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Good Stuff. City council meeting September 8 th at 7 PM Poll Worker information $100-150 for the day Go over those emails Student Government PLEASE HELP US!!!!!!!!!. Buzzword Time!!!!!. Please choose a buzzword from our packet.
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Good Stuff • City council meeting September 8th at 7 PM • Poll Worker information • $100-150 for the day • Go over those emails • Student Government • PLEASE HELP US!!!!!!!!!
Buzzword Time!!!!! • Please choose a buzzword from our packet. • Come up with a creative sentence for your buzzword…..if possible….and we will share with the class.
The Living Constitution Chapter 2
The Constitution • One of the shortest and oldest • Took on aura of natural law, law that defines right from wrong, higher than human law.
Checking Power with Power • Free and fair elections • Prevents corrupt political powers • Separation of Powers the three branches • Checks and Balances each branch has a role within the others
Expansion of the Electorate • Framers did not trust ordinary citizens • Instead created electoral college • Controversial, and has not worked out as planned • Occasionally candidate wins popular vote, but loses electoral college • Bush (271) vs. Gore (266) in 2000 election
Expansion of the Electorate • From property owning males to all citizens 18 years of age • New roles for electorate • Direct primaries • Initiatives • Referendums • Recall • All defined on page 31
Establishment of Agencies • Regulatory responsibilities to administrative agencies with power to make rules and to decide disputes. • Federal Communications Committee • Surface Transportation Board • Environmental Protection Agency
Changes in Technology • Radio, Television, Internet all give us access to government that was unthinkable to the framers.
Judicial Review • Not in the Constitution • Born out of Marbury v. Madison • Essentially a compromise by Marshall • Marshall our most influential Justice, served in all three branches of government, very rare.
The Constitution as an Instrument of Government • The Unwritten Constitution • Framers gave Congress authority to provide for structural details • Eliminates need to amend constantly, instead Congress can pass legislation
Impeachment Oh Monica, how I miss you….. • This is the formal accusation against a public official • A great example of congressional elaboration of our Constitution • Exempted from presidential pardoning power
Presidential Practices • The office has become much more powerful today than when initially conceived in 1789 • Executive orders: directive issued by a president or governor that has the force of law • Executive privilege: power to keep communication confidential, especially pertaining to national security • Impoundment: refusal to allow agency to spend funds already approved by Congress • Pg. 38 has these definitions
Changing the Letter of the Constitution • Some change is necessary • Framers could not have predicted what our country looks like today • They entrusted Congress and the states to be responsible for formal amendments • Presidential veto power does not apply to this, but they can still have political influence
Proposing Amendments • First method & only one used so far • A 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress • Throughout our history 31 amendments have been proposed, 27 have passed. • 27th Amendment was originally in Bill of Rights, but not ratified until 1992….that is over 200 years
Proposing Amendments • A second method exists • A convention called by Congress at the request of legislatures in two-thirds of the states • This has never been used, but exists
Ratifying Amendments • Two methods again • Approval by legislatures in ¾ of the states • Or by ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states • Used only once f or the Twenty-First Amendment