executive branch (president), a legislative branch (Congress), and a judicial branch (a federal

court system). The powers and duties of the government were to be divided among these
three branches. This arrangement is known as separation of powers. In addition, the Virginia
Plan provided for a system of checks and balances. That is, each branch had enough power
of its own to keep the other branches from becoming too powerful.
According to the Virginia Plan, the legislature was to be bicameral. That is, it was to have two
houses, like the Parliament of Great Britain. At that time, the British Parliament consisted of a
House of Lords, which represented the nobility, and a House of Commons, which
represented the people of the towns and counties. In the Virginia plan, the bicameral
legislature would consist of a lower and an upper house. The upper house would be selected
by the lower house. The president would be elected by the legislature. The number of
representatives that each state would have in the legislature was to be based on the
population of the state. The larger the population of a state, the more representatives it
would have in Congress. The figure below illustrates the government described in the
Virginia Plan.
[Diagram of the Virginia Plan]
The Virginia Plan called for a strong central government and three separate branches.
The New Jersey Plan
William Paterson of New Jersey was the leading spokesman for the New Jersey Plan. He
offered it to the convention in response to Madison’s Virginia Plan. Paterson was concerned
for the rights of the small states—like New Jersey. He wanted to make sure those states
would have equal representation in the Congress. Basically, advocates of the New Jersey
Plan wanted to revise the Articles of Confederation. They agreed with Madison’s idea of
three branches of government. However, they felt that a strong president would be too much
like a king. They suggested having several executives, each with limited authority. They also

wanted a legislature in which each state had a single vote. In addition, they agreed that the
central government should be able to regulate commerce between the states.
The Compromise
After both plans had been presented, debate stormed through the convention for many days.
Supporters of the Virginia Plan debated with supporters of the New Jersey Plan. The two
main areas of disagreement were
Representation
Slavery
After much debate, it was agreed that representation in the lower house of Congress would
be based on population. The upper house, however, would be composed of two delegates
from each state. In that way, the lower house represented the people, and the upper house
represented the states. This agreement is known as the Great Compromise. Two things
made this compromise great. First, it assured the political power of the small states. Second,
it committed the delegates to a new form of government. The Articles of Confederation would
be abandoned.
Once the representation problem was resolved, the issue of slavery reared its head. The first
debate was over whether slavery would be allowed. Some northern delegates wanted to take
the opportunity to abolish slavery altogether. Other northerners and most southern delegates
argued that slavery was too large of an issue to be argued there and worried that abolition
would have a negative affect on the economy.
The second question was whether slaves should be considered as property or citizens. In
this case, southerners believed that slaves should be considered people, and not just
property, so they would have more representation in Congress. At that time, about 70
percent of the population in South Carolina was represented by slaves. Some delegates felt
that South Carolina, and the rest of the Southern states, would have unfair representation if
slaves were counted as population. Northerners, though many were anti-slavery, tried
arguing that slaves should be considered only property and not counted as people to be
represented.
To resolve that issue, the delegates agreed to a compromise. First, they agreed that the
legality of slavery would be addressed in 20 years and Congress would be given the power

to outlaw the international slave trade. As for representation, each slave would count as
three-fifths of a person. In determining the population of a state, five slaves would count as
three persons. This agreement was called the Three-Fifths Compromise.
The basic structure of the completed Constitution was fairly close to Madison’s Virginia Plan.
However, the Constitution was also shaped by the compromises.
The Rising Sun
[Illustration of Benjamin Franklin]
At the Constitutional Convention, Franklin was often consulted between sessions. As a

diplomat, his contributions to the new nation were greatly respected. He was also well known
for his wisdom and common sense. During sessions, however, he seemed content to be
mainly an observer.
When the Constitution had at last been drafted, Ben Franklin rose to speak. He said there
were parts of it he could never approve. Even so, he asked the delegates to sign it. He said
the new government would be a blessing for the people if it was conducted well and
honestly.
While the framers were signing the Constitution, Franklin studied a picture of the sun on the
back of the president’s chair. It was the chair George Washington used. He commented to
some delegates sitting nearby, “I have often . . . in the course of the session . . . looked at
that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But
now at length I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun.”

Ratifying the Constitution
[Photo of the Constitution]
The Constitution was

completed in 1787 and sent to
the states for ratification.
(National Archives and Records
Administration)
The Constitution was completed in September 1787. The next step was to send it to the
states for ratification. The delegates to the convention decided that each state should hold a
ratification convention.
Ratification is the process of approving something by a vote.
Before the Articles of Confederation went into effect, all 13 states had to ratify the document.
It took four years for this to happen. In 1787, the American nation was in crisis. The
delegates knew that the nation couldn’t wait four years for a new government. Therefore,
they decided that only 9 of the 13 states must ratify the Constitution before it would replace
the Articles of Confederation and become the law of the nation.
As people in the states began to examine the Constitution, they became divided into two
groups:
The Federalists supported the Constitution.

The Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution.
One problem was that many people didn’t identify themselves as Americans. They identified

themselves with their states, considering themselves to be New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians,
and Georgians, for example. The Anti-Federalists were suspicious of the strong central
government of the Constitution.
Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. It was quickly followed by Pennsylvania
and New Jersey. Finally, on June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify
the Constitution. It officially went into effect on that date. The figure below lists the 13
colonies along with the dates on which they voted to ratify the new Constitution.
[Table listing the dates each state ratified the United States Constitution]
It took nine months for the necessary nine states to ratify the Constitution. It took almost
three years for all of the states to ratify it.
The Constitution is called the “supreme law of the land.” This means that no state can make

any laws that contradict the Constitution. If they do, those laws have no effect.
As you can see in the figure above, New York was one of the last states to ratify the
Constitution. To gain support for the Constitution, mainly in New York, a group of three men
wrote a series of articles arguing for federalism—that is, for the Constitution. The articles
were published in newspapers under the pseudonym Publius. (A pseudonym is a false, or
fictitious name.) These articles eventually became known as The Federalist Papers, or The
Federalist.
The men who authored these articles were James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John
Jay. James Madison became the fourth president of the United States. Alexander Hamilton,
who represented New York at the Constitutional Convention, became the nation’s first
secretary of the treasury. John Jay was the nation’s first chief justice of the Supreme Court.
There were 85 federalist essays written during this period. Here are a few of the topics
addressed in these articles:
Political differences among people at the time were mainly due to economic conflicts—
not the conflict of large states versus small states.
Since slavery was vital to the southern economy, many of the articles touched on this
issue.
Some articles explained how a strong constitution would help to reduce the conflicts
between northern and mid-Atlantic states over trade and manufacturing.
The publication of The Federalist Papers helped turn the tide in some states in favor of the
Federalists.
Two Enemies Who Became Friends
[Collage depicting Thomas Jefferson

and John Adams]
Two famous patriots who weren’t present at the convention were Thomas Jefferson of
Virginia and John Adams of Massachusetts. Both were on diplomatic missions in Europe.
However, each had made crucial contributions to the founding of the American nation. And,
of course, both men took a strong interest in the convention taking place at Philadelphia.
John Adams became our nation’s second president, and Thomas Jefferson, our third.
Jefferson and Adams had bitter disputes. They had different visions of American
government. They had different visions of the place of the United States in history. Yet, in the
end they became great friends. An interesting note is that both men died on the same day.
That day was July 4, 1826, precisely 50 years after July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of
Independence was signed.
About the Authors
In this section, you’ll study some highlights of just a few of the better-known participants in
the development of the United States Constitution.
James Madison. James Madison is often called the “Father of the Constitution.” He was a
Virginian and a wealthy landowner. Madison was a brilliant student of history, public law, and
political theory. Indeed, he arrived at the Constitutional Convention with two long essays
outlining the ideas he would present as the Virginia Plan. He was a small, intense man. His
friends called him the “Great Little Madison.”
James Madison served first as a member of the House of Representatives, and then as
secretary of state during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. He served as president of the
United States from 1809 to 1817.
Gouverneur Morris. Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania was the most active debater of the
convention. He delivered 173 speeches during the course of the convention. Like many of
the able statesmen at the convention, he distrusted the common people. He thought they
were too easily misled. The electoral college system for electing the president reflects the
influence of those who thought rule by educated aristocrats was important. (You’ll read about
the electoral college later in this unit when you study Article II of the Constitution.)
While 55 delegates assembled in Philadelphia, only 39 of them actually signed the

