THE U.S.

CONSTITUTION
 REVOLUTION
• John Locke - life, liberty, & property
• Introduced “unalienable rights”
• Social contract theory
• Articles of Confederation is the original
government of the United States.
 Articles of
Confederation
• Weaknesses
• 1) no national military
• 2) can’t tax
• 3) no control over trade
• 4) no executive, no judicial branch
• 5) no federal supremacy
• 6) changes require a unanimous vote
• SHAYS REBELLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 A NEW BEGINNING
• The founding fathers decided to create a new
government.
• Their goal was to create a national
government that was strong, but limited by
law. And one that established an executive,
also with limited power.
• Two plans were merged to form the Great
Compromise, or the Connecticut
Compromise.
 VIRGINIA PLAN
• Virginia Plan- created by the big states,
strong central government with a
bicameral legislature. One house
elected by the masses (based on
representation), the other chosen by the
elected officials.
• The executive would then be chosen by
this legislative branch.
 NEW JERSEY PLAN
• Created by the smaller states. Their idea was
to create a unicameral legislature based on
equal representation.
• They also came up with the idea of national
supremacy.
• The national government should also be able
to tax and regulate commerce under this plan.
 CONNECTICUT
COMPROMISE
• The Virginia Plan gave us:
• 1)Two Chambers in the legislature
• 2)one based on population (House of
Rep/lower chamber) - elected by the people
• New Jersey gave us:
• 1) Senate or upper chamber based on equal
representation elected by the state
legislatures.
• 2) nat’l supremacy and interstate commerce
 Compromise
• Other things decided in the Conn Comp
• 1) ALL revenue acts must originate in
the House of Representatives
• 2) Creation of the Electoral College
• 3) 3/5 compromise
• Main reason for compromise was to
settle the representation in Congress.
(Big states vs. small states)
 Basic Concepts in
Constitution
• Formal Controls of the Constitution
• 1) Republicanism
• 2) Federalism
• 3) Separation of Powers
• 4) Checks and balances
INFORMAL CONTROLS
OF THE CONSTITUTION

• 1) political parties - divided government

• 2) inefficiency of our system- Congress
must be cautious and deliberate when
passing legislation. Most proposed bills
die due to external pressures.
 TYPES OF POWERS
• Delegated/Enumerated - written directly in the
Constitution
• Implied - inferred from the wording of the
Constitution.
• Inherent - self-evident powers
• Concurrent- shared between the federal and
state governments
• Prohibited- Government cannot do these
• Reserved- State powers (10th Amendment)
 Prohibited Powers
• Government cannot do the following
• 1) pass bills of attainder- punish an
accused person without a trial.
• 2) pass ex post facto laws- laws that
arrest people for committing acts were
legal at the time they engaged in them.
• 3) suspend habeas corpus- arrest/hold
someone indefinitely w/out due process.
 US CONSTITUTION
• Its main author is James Madison, considered
the father of the Constitution.
• The US Constitution is comprised of seven
articles.
• Of the three concepts of gov’t, the
Constitution includes freedom & order, but not
equality.
 Article I
• Created the Legislative Branch
• It was intended to be the most powerful
of the branches.
• Very specific, delegated powers of
Congress spelled out.
• After all of these, the necessary &
proper clause (elastic clause) is also
included to give Congress more power.
 Article I
• Delegated powers of Congress include:
levying and collecting taxes, regulating
commerce, overriding vetoes,
impeachment and removal of the
president and federal judges, the
creation of and the jurisdiction of all
federal courts except the Supreme
Court, and making laws.
 Necessary & Proper
Clause
• Congress may “make all laws which
shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the foregoing
powers and all other powers vested
in…..the government of the U.S.”
• First used to create a national bank
(McCulloch v Maryland (1819)
 Article II
• Created the Executive Branch.
• Purposely vague - founders did not want
another king.
• Delegated powers include commander in
chief, veto power, power to execute laws,
appoint ambassadors, federal judges, and
make treaties.
• States the qualifications of the prez, term of
office and electoral college procedure.
 Electoral College
• The electoral college was created to
ensure that the citizens would not
popularly elect a “BAD” president.
• It was also created to ensure that the
small states would not be neglected by
those running for office.
 Article III
• Created the judicial branch
• Established the Supreme Court but did not
establish its power or how many would sit on the
court.
• Did establish its original jurisdiction:
• 1) If a state is named in a case 2) if a foreign
ambassador is involved 3) if maritime/admirality
law is involved.
• The power of judicial review was not established
until 1803 with the decision in Marbury v. Madison.
 Marbury v Madison
• Established that judges not the
legislature or the president had the
power to interpret the constitution.
• This is known as judicial review- the
power of the courts to decide on the
constitutionality of laws.
 Article IV
• Deals with how states deal with each
other. (Interstate Relations)
• 1)Full faith & credit
• 2)Interstate Privileges & Immunities
• 3) Extradition
• 4) Interstate Compacts
 Article V
• How to formally amend the Constitution
• There are two formal ways to propose and
two formal ways to ratify a constitutional
amendment.
• All amendments have been proposed the
same way and 16 of 17 have been ratified the
same way.
• The Bill of Rights (1st 10) were added to the
original Constitution.
 Proposing an
amendment
• Two ways
• 1) both chambers (House and Senate)
propose it with at least 2/3 in
agreement. All passed amendments
have been proposed in this manner.
• 2) a national convention is called at the
request of 2/3 of the state legislatures.
Ratifying an Amendment
• Two ways
• 1) All 50 state legislatures meet and 3/4 of
them (38 states) agree to ratify the
amendment. All except for the 21st
amendment have been ratified this way.
• 2) Each state has a ratifying convention of the
people and they vote. 3/4 of the states (38)
must agree to ratify. (21st) LETS HAVE A
DRINK!!!!
 Other ways to change
the Constitution
• There are two ways to informally change the
meaning of the Constitution
• 1) Judicial Review- decisions of the courts can
change the interpretation of the document.
• 2) Custom & Usage (precedent) - when the
legislative or executive branch does something
and is not challenged it becomes their power.
This generally applies to the president. i.e.
executive privelege, making war
 ARTICLE VI
• The supremacy clause- the
Constitution is the “supreme law of the
land”. Reinforced by the McCulloch v
Maryland decision (1819).
• Any contracts left over from the Art of
Confed will be honored by the new gov’t
• The oath of offices of elected officials
are mentioned here
 Article VII
• How to ratify the Constitution
• Nine states in state ratifying conventions needed to
pass it.
• This was done to prevent the state legislatures from
voting on it, because they might vote against as their
power was being taken curbed by the new
government.
• Bill of Rights added to guarantee passage
• To convince people to support the Constitution, the
Federalist papers were circulated around the
country.
 Federalist Papers
• A collection of essays about the merits of the
Constitution.
• Authored by James Madison, John Jay, and
Alexander Hamilton
• Out of the 85 papers, the most popular ones
are 10, 51, and 78.
• The goal of these papers was to convince the
people that the Constitution was GREAT!!!
 Federalist papers
• Fed #10- “factions” (groups) are
inevitable, but the government will not
allow one group to gain too much
power. (Madison)
• Fed #51 - separation of powers/ checks
and balances (Madison)
• Fed #78 - independence of judiciary is
essential (Hamilton)