Government

1. Government Chapter 3

2. Chapter 3 Section 1

3. Principles of the Constitution • The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. • It does not go into great detail about how the government should be run, but it does include six principles that our government is based on.

4. Six Principles of the Constitution 1. Popular Sovereignty: means that people are the only source of government power. Government is able to work only if people consent to it. Therefore, through our consent we give the government its power.

5. Six Principles of the Constitution 2. Limited Government: Means that government is not all powerful and that it can only do those things that people have give it the right to do. -Often this is called constitutionalism: government must obey the law: -Also called Rule of Law: government and its officials are always subject to the law, never above it. -A large portion of the Constitution outlines the power of the government.

6. Six Principles of the Constitution 3. Separation of Power: Power of the government is separated into three branches: 1. Legislative branch: makes laws. 2. Executive branch: administers and enforces the law. 3. Judicial branch: interprets and applies the law. Why was this done?

7. Six Principles of the Constitution 4. Checks and Balances: The branches are not entirely separate from one another nor completely independent. They are tied together through a series of checks and balances: each branch has certain powers with which it can check the operations and balance the power of the other two branches. (p. 68) -Clashes can exist, but intended purpose was to create compromise between the branches.

8. Six Principles of the Constitution 5. Judicial Review: Courts have the power to determine the constitutionality of a government action. -Can declare an act unconstitutional. -Power is held by all federal courts and most state courts. -The constitution does not really state the ideal of Judicial Review, but the Framers meant for the courts to have this power. -The Supreme Court established this power in the case Marbury v. Madison (1803)

9. Six Principles of the Constitution 6. Federalism: The division of power among a central government and several regional (state) governments. -Federalism was included to show a rebellion of the status quo type of government that was in Britain in which there was a strong central government. -Framers wanted to ensure States rights.

10. Chapter 3 Section 2

11. Amending the Constitution • The Framers knew that the Constitution was not perfect and that it would have to be amended, or changed. • There are two ways to change the Constitution: • 1. Formal Amendment • 2. Informal Amendment

12. Formal Amendment Process • Chart on pg. 73 • First method: 26 of 27 amendments were adopted through this manner. • Second method: Only 21st amendment was added using this method. • Third and Fourth method: Never have been used to add amendments to the Constitution. • How do these methods represent federalism?

13. The 27 Amendments • The first 10 amendments were proposed in 1789. • These first 10 amendments were needed to get the Constitution ratified and are called The Bill of Rights. • 13th-15th amendments became known as the Civil War Amendments. • 19th Amendment-Gave women the right to vote. • 27th Amendment-Congressional pay.

14. Chapter 3 Section 3

15. Informal Amendment Process • A lot of what the Constitution says cannot be seen by the naked eye, because it was not put there by the formal amendment process, but rather by an informal amendment. • Informal Amendment