Constitution.
Alexander Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton served on the style committee with Morris.
Because Hamilton was often absent from the convention on legal business, his direct
contribution to the document was less than it might have been. On the other hand, Hamilton
played a vital role in getting the Constitution ratified in New York. Hamilton saw trade and
manufacturing as the key to America’s future power. As secretary of the treasury, he helped
create a financial system that would make America a powerful industrial nation.
William Paterson. William Paterson led the Anti-Federalists by proposing the New Jersey
Plan. His ideas helped to force the compromises needed to adopt the Constitution. The city
of Paterson, New Jersey, is named after him.
Roger Sherman. Roger Sherman of Connecticut was the delegate who proposed the ideas
for compromise that were eventually adopted. He was also a signer of the Declaration of
Independence. In the new government, he served in both the House of Representatives and
the Senate.
First in War, First in Peace
[Photo of a painting of George
Washington]
After his death, George Washington was described as “First in war, first in peace, and first in
the hearts of his countrymen.” He was, indeed, a key figure in the birth of the American

nation. Washington had little respect for government under the Articles of Confederation,
which he called “a mere shadow without substance.” Yet, as president of the Constitutional
Convention, he kept his opinions to himself. For one thing, there was already serious talk of
making him the first American president. Washington was not at all sure he wanted that post.
Therefore, he refused to make a show of himself during the convention. Later, though, he
fought hard to get the Constitution ratified in Virginia.
So now you know how the United States Constitution came to be. Next, you’re going to
examine the various parts of the Constitution itself.
Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT
Key Points
Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government couldn’t levy taxes or
regulate trade.
The Shays Rebellion was unsuccessful, but it encouraged national leaders to seek
alternatives to the Articles of Confederation.
Delegates at the Constitutional Convention initially planned to revise the Articles of
Confederation, but eventually decided to discard the Articles and start from scratch.
The two plans for representation in the United States Congress were the New Jersey
Plan and the Virginia Plan.
The Three-Fifths Compromise determined that each slave would count as three-fifths of
a person. In determining the population of a state, five slaves would count as three
people.Federalists supported the Constitution; Anti-Federalists opposed it.
Links
Articles of Confederation (Primary Source Document) (www.ushistory.org/documents/co

nfederation.htm)
Articles of Confederation (Strengths) (blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/09/the-articles-of-confeder
ation-the-first-constitution-of-the-united-states/)
Exercise: Two Plans

Based on what you've read, answer the following questions.
1. What was William Paterson’s main contribution to the Constitutional Convention?

2. What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?
3. Why were some delegates opposed to having a president to lead the executive branch?
4. Explain the name Publius.
Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Two Plans
1. William Paterson presented a plan to oppose Madison’s Virginia Plan. The New Jersey
Plan, as it was called, proposed revising the Articles of Confederation. 2. To settle the issue
of proportional representation, the delegates agreed on a formula for counting slaves in a
state’s population. A slave would count as three-fifths of a person. 3. Paterson and others
who supported the New Jersey Plan thought a single president would be too much like a
king. 4. The name Publius was used to sign _The Federalist_ articles when they were
published in newspapers. Publius was a pseudonym for James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, and John Jay.
2.2 Examine the US Constitution

The Constitution
READING ASSIGNMENT
The Constitution of the United States has three main sections:
The Preamble
The Articles
The Amendments
The Preamble to the Constitution
The Preamble is the introduction to the Constitution of the United States. It presents the six
general purposes—that is, the framers of the Constitution began by stating their reasons for
writing the document.
The Preamble is like a gem. It compresses the main ideas of an American vision of

government into a single sentence. The gem has six sides. Let’s briefly look at each one.
[Illustration of a gem indicating the six main ideas of the Preamble]
The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States includes six purposes.
A more perfect union is the term that the framers of the Constitution used to indicate
they wanted something better than what they experienced in the Articles of
Confederation. In addition, union means that the citizens of each state must share in the
benefits of justice, civil order, and equal opportunity. However, they must also shoulder
responsibility for the common defense.
Justice requires laws that protect people without taking away their natural rights.
Domestic tranquility is civil order based on sound and wise laws. To “insure domestic
tranquility” means to assure peace within all states within the nation.
General welfare requires that all citizens must have equal opportunities under the law. If
that’s to occur, wise laws must reflect compassion for people’s needs. Liberty is based
on the natural rights written down in the Declaration of Independence: “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; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.” No government may be just or wise that takes away these rights.
The common defense reminds us of the motto of the Three Musketeers: “All for one and
one for all.” An enemy of one state is an enemy of the union.
Liberty in the Preamble means freedom from government oppression. “To secure the
blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” indicates this liberty will be passed
down to future generations.
The Preamble is reproduced for you below:

[Illustration of the Premable]
The Preamble to the Constitution presents the six reasons or purposes that the Constitution
was written.
The Articles of the Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is divided into seven Articles, each covering a separate
topic. Together, the articles set forth the basic plan of the government of the United States.
Let’s take a brief look at each of these.
Article I: The Legislative Branch
Article I establishes the legislative branch of the government. It consists of a Congress with
the power to make laws. Congress includes two houses:
House of Representatives
Senate
We call this a bicameral legislature since it has two houses.
The legislative branch of a government is that part which makes the laws of the country or
state.
The House of Representatives consists of members elected from each state. The number of
representatives from each state is determined by its population. States with larger
populations have more representatives than states with smaller populations. Currently, the
number of representatives in the House is 435. Each state must have at least one
representative in the House.

Members of the House of Representatives are elected every two years. Candidates must
have been citizens of the United States for seven years and be at least 25 years old. They
must also be residents of the states they’re to represent.
When Congress meets, which must be at least once a year, the members of the House elect
a Speaker of the House and other officers. The Speaker is in charge of the meetings of the
House of Representatives. Today, the House meets all year with some breaks to go home
and talk to their constituents. At the beginning of a session, which is the January after an
election, the leadership of the political parties, including the Speaker, is elected. Other
leadership positions will be introduced in the next lesson.
Members of the Senate are elected to six-year terms. Candidates must have been citizens of
the United States for nine years and be at least 30 years old. They must also be residents of
the states they’re to represent. The citizens of each state elect two senators. Therefore, the
Senate is composed of 100 people (two from each of the 50 states).
Members of both the House and the Senate are elected on the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November of even-numbered years.
The vice president of the United States serves as the president of the Senate. However, the
vice president can vote only in the event of a tie. Since the vice president may often have
other duties, the Senate is expected to elect officers to conduct its meetings. For example,
the president pro tempore conducts Senate meetings when the vice president is unavailable.
Pro tempore is Latin meaning “for a time allotted.” This is typically the most senior member—
the person who has been in the Senate longest—of the majority power.
To maintain the separation of powers, no member of the House or Senate may hold another
government job while serving his or her term.
Both houses of Congress make their own rules for conducting meetings or for punishing
members who behave badly. They also set their own salary by vote. Each house has
different rules for conducting debate. Both the Senate and the House can meet without a
quorum present. However, a quorum of members must be present in either house to vote on
a bill.
A quorum is the number of members that must be present to conduct business. In the case

of the Senate and House, a quorum is a majority of the members.
The main job of Congress is to make laws. A bill is a proposal for a law. Bills may be
proposed, debated, and either passed or defeated in either house. (The way bills become
laws is discussed later in this course.) The Constitution requires all tax bills to originate in the
House of Representatives. When passed, they’re sent to the Senate for approval or
amendment. Any bill amended by the Senate must be returned to the House for approval.
You can imagine that it can take awhile to get such a bill passed.
The Constitution requires that records be kept of all bills introduced in the House or Senate.
Each record includes who proposed a bill, what it says, and who voted for or against it. All of
this information is published in the Congressional Record. You can find copies of this record
in your local library.
Whether a bill originates in the House or the Senate, it must be passed by both houses
before it’s sent to the president for a reading. The bill becomes law if it’s signed by the
president within 10 days, excluding Sundays, and returned to the house where it originated.
A president who doesn’t want to sign a bill can pass it back, unsigned, to the house where it
originated. This process is called a veto. However, if both houses of Congress vote for the
bill with a two-thirds majority or more, the bill overrides the president’s veto and becomes
law. If the president holds a bill without signing it for 10 days, excluding Sundays, and without
returning it to Congress, it becomes law. When a president does this, we can assume that
the president doesn’t like the bill but doesn’t want to fight it.
Rules for proposing and passing bills are outlined in Article I of the Constitution. However,
the way bills are actually proposed and debated has developed in part from customs
established in Congress. Congress also makes all the laws for the District of Columbia
(Washington, DC).
A big part of Article I outlines the powers of Congress, which are summarized for you in the
image below.

