An Outline of the Constitution

1. The Constitution sets out the basic principles

upon which government in the United States
was built.
2. The Constitution is a fairly brief document.
3. The Constitution is organized into eight
sections: the Preamble and seven articles. The
original document is followed by 27
amendments.
 Main Articles of the Constitution

Section Subject
Preamble States the purpose of the Constitution
Article I Legislative branch
Article II Executive branch
Article III Judicial branch
Article IV Relations among the States and with the National
Government
Article V Amending the Constitution
Article VI National debts, supremacy of national law, and oaths of
office
Article VII Ratifying the Constitution
Amendments Changes or additions that have become part of the
1-27 written language of the Constitution itself
 I. Basic principles of the Constitution

A. Popular sovereignty

B. Limited government
C. separation of powers
D. checks and balances (know the diagram on p. 68)
E. judicial review
F. Federalism
 1. Popular Sovereignty

Asserts that the people are the source of any and

all government power, and government can exist
only with the consent of the governed.
 Example: the National Government gets its power from
the people through the Constitution.
 2. Limited Government

The government is restricted in what it may do,

and each individual has rights that government
cannot take away.
Constitutionalism: the government must fall within
the guidelines of the Constitution.
Rule of Law: Even the government has its own set
of laws that it must follow.
 3. Separation of Powers

the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of

government are three independent and coequal
branches of government.
 Article 1: Legislative
 Article 2: Executive
 Article 3: Judicial
 4. Checks and Balances

System that allows the legislative, executive, and

judicial branches to check, or restrain, the actions
of one another.
 Know the chart on page 68 in the textbook.
 Congress may make laws, override vetoes, remove President
from office via impeachment, control funds, approve
treaties.
 President may veto legislation and appoint judges.
 Judges may declare executive actions and acts of Congress
unconstitutional.
 5. Judicial Review

Consists of the power of a court to determine the

constitutionality (whether an action follows the
constitution) of a governmental action.
 The Supreme Court can determine if a law is unconstitutional and if so the
law is not a law anymore.
The Supreme Court has found over 150
congressional actions, close to 100 presidential
actions, and over 1,000 state laws to be
unconstitutional to date.
 6. Federalism

System of government in which the powers of

government are divided between a central
government and several local governments.
In the US system there are powers that the US or
Federal Government have and powers which the
states have.
 Closure

You can now list the important parts

of the Constitution and list and
describe the 6 basic principles of the
Constitution.
 Amending the Constitution

Amendment— changes in its written words.

Article V sets out two methods for the proposal and

two methods for the ratification of constitutional
amendments, creating four possible methods of
formal amendment.
4 ways to AMEND the Constitution
 Grouping Amendments

A. The Bill of Rights (1-10)

 They set out many of our basic freedoms.
B. the “corrective amendments” (11-12)
C. the Civil War Amendments (13-15)
D. the rest of them (16-27)
 Informal Amendment Processes

• is
the process by which over time many
changes have been made in the
Constitution which have not involved any
changes in its written word.
•Changes do not have to be formal
Amendments.
 Informal Amendment Process

The informal amendment process can take place by:

1. the passage of basic legislation by Congress;
2. actions taken by the President;
3. key decisions of the Supreme Court;
4. the activities of political parties; and
5. custom.
 1. Basic Legislation

Laws that congress passes to “fill in the gaps”

 Example:
 In the Constitution the only executive offices created are the
President and Vice President. That does not mean we don’t
currently need a Secretary of State, Treasury, Defense and so
on.
 All of these positions have been created by Congressional laws.
 2. Executive Actions

Presidential actions have produced a number of

important informal amendments, such as the use of
the military under the power of commander in chief.
 Technically only congress can declare war, but President have
sent our army overseas to fight without congressional direction
 An executive agreement is a pact made by the
President directly with the head of a foreign state.
 Technically only Congress can sign a treaty, but presidents
enter into hand shake agreements with other foreign leaders.
 3. Supreme Court Decisions

Constitutional Interpretation in the Supreme

Court.
 Example: Brown v. Board of Education

 The Supreme court can interpret or decide what

the Constitution says on a specific issue.
 4. Activities of Political Parties

No mention of Political Parties in the Constitution

 Washington was against them
Political Parties play a major role in nomination of
candidates.
In the Constitution there are no directions for how to
nominate people to run for president.
Each Political party has its own way to elect its
candidates.
 5. Custom

Customs are unwritten laws and rules

 “Its just the way we’ve always done it”
Washington’s “no third term” tradition.
Washington refused to run for a third term; it
became a custom to not serve longer than three
terms.
Franklin Roosevelt ran for and won a third and then
a fourth term
 This led to a formal amendment making a Presidental term
limit of 2 terms.