[Table describing the Powers of Congress]
As you can see from this list, the Constitution gives Congress a tremendous amount of
responsibility.
Article II: The Executive Branch
Article II outlines the executive branch of the government. In the Constitution, Article II is
divided into four sections. Because this covers such an important part of the United States
government, we’ll look at each section individually.
Section 1: President and Vice President. The first section of Article II declares that the
executive power of government will be vested in a president of the United States, who will

serve a four-year term. A vice president will serve the same term with the president. This
section also explains the manner in which the president is to be elected. Briefly, here’s how it
works:
Each state is allocated a certain number of electors—equal to the number of its senators
and representatives combined.
Before the election, the political parties in each state submit a slate of electors for their
political party. These electors have pledged themselves to vote for the candidate of that
particular party. Each party submits a slate equal to the number of electors allowed in
that state.
On Election Day, when voters go to the polls, they’re really voting for the slate of
electors, not for an individual person.
Whatever party wins the vote in a state wins all of that state’s electoral votes. In
Nebraska and Maine, the electoral votes are divided by who won each congressional
district.
In December following the election, the electors meet in their states and cast their votes
for president and vice president. The president isn’t officially elected until the electoral
votes are all in and counted.
This group of electors is known as the electoral college. See the image below for some
interesting facts about presidential elections in the United States. Later in this course, you’ll
study more about the way elections occur.
Section 1 also lists the qualifications for a candidate for president of the United States. That
person must be
A natural-born citizen. That is, he or she must have been born in the United States and
must be a citizen of this country.
At least 35 years old
A resident for at least 14 years within the United States
Although women aren’t excluded from being presidential candidates, so far the United States
hasn’t had a woman president.

[Table describing election trivia]
Here are some interesting facts about presidential elections in the United States.
The remaining information in Section 1 deals with the following issues:
On the day a person takes the office of president of the United States, he or she must
take the presidential oath
[Figure depicting the presidential oath of office]
This is the oath that’s taken by all presidents on the day they begin their term of office.

Congress is to set the president’s salary.
Congress shall decide who will be president if the president dies or is disabled and if, for
some reason, there’s no vice president. Details on what must be done if the president is
unable to fulfill his or her duties are outlined in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
Section 2: Powers of the President. Here are some of the main powers outlined in this
section. The president is empowered to
Act as commander-in-chief of the armed forces

Appoint executive leaders to cabinet posts, such as secretary of state and secretary of
defense
Grant pardons for federal crimes, except in the case of impeachment
Enter into treaties with foreign powers with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Advice and consent means that any treaty must be approved by a two-thirds majority of
the members present in the Senate.
Appoint ambassadors to foreign lands and judges to the Supreme Court, with the advice
and consent of the Senate. Presidential appointments to less important posts don’t
require Senate approval.
While Ronald Reagan was president, he was disabled for a time after an attempt on his life.
His vice president, George H. W. Bush, acted as president during that time.
Section 3: Duties and Responsibilities of the President. While Section 2 outlines what
the president is allowed to do, Section 3 lists what he or she is expected to do. These
responsibilities include
Giving Congress regular information on the state of the union

Convening and adjourning either or both houses of Congress under “extraordinary
[special] occasions”
Receiving ambassadors
Assuring that the laws be “faithfully executed”
Commissioning or appointing “all the officers of the United States”
After World War I, President Woodrow Wilson entered into an international alliance to form a
League of Nations. The Senate, however, wouldn’t approve it. Without Senate ratification,
the United States had no part in the alliance.

Section 4: Impeachment.
Impeachment is the process by which a government leader is charged with a crime.
Section 4 of Article II declares that the president, vice president, or other officials not in the
military may be removed from office through the process of impeachment and conviction of a
crime while in office. Three presidents have been impeached but not removed from office.
President William Clinton, the forty-second president of the United States, was impeached,
but not found guilty, for lying under oath in a court. Andrew Johnson, who was vice president
when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, just after the Civil War, and became
president. Johnson was seemingly impeached because he didn’t follow a law to dismiss a
member of his Cabinet. It was really because of his attitudes about reconstruction in the
South. Johnson wanted to follow the moderate proposals of Lincoln, but members of the
Congress wanted to punish southern states and do more to protect the civil rights of former
slaves. President Donald Trump was impeached in 2019 on two charges, Abuse of Power
and Obstruction of Congress, after being accused of pressuring a foreign government to
interfere with the 2020 election and interfering with the subsequent investigation. President
Trump was impeached again in 2021 on accusations of “Incitement of Insurrection” against
the United States by attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Clinton, Johnson
and Trump were all found not guilty by the Senate trial, and not forced from office.
Article III: The Judicial Branch
Article III defines the judicial branch of the government. It says that the judicial branch shall
consist of the Supreme Court, which has nine judges, and the lower federal courts. Judges in
the lower federal courts are appointed by Congress. As you’ve already learned, the president
appoints judges to the Supreme Court, and the Senate approves these appointments.
Judicial power is the power to interpret laws. Congress passes laws and the president
enforces them, but the federal courts and the Supreme Court decide if they’re constitutional.
The Supreme Court can strike down a law that it decides is against the Constitution.

[Photo of the Supreme Court
building in Washington D.C.]
The Supreme Court

meets in this building in
Washington, D.C. The
building is appropriately
called the Supreme
Court Building. Its
address is One First
Street.
The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review. That means it has the power to interpret
the Constitution. If a case comes before the Court, the justices can decide if the case is
unconstitutional. The Supreme Court hears many kinds of cases. In some cases, the Court
has original jurisdiction, which means that it has the authority to hear cases that haven’t
already been tried by lower courts. Later in this course, you’ll learn about some important
cases of this type.
Most cases brought before the Supreme Court come under its appellate jurisdiction. The
world appellate is a form of the word appeal. Appeal is the process by which a party in a
lawsuit asks a higher court to review the decision of a lower court. The Supreme Court is the
highest court of the land. Cases disputed in the lower federal courts can be brought before
the Supreme Court on appeal. The decision of the justices is final. Segregation in the United

States was ended by a Supreme Court decision.
You’ll learn a lot more about the court system later in this course.
Article IV: Relations Between the States
Article IV concerns relations between the states. Here are a few of the basic ideas found in
Article IV:
Every state must respect the laws of all other states. For example, the laws for marriage
are different in Virginia and Arkansas. Suppose a couple married in Arkansas moves to
Virginia. To be considered lawfully married in Virginia, the couple must meet the laws of
that state. This had been an issue in the case of gay marriage, because as some states
legalized it, other states outlawed it. The Supreme Court in the case Obergefell v.
Hodges ruled state laws prohibiting gay marriage were unconstitutional. This decision
requires all states to recognize and allow gay marriage.
When you travel from your home state to another state on vacation, you can expect the
same rights as a resident of that state. States aren’t permitted to treat residents of other
states unfairly.
If a person charged with a crime flees from one state to another, the second state has
an obligation to return the suspect to the state from which he or she fled.
Congress has the power to admit new states into the Union. It guarantees that each
state shall have a representative government.
Each state and its government are to be protected by the armed forces of the United
States. In the case of violence or civil unrest within a state, the governor of that state
can call on federal forces to restore order. This is often done by putting the state’s
National Guard under federal control. Sometimes, however, the president may send
regular troops into a state. For example, during the civil rights struggle, Arkansas
Governor Orval Faubus refused to obey the Supreme Court ruling that required racial
integration in the schools. President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne
Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to maintain order.
Article V: Amendments to the Constitution
Article V explains how amendments are to be made to the Constitution. This procedure will
be discussed later in this lesson.

Article VI: Constitution as Supreme Law
Article VI makes the Constitution the supreme law of the land. The article has three main
provisions:
The US government is obligated to repay any debts on money borrowed before the
Constitution was adopted. The idea of this provision was to make the new government
legitimate and responsible in the eyes of the world.
The Constitution, the laws of Congress, and all treaties are the highest law of the land.
That means that the Constitution is supreme over any state laws. Therefore, any state
law that violates the provisions of the Constitution can be overturned. This clause was
part of civil rights cases in the 1960s and 1970s, in deciding that state segregation laws
were unconstitutional under the Civil Rights Law of 1965. All of these ideas are found in
what is called the supremacy clause of Article VI.
All members of Congress, all members of state legislatures, all federal and state
executives, and all who serve in the judicial branch must take an oath to obey the United
States Constitution. Furthermore, there can be no religious requirement for any who
apply for government jobs.
Article VII: Ratification of the Constitution
Article VII explains how the Constitution was to be ratified. You’ve already read about how
that happened. The Constitution had to be ratified by nine states in a convention held for that
purpose. It was ratified on June 21, 1788, and Congress first convened under its provisions
in 1789. In that same year, George Washington became the first president of the United
States.
The Bill of Rights
After the Constitution was completed, it was sent to all 13 states for ratification. Those who
were opposed to the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists, felt that the central government was
too strong. They remembered the recent problems they had experienced with the British
before the American Revolution. These people asked that a bill of rights be added to the
Constitution to spell out the rights of individual citizens. When they returned their ratification,
several states asked for such rights to be added to the Constitution as amendments; other
states ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be added.

Therefore, on September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States proposed 12
amendments that covered these issues of the rights of citizens. Only 10 of these
amendments were ratified by the state legislatures. These became the first 10 amendments
to the Constitution, which are known as the Bill of Rights.
The following paragraphs outline the main points of the 10 amendments that comprise the
Bill of Rights.
Amendment I
The First Amendment grants five freedoms:
Religion
Speech
Press
Assembly
Petition
These freedoms are the lifeblood of American democracy.
Freedom of religion is one of these basic freedoms. As you’ve already learned, many people
originally came to America to be free to worship as they wished. The First Amendment
assures this freedom. The amendment protects both the free exercise of religious expression
and states that the government can’t have an established religion, or one they approve
above others. The Supreme Court created a “wall of separation” between religion and
government action to follow the establishment clause. In a Supreme Court case, the Court
explained the freedom of religion as follows:
“Neither the state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws
which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force
nor influence a person to go to or remain away from church against his will or force him to
profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or
professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or nonattendance. No tax in
any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions,
whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion.”
Freedom of speech assures United States citizens that they have a right to voice their

opinions. That means Americans can express views that others may find offensive. They can
even speak against the government. Freedom of speech can’t be denied unless it’s
accompanied by actions that threaten or harm other people. As a Supreme Court justice put
it, yelling “Fire” in a crowded hall isn’t free speech.
Freedom is one side of a coin. Responsibility is the other side of that same coin. Freedom
doesn’t give you the right to harm yourself or others. Responsibility means exercising
freedom while clearly understanding that principle.
Freedom of the press is vital to democracy. A free press means exercising freedom of
speech through print or images, such as political cartoons. Thomas Jefferson was a great
advocate of a free press. He felt that a democracy was hollow if people couldn’t read and
write their opinions in books, newspapers, and pamphlets. Today, of course, freedom of the
press also applies to electronic media, such as radio and television.
Freedom of assembly means that people have the right to gather peacefully to demonstrate
or march for something they believe in. The Civil Rights Movement in America depended on
that freedom. Recently, there have been assemblies and protests on many issues, including
wars, economics, and religious beliefs.
[Photo of peaceful protester
with sign that reads STOP
THE WAR]
In the United States,

people have the
freedom to gather
peacefully to let their
views and opinions be
known to their
government
representatives.

The right to petition gives Americans the freedom to attempt to influence members of the
government. They can do so by visiting or writing letters to their congressional
representatives or other government officials, including the president of the United States.
When this right is expressed in a letter or a statement signed by many people, the request is
called a petition. Today, there are websites devoted to creating and signing petitions for the
government, such as
Petition the White House (petitions.whitehouse.gov/)

Care2 - The Petition Site (www.thepetitionsite.com/)
Amendment II
The Second Amendment to the Constitution says that every state has the right to a well-
armed militia. Therefore, it guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The
interpretation of this amendment has met with some controversy. Some feel it guarantees
the right of all citizens to own guns for self-protection. Others feel that the amendment is
outdated—that it refers to the need for a well-armed militia. They feel that the modern
National Guard and police meet this need very well. Still others say that the right of a citizen
to be a responsible gun owner should be guaranteed under the Ninth Amendment. In other
words, the right to own a gun is a public right.
Amendment III
The Third Amendment declares that in time of peace, no citizen shall have to quarter soldiers
unless they agree to do so. People resented being forced to house British soldiers before
and during the Revolution. That’s why this amendment seemed important in 1788.
This amendment is a bit outdated today. Few Americans are much concerned about having
soldiers take over their homes and there has been no threat by the military to do so.
Nevertheless, the amendment still stands because it protects Americans from government
intrusion into their homes and personal affairs.
Amendment IV
The Fourth Amendment states that people have a right to be safe from police searches and
arrests in their homes. Only a judge can issue a proper search warrant to police officers.

Further, the warrant must be issued for a legal cause, such as sufficient evidence that a
crime has been committed. Throughout US history, federal courts have allowed more causes
for police and federal officers to search without warrants.
Amendment V
The Fifth Amendment contains several important principles:
1. No person can be charged with a capital crime or other serious crime unless a charge is
brought by a grand jury. In today’s court system, a grand jury must issue an indictment
(formal charge) for any offense considered to be a felony (serious crime). For example,
robbery, murder, rape, and auto theft are recognized as felonies in the laws of all states.
The job of a grand jury is to decide whether there’s enough evidence to issue an
indictment. A jury of peers is selected only when an indictment results in a trial.
2. No person tried by a jury and found innocent can be tried again for the same offense.
This is called the double jeopardy rule.
3. No person can be forced to speak against or to produce evidence that would in any way
incriminate the individual. When you read or hear of people “taking the fifth,” they’re
referring to this right.
4. All persons are guaranteed due process under law, which means that above all, a
person must be treated fairly by the police and the courts.
5. The government must pay a fair price to the owners of property if that property is
claimed for public use. This right to take property for public use is called eminent
domain.
A capital crime is one that’s punishable by death.
[Photo of a courtroom judge]

According to the Constitution,
no person can be forced to
provide testimony against
himself or herself.
A simple example of this is when a town government claims an area to build a public
sidewalk across the front of a person’s lawn. The strip of land must be paid for at a fair price.
This example also helps you see that the Constitution applies to federal, state, and local
laws.
Amendment VI
The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution specifies many of the basic principles of due
process. If you or anyone you know is ever charged with a crime, you’ll want to study this list
carefully. Here are the provisions of this amendment:
Every person has a right to a speedy trial. Cases can still take time to be heard in order
for the accused to be able to work with their lawyer(s) on their case. The framers of the
Constitution must have agreed with the old saying “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Accused people must be informed of the charge or charges brought against them. This
is typically done when the accused is either arrested or arraigned in front of a judge.
If a case comes to trial, the accused have the right to question people who are
witnesses against them. They can also bring their own witnesses who have evidence to
support their cases.
A person accused of an offense has the right to be represented in court by an attorney.
Under a Supreme Court decision of 1963, Gideon v. Wainright, the Court decided that
there couldn’t be a fair trial without an attorney to defend the accused. Therefore, since
1963, a person who can’t afford a lawyer must have one provided by the court.
People have a right to a trial only if they declare themselves innocent in the pretrial
hearing.
A person who pleads guilty does not stand trial, but is sentenced by a judge.

[Woman in Courtroom]
If you’re accused of an offense

and you can’t afford an
attorney, the court must provide
one for you.
Amendment VII
The Seventh Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to a jury trial in civil cases that
involve at least $20 in value. Civil cases are argued in civil courts. Unlike criminal law, civil
law deals with disputes over property, business contracts, and the like. While this
amendment is for the federal courts, most state laws also permit a jury trial in civil cases.
Amendment VIII
The Eighth Amendment speaks for itself. Here’s what it says: “Excessive bail shall not be
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
Bail is an amount set by a judge, which allows an accused person to remain free until his or
her trial takes place. If bail is denied, a person must remain in jail until the trial. A fine may be
the form of punishment declared by a judge. Under this amendment, fines shouldn’t be so
great as to impoverish a person unfairly. The best known part of Amendment VIII is the part
about cruel and unusual punishment. Public whippings were once common in America. In
England, there was a time when a person could have his or her hands cut off for stealing.
The framers of the Constitution wanted America to be free of such barbaric punishments.
Amendment IX
The Ninth Amendment is about rights not enumerated in the Constitution. It states that rights
specified in the Constitution don’t deny or reject other rights held by the people. For example,

some state and local laws say that a person has a right to be protected from his or her
neighbor’s dog. Where such a law is seen as a public right, it must be protected by the
government. Of course, state and local laws must also be constitutional. They can’t infringe
on people’s basic rights.
Amendment X
The Tenth Amendment states that all powers not given to the federal government are
reserved to the states or to the people. This is a basic principle of federalism, which allows
for a strong central government. But it also allows for separate state governments that have
their own powers.
[Photo of the Supreme Court

building in Washington, D.C.]
On the Supreme Court

building in Washington,
D.C., are inscribed the
words "Equal justice
under law."
The Fourth through the Eighth Amendments provide basic legal rights. Along with the
Fourteenth Amendment passed in 1868, they outline what’s meant by equal justice under
law. That motto is inscribed on the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. Later in this
course, you’ll learn more about how the court system works to protect the legal rights of
citizens.
Amendments to the Constitution
In addition to the 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights, the Constitution includes other
amendments that have been added over the years. You’ll briefly examine just a few of them
here.

The Thirteenth Amendment, passed in 1865, abolished slavery. It also gave Congress
the power to make laws to assure that slavery would no longer exist in the United States
or its territories.
The Fourteenth Amendment, passed in 1868, made former slaves citizens of the United
States, overturned the Three-Fifths Compromise, and extended and explained many
rights of American citizens. For example, it guarantees rights of due process under the
Fifth Amendment to all citizens. People in every state are guaranteed equal protection
under the law. Because the Fourteenth Amendment is the basis of much civil rights
legislation, you’ll study it again later in this course.
The Fifteenth Amendment, passed in 1870, proclaims that no male citizen can be
denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery).
The Eighteenth Amendment, passed in 1919, established the prohibition of alcohol in
the United States. It made the buying, selling, and transportation of alcohol illegal. It
resulted in the growth of organized crime in America. It’s important to realize that this is
the only amendment to the Constitution that limited freedoms to American citizens. In
1933, the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment. No
other amendment has been repealed.
The Nineteenth Amendment, passed in 1920, gave the right to vote to women. It was a
turning point in women’s struggle for political equality.
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment, passed in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18. That
seemed reasonable, since many who serve in the armed forces are 18. On the other
hand, the legal drinking age in most states is now 21. Some have suggested that this
fact delivers a mixed message. If you’re 18, you’re responsible enough to die for your
country and to vote in local, state, and federal elections. However, you’re not competent
enough to drink a glass of beer in celebration if your candidate wins. No one ever said
democracy was simple.
Big Ideas in the Constitution
Separation of Powers
The framers of the Constitution were committed to government under the rule of law. The
separation of powers protects and preserves the rule of law. As you’ve already learned,
separation of powers refers to the division of power among the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches. In this way, no one person or group becomes too powerful.

[Illustration of the three branches of governement]
With the principle of separation of powers, no one part of the government becomes too
powerful.
The executive branch includes the president and various executive offices. The legislative
branch includes both houses of congress. The Judicial branch includes the Supreme Court,
Court of Appeal, and District Courts. When the principle of separation of powers is properly
applied, democracy is protected from the rule of one or a few.
Lord Acton, a British statesman, said, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely.” The principle of separation of powers works against the corruption that can result
when power is held in too few hands.
Checks and Balances
The principle of separation of powers is closely related to the principle of checks and
balances. Checks and balances are controls given to one branch of government to limit the
power of another branch.

[Diagram of the process of checks and balances]
This simple illustration shows just some of

the powers each branch has over the other
two branches. It illustrates the principle of
checks and balances.
James Madison’s ideas of checks and balances were the ones adopted into our Constitution.
America’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government were designed to keep
an eye on each other. That is, each branch has checks on the power of the other branches.
As shown in the figure, the executive branch has the power to nominate judges to the judicial
branch, but the judicial branch has the power to review presidential acts and deem them
unconstitutional. The executive branch has veto power over bills coming from the legislative
branch, giving the President the ability to stop laws that are perceived to go against the
common good. But the legislative branch has the ability to override the veto with a two-thirds
majority in both houses, as well as the ability to impeach the president and control over the
budget. If the president tries to act without or against legislation, Congress can cut off
money. The legislative branch also has the power to impeach judges in the judicial branch,
but the judicial branch has the power of judicial review over any laws passed by congress;
the Supreme Court can overturn any laws that Congress passes that go against the
constitution. Madison argued that American society had many different interests and points of view. Checks
and balances were needed in the Constitution to prevent any one group of interests or any one point of view

from gaining too much power. This is to protect from the majority rule discussed in the first study unit. Above
all, checks and balances were needed to prevent the majority from dominating the minority.
For additional information on the concept of checks and balances, click on this link (www.soci
alstudieshelp.com/lesson_13_notes.htm) .
Federalism
The word federalism comes from the Latin word fidere, which means “to trust.” The basic
idea of federalism in American government is that power is shared between a central
government and state governments. The Articles of Confederation took a step toward
federalism. However, it didn’t give the central government enough power to balance the
power of the states. A basic aim of the framers of the Constitution was to balance the powers
of the central and state governments.
[Diagram depicting unique and shared powers of federal and state governement]
In federalism, the central government has some powers and the state governments have
some powers. In addition, both have some powers that they share. This illustration shows
just a few of those powers.
From the time the Constitution was adopted in 1789, tensions over states’ rights and central
powers mounted. Much of the conflict was over slavery. As you’ve already learned, the
framers of the Constitution had to compromise over this issue. The states in the South
wanted slavery, but many people in the North opposed it. Only the American Civil War finally

resolved the slavery issue. However, issues of voting rights and racial discrimination
remained after the war ended in 1865. From that time on, Congress passed more and more
laws that affected states and localities. For example, Congress passed laws to restrict child
labor, protect the quality of food, and regulate interstate commerce. The principle of
federalism remained, but power drifted toward the central government. Since the end of
World War II in 1945, the power of the central government over the states has largely
focused on racial discrimination, expansion of executive power, and social programs.
Segregation was challenged in the federal courts. Integration was made the law of the land
by a decision of the Supreme Court.
Popular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty, or rule by the people, is the principle that the people in a state can
determine the laws within that state. The states felt that this principle of self-determination
was implied in the Constitution under the concept of federalism. The problem was that states
began to apply this principle to slavery. States wanted to decide for themselves whether they
would be slave or free states. However, allowing states to make this determination
threatened to upset the balance of power between the states and the central government.
People in the South depended on slaves to work their plantations. Many people in the North
thought slavery was cruel and immoral. In Pennsylvania, where Quaker influence was strong,
anti-slavery sentiment was also strong. Quakers were often abolitionists—people who
wanted to do away with slavery.
The tension between the states over popular sovereignty put pressure on the federal
government. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson signed a treaty with France to purchase a
tract of land called the Louisiana Purchase. Fifteen years later, in 1818, there were 22 states
in America—11 were free and 11 permitted slavery. At that time, the Missouri Territory, which
permitted slavery, applied for statehood. Arguments raged over whether Missouri should be
slave or free. If Missouri entered the Union as a slave state, it would upset the balance of
free and slave states. As it turned out, Maine applied for statehood in 1819. To keep the
Union intact, Congress adopted the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Missouri remained a
slave state, and Maine was admitted as a free state. However, the compromise didn’t settle
debates over states’ rights. Slavery, in particular, remained an unresolved issue. Only
America’s Civil War (1861–1865) would resolve that issue at the cost of more than a half
million lives.

Today, the territory of the Louisiana Purchase includes 15 Midwestern states. They stretch
from Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the Canadian border. Jefferson paid the
Emperor Napoleon of France 15, 000, 000f orthatterritory. Canyouimaginebuyingastatetodayf or
1,000,000? However, at the time, the purchase wasn’t permitted under the Constitution.
Fifteen US states owe their existence to a purchase that was unconstitutional!

READING ASSIGNMENT
Key Points
The US Constitution is divided into seven Articles.

The legislative branch of the government consists of a Congress with the power to
make laws.
Congress includes two houses: a House of Representatives and a Senate.
A bill is a proposal for a law.
A candidate for president of the United States must be a natural-born citizen, at least 35
years old, and a resident for at least 14 years within the United States.
Impeachment is the process by which a government leader is charged with a crime.
The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review and can strike down a law that it
considers to go against the Constitution.
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights.
A proposal can be ratified by approval of three-fourths of the state legislatures or
conventions in three-fourths of the states.
The Eighteenth Amendment, which denied Americans the legal use of alcoholic
beverages, was repealed in 1933.
Links
The Constitutional Convention (teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/)

The Constitution of the United States of America (www.policyalmanac.org/government/a
rchive/constitution.shtml)
Virtual Tour of Historic Sites in Philadelphia (www.ushistory.org/tour/independence-hall.
htm)
Constitutional Duel Game (theconstitutionquiz.org/)
Amendments to the Constitution (www.ushistory.org/documents/amendments.htm)

Exercise: The Articles of the Constitution
1. Explain how the popular and electoral college votes decide the presidency.
2. Identify and explain the different forms of jurisdictions for the Supreme Court.

Exercise: The Articles of the Constitution
1. Each state is allowed a certain number of electors equal to the number of its senators and
representatives combined. Political parties submit a slate of electors (electoral college)
pledged to vote for the candidate of that party. The candidate who wins the vote in a state
wins all that state’s electoral votes, regardless of the popular vote. 2. The Supreme Court
has the power of judicial review; it can interpret the Constitution. In original jurisdiction cases,
the Supreme Court hears cases that haven’t been tried by lower courts. Most often the Court
hears appeals to previously tried or disputed cases. This is appellate jurisdiction.
2.3 Interpret today's US Constitution

The Constitution Today
READING ASSIGNMENT
Amending the Constitution
The US Constitution is very difficult to amend. The framers purposely wrote it that way. They
believed that the United States should have a stable constitutional structure that would
create respect for the rule of law. Over the more than 200 years of the history of the United
States, only 27 amendments have been added to the Constitution—and 10 of them were
added almost immediately as the Bill of Rights.
In The Federalist, James Madison wrote that the Constitution should be amended only on
“great and extraordinary occasions.”
Amending the Constitution requires two steps:
Proposal

Ratification
Proposing an Amendment
A proposal for a new amendment can be introduced in two ways:
By two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress

By two-thirds vote of the state legislatures to have a national convention
This second method has never been used to propose an amendment.
Ratifying an Amendment
Once a proposal has been made, it must be ratified to become an amendment. It can be
ratified in one of two ways:
By approval of three-fourths of the state legislatures

By approval of conventions in three-fourths of the states
Congress decides which method of ratification should be used. In fact, the convention
method of ratification was used only once. That was in 1933 to ratify the Twenty-First
Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment.
To repeal means to end or remove a law.
Interpreting the Constitution
Trying to control people’s behavior by passing laws isn’t always wise. That lesson was
learned from experience with the Eighteenth Amendment on prohibition. On the other hand,
the use of law to make democracy work better has been vital to American democracy. A key
to making laws work for the people has been the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review.
To help you understand how the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, let’s take a look
at three landmark Supreme Court decisions that deal with this issue. The first decision
established the principle of judicial review. The second overturned an earlier Supreme Court
decision that permitted racial segregation. The third reinterpreted the Tenth Amendment,
also to challenge racial discrimination.
Marbury v. Madison

The term judicial review refers to the Supreme Court’s power to interpret the Constitution.
That is, the nine justices of the Court can decide whether or not a law is constitutional. It can
also decide whether an action of the executive branch is constitutional. Since the Supreme
Court is the highest court of the land, its decisions hold for the entire nation.
The principle of judicial review isn’t spelled out in the Constitution; it’s only implied. Judicial
review became established for the Supreme Court through the legal case of Marbury v.
Madison in 1803.
John Marshall was appointed as chief justice of the Supreme Court by President John
Adams, just as his term of office was ending. During Adams’s presidency, Marshall had been
secretary of state. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789, William Marbury had been appointed as
a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia (Washington, DC). The appointment
needed the Great Seal of the Republic from the secretary of state, which at that time was
John Marshall. Marshall failed to put the seal on the appointment.
The Great Seal of the Republic is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the US
federal government.
When Thomas Jefferson became the new president in March of 1801, he appointed James
Madison as his secretary of state. Madison refused to add the seal to Marbury’s
appointment, and Marbury took his case to the Supreme Court.
In deciding on the case, the Supreme Court determined that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was
unconstitutional. However, the Court also decided that it had no authority to act on Marbury’s
behalf. The decision established the legal authority of the Supreme Court. Citing the
Constitution, it declared that the Court had sole authority to decide what the law is. In short,
the Court had the obligation to reject any law that was against the Constitution. And who
would decide if it was? The Supreme Court!
Marshall led the Supreme Court for more than 30 years. During that time, he helped to
establish the power of the Court. He left no doubt that the justices of the Court had an
absolute right of judicial review.
Since the time of Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court has overturned more than 100
federal laws and more than 1,000 state laws.

To learn more about the principle of judicial review, access this link (law2.umkc.edu/faculty/pr
ojects/ftrials/conlaw/judicialrev.htm) .
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas
The power of judicial review allows the Supreme Court to respond to changing times. After
the Civil War, America continued to experience racism. The slaves had been freed by law,
but they weren’t free in reality. State governments restricted the rights of African Americans.
In the South, but also in the North, racist attitudes were widespread. In 1896, in the case of
Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court declared the “separate but equal” doctrine. It upheld
the rights of governments to set up separate schools and separate public facilities for blacks
and whites so that blacks and whites could be “equal.” However, they were far from equal. In
department stores, there were drinking fountains labeled “White” and “Colored.” White-only
restaurants didn’t serve black people. Black people were expected to sit in the back of city
buses. Black men were lynched for talking to white women.
The American Civil Rights Movement has a long history. The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909. The NAACP Legal Defense
Fund was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement. It brought many cases to the
courts to challenge segregation. Some of these cases succeeded; others failed. But
throughout most of America, segregation remained. As a result, schools for African
Americans were poorly funded, and their teachers were poorly paid. The schools were
racially separate but definitely not equal.
Oliver Brown filed a suit against the board of education in Topeka, Kansas, on behalf of his
seven-year-old daughter. Brown’s daughter had to travel one hour and 20 minutes to get to
her segregated school. The school for white children in her neighborhood was only seven
blocks from the Brown home. In 1952, NAACP attorneys took Brown’s case before the
Supreme Court. However, the Brown case was joined with other school segregation cases
going on in Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. The cases were joined because
they addressed the same kind of discrimination. The chief justice at that time, Frederick
Vinson, wasn’t a strong leader. Since he couldn’t control bitter disputes within the court, no
decision was made while he was chief justice. In 1953, Vinson died and was replaced by Earl
Warren. Warren was a strong leader who opposed segregation. The attorneys for Brown and
the other plaintiffs went back to the Supreme Court. This time they were successful.

Chief Justice Warren overturned the separate but equal principle, thus making the decision in
Plessy v. Ferguson unconstitutional. He also wrote that education is vital to a democracy.
Public education, he said, “is probably the most important function of state and local
governments.” Segregated schools don’t provide African Americans with education equal to
that of whites. Because segregation denies children equal opportunity, it must be considered
unconstitutional. Therefore, segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
The unanimous 1954 decision in the Brown case ended segregation in the public schools.
But it also made other kinds of segregation unconstitutional. No longer would African
Americans be forced to the back of the bus. No longer could they be denied service in public
restaurants.
Thurgood Marshall served as the chief attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He
argued many cases relating to segregation. His arguments before the Supreme Court in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka greatly influenced Chief Justice Earl Warren. His
story reminds us that American democracy has the power to make changes that benefit
everyone. President Lyndon Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court in
1967. During his time as a Supreme Court justice, Marshall did much to make the United
States free for all of its citizens.
The Warren Court would become, like Marbury’s court, an activist court willing to rule against
state and federal laws to protect individual rights.
Heart of Atlanta Hotel v. United States
Even though segregation was ended in the public schools, racism remained. State and local
governments continued to argue that the Tenth Amendment allowed them to maintain white-
only facilities, such as hotels and restaurants. In 1964, the Supreme Court interpreted the
Tenth Amendment rights differently. In the case Heart of Atlanta Hotel v. United States, the
Court ruled that racial discrimination in hotels harmed interstate commerce. By this decision,
the Court showed that it could overturn even local laws.
To review additional cases related to the Tenth Amendment, access this link (law2.umkc.edu
/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/tenth&elev.htm) .
Withstanding the Test of Time

The US Constitution is a living document. It has withstood the test of time. Perhaps you’ve
heard the expression “It’s better to bend than to break.” A willow tree bends in the wind and
survives a storm. However, the brittle limbs of some trees can’t withstand a storm. They’re
torn away from their trunks by the “winds of change.” The Constitution was purposely
designed to bend like a willow. You’ve just seen how the Supreme Court may act to interpret
the Constitution. But there are other ways that the Constitution has allowed for change.
Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution gives Congress authority “to make all laws which shall
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other
powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any
department or officer thereof.” This means that the Constitution allows Congress to make
laws as they’re needed.
Congress has passed many laws by the authority of Article I, Section 8. However, some
interpretations of the Constitution have come about through custom and usage. The
president’s appointment of a cabinet is one of these. So is our political party system and our
customs for nominating presidential candidates.

READING ASSIGNMENT
Key Points
Judicial review became established for the Supreme Court through the legal case of
Marbury v. Madison in 1803.
The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas Supreme Court decision ended
segregation in public schools and made other kinds of segregation unconstitutional.
Links
Examples of Conflict Between Branches of the Federal Government (law2.umkc.edu/fac

ulty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/separationofpowers.htm)
Checks and Balances (www.socialstudieshelp.com/lesson_13_notes.htm)
Example of a Dispute Between Two Branches of Government (online.wsj.com/article/SB
10001424052702304898704577478370452447012.html)
Tenth Amendment Cases (law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/tenth&elev.htm)
Judicial Review (law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/judicialrev.htm)

Exercise: Interpreting the Constitution
1. Why is it appropriate to say the Constitution is designed to “bend like a willow”?

2. What did James Madison and John Marshall have in common?
3. Who was Thurgood Marshall?

Exercise: Interpreting the Constitution
1. The Constitution is designed to be flexible. New laws can be made as they’re needed. In
addition, old laws can be reinterpreted. 2. Both James Madison and John Marshall served as
secretary of state. 3. Thurgood Marshall was an attorney for the NAACP who argued the
_Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka_ case before the Supreme Court. Later, he was
appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court. The Constitution of the United States
READING STUDY MATERIAL
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish
this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I
Section 1
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States,
which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by
the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications
requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five

Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when
elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may
be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be
determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service
for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The
actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress
of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as
they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty
Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such
enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three,
Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-
York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten,
North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority
thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have
the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section 3
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen
by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be
divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class
shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration
of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third
may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise,
during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make
temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such
Vacancies.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and

been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an
Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no
Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the ‐
Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the
United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose,
they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the
Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two
thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States:
but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial,
Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall
be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by
Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the
first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
Section 5
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own
Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller
Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of
absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly
Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same,
excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of
the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those
Present, be entered on the Journal.
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other,
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses
shall be sitting.
Section 6
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be
ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all
Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during
their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning
from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned
in any other Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed
to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or
the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding
any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his
Continuance in Office.
Section 7
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate
may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall,
before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he
shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall
have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to
reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the
Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall
likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.

But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and
the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of
each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in
like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its
Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of
Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be
presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall
be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the
Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in
the Case of a Bill.
Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to
pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United
States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the
Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of
Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of
Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United
States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors
and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences
against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures
on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer

Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress
Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of
them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States
respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding
ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress,
become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over
all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall
be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;
and
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the
foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the
United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Section 9
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think
proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding
ten dollars for each Person.
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of
Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or
enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of
one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to
enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by
Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public

Money shall be published from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office
of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any
present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign
State.
Section 10
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and
Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender
in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the
Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or
Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the
net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for
the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the
Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or
Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or
with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger
as will not admit of delay.
Article II
Section 1
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall
hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen
for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of
Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State
may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an
Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of
whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they
shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each, which
List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the
United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in

the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the
Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the
President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed, and if
there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then
the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President,
and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall
in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by
States, the Representation from each State having one Vote. A quorum for this purpose shall
consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the
States shall be necessary to a Choice.
In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of
Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who
have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they
shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any
Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years,
and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability
to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice
President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of removal, Death,
Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall
then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed,
or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall
neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected,
and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or
any of them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:
—“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the
United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States.”
Section 2

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and
of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;
he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive
Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall
have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except
in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties,
provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with
the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers
and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States,
whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established
by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they
think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of
the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and
recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and
in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may
adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other
public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall
Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed
from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes
and Misdemeanors.
Article III
Section 1

The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such
inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges,
both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and
shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be
diminished during their Continuance in Office.
Section 2
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this ‐
Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made,
under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and
Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the
United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a
State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States;—between
Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a
State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which
a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other
Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law
and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial
shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not
committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may
by Law have directed.
Section 3
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in
adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of
Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession
in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of
Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person
attainted.

Article IV
Section 1
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial
Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the
Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect
thereof.
Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the
several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from
Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the
State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of
the Crime.
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into
another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such
Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or
Labour may be due.
Section 3
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be
formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the
Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of
the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations
respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this
Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any
particular State.
Section 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the
Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against ‐
domestic Violence.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose
Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of
the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case,
shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the
Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof,
as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that
no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight
shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article;
and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Article VI
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution,
shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the
Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance
thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State
Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the
several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no
religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the
United States.
Article VII
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of

this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day
of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of
the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have
hereunto subscribed our Names.
Lesson 2 Review
Self-Check
1. The nation consisted of a loose alliance (union) of the independent states, which was
called the League of
a. States.
b. Peers.
c. Government.
d. Friendship.
2. Which one of the follow was a problem caused by the Article of Confederation?
a. Congress couldn’t levy taxes.
b. It could establish a postal service and coin money.
c. Congress had the power to declare war.
d. Congress had the power to enter into treaties with foreign powers.
3. Which one of the following agreements stated that the lower house represented the
people and the upper house represented the states?
a. Representation Compromise
b. Three-Fifths Compromise
c. Executive Compromise
d. Great Compromise
4. Articles published in a newspaper under the pseudonym Publius became known as?
a. The Public Papers
b. The Government Papers
c. The Anti-Federalist Papers
d. The Federalist Papers

5. What does liberty in the Preamble mean?
a. To insure domestic tranquility
b. The citizens of each state must share in the benefits of justice, civil order, and equal
opportunity
c. All for one and one for all
d. freedom from government oppression
6. Which one of the following conducts Senate meetings when the vice president is
unavailable?
a. Member pro tempore
b. Congress pro tempore
c. President pro tempore
d. Representative pro tempore
7. What is a bill?
a. A regulation
b. A law
c. A requirement for a law
d. A proposal for a law
8. Which one of the following is a qualification to becoming the president?
a. At least 30 years old
b. A naturalized citizen
c. A natural-born citizen
d. A resident for at least 10 years within the United States
9. Which one of the following methods was used only once to ratify an amendment?
a. By approval of the president
b. By approval of three-fourths of the state legislatures
c. By approval of Supreme Court
d. By approval of conventions in three-fourths of the states
10. Which one of the following cases did the Supreme Court declared the "separate but
equal" doctrine. It upheld the rights of governments to set up separate schools and separate
public facilities for blacks and whites so that blacks and whites could be "equal"?
a. Plessy v. Ferguson
b. Heart of Atlanta Hotel v. United States
c. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kanas

d. Marbury v. Madison
Self-Check Answer Key
1. Friendship.
Explanation: The Articles of Confederation provided for a weak central government. As
a result, the nation consisted of a loose alliance (union) of independent states. This
alliance was called a "League of Friendship" between states.
Reference: Section 2.1
2. Congress couldn’t levy taxes.

Explanation: The Congress had the power to declare war and enter into treaties with
foreign powers. It could establish a postal service and coin money. However, the
Congress couldn’t levy taxes.
3. Great Compromise
Explanation: After much debate, it was agreed that representation in the lower house of
Congress would be based on population. The upper house, however, would be
composed of two delegates from each state. In that way, the lower house represented
the people, and the upper house represented the states.
4. The Federalist Papers

Explanation: To gain support for the Constitution, mainly in New York, a group of three
men wrote a series of articles arguing for federalism—that is, for the Constitution. The
articles were published in newspapers under the pseudonym _Publius._ (A
_pseudonym_ is a false, or fictitious name.) These articles eventually became known as
_The Federalist Papers,_ or _The Federalist._
5. freedom from government oppression

Explanation: _Liberty_ in the Preamble means freedom from government oppression.
"To secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" indicates this liberty will

be passed down to future generations.
6. President pro tempore

Explanation: Since the vice president may often have other duties, the Senate is
expected to elect officers to conduct its meetings. For example, the president pro
tempore conducts Senate meetings when the vice president is unavailable.
7. A proposal for a law

Explanation: The main job of Congress is to make laws. A bill is a proposal for a law.
Bills may be proposed, debated, and either passed or defeated in either house.
8. A natural-born citizen
Explanation: To become president, a person must be - A natural-born citizen - A citizen
of this country - At least 35 years old - A resident for at least 14 years within the United
States
9. By approval of conventions in three-fourths of the states

Explanation: Congress decides which method of ratification should be used. In fact, the
convention method of ratification was used only once.
10. Plessy v. Ferguson

Explanation: In 1896, in the case of _Plessy v. Ferguson,_ the Supreme Court declared
the "separate but equal" doctrine. It upheld the rights of governments to set up separate
schools and separate public facilities for blacks and whites so that blacks and whites
could be "equal." However, they were far from equal.
Flash Cards

1. Term: Levy
Definition: To impose taxes
2. Term: Tariff
Definition: A tax on goods that one nation (or state) buys from another nation (or state)
3. Term: Interstate Trade

Definition: Trade from one state to another
4. Term: Export
Definition: A product taken from one country to another for the purpose of trade
5. Term: Delegate
Definition: A person who represents others at a meeting
6. Term: Ratification
Definition: The process of approving something by a vote
7. Term: Legislative Branch

Definition: The part of a government that makes the laws of the country or state
8. Term: Quorum
Definition: The number of members that must be present to conduct business
9. Term: Impeachment
Definition: The process by which a government leader is charged with a crime
10. Term: Capital Crime

Definition: A crime that’s punishable by death
11. Term: Repeal

Definition: To end or remove a law
12. Term: Great Seal of the Republic

Definition: Used to authenticate certain documents issued by the US federal government
13. Term: Three Main Sections of the Constitution

Definition: Preamble, articles, and amendments
14. Term: Judicial Review

Definition: The power to interpret the Constitution
15. Term: Bill of Rights

Definition: First 10 amendments to the Constitution
16. Term: Article IV of the Constitution

Definition: Relations between the states
17. Term: The First Amendment

Definition: Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition
18. Term: Second Amendment

Definition: Right to bear arms
19. Term: Fourth Amendment

Definition: Protection from illegal search
20. Term: Sixth Amendment

Definition: Right to due process
21. Term: Tenth Amendment

Definition: Powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states
22. Term: Thirteenth Amendment

Definition: Abolished slavery
23. Term: Nineteenth Amendment

Definition: Women's right to vote

24. Term: Twenty-Sixth Amendment
Definition: Lowered voting age to 18
25. Term: Checks and Balances

Definition: Controls given to one branch of government to limit the power of another branch
26. Term: Popular Sovereignty

Definition: Rule by the people
27. Term: _Marbury v. Madison_

Definition: Established the right of the Supreme Court to overturn laws deemed
unconstitutional
28. Term: _Plessy v. Ferguson_

Definition: The Supreme Court declared the "separate but equal" doctrine
29. Term: _Brown v. Education_

Definition: Made school segregation illegal
30. Term: Three-Fourths of the State Legislatures

Definition: What an amendment to the Constitution can be ratified by

Civics - Lesson 2

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Civics - Lesson 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Civics : The United States Constitution

2.1 Analyze the events leading to the ratification of the Constitution

Problems with the Articles of Confederation

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 1

[Illustration listing the problems with the Articles of Confederation]

Congress's Inability to Collect Taxes

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 2

Paris, France, January 30, 1787

In a letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson wrote this thought:

Who Will Regulate Commerce?

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 3

No Courts and No President

IMAGINE THAT IT’S 1786.

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 4

“Ah,” he says, “you are English?”

“No,” you reply, “I’m an American.”

“I come from Virginia.”

“The governor. He holds office in a town called Williamsburg.”

“Oh,” Giuseppe says, “and who is leader of United States of America?”

“Then who is leader of this Congress?” Giuseppe wants to know.

You nod. “That’s right.”

In January of 1786, a group of Virginians called a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. They

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 5

A delegate is a person who represents others at a meeting.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 6

The Virginia Plan

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 7

[Diagram of the Virginia Plan]

The New Jersey Plan

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 8

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 9

The Rising Sun

[Illustration of Benjamin Franklin]

At the Constitutional Convention, Franklin was often consulted between sessions. As a

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 10

[Photo of the Constitution]

The Constitution was

Ratification is the process of approving something by a vote.

The Federalists supported the Constitution.

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 11

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 12

Two Enemies Who Became Friends

[Collage depicting Thomas Jefferson

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 13

About the Authors

While 55 delegates assembled in Philadelphia, only 39 of them actually signed the

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 14

First in War, First in Peace

[Photo of a painting of George

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 15

Key Points and Links

Articles of Confederation (Primary Source Document) (www.ushistory.org/documents/co

Exercise: Two Plans

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 16

1. What was William Paterson’s main contribution to the Constitutional Convention?

Exercise Answer Key:

2.2 Examine the US Constitution

The Constitution of the United States has three main sections:

The Preamble to the Constitution

© 2021 Penn Foster Inc. Civics (v1) : Lesson 2 : Page 17

[Illustration of a gem indicating the six main ideas of the Preamble]

The Preamble is reproduced for you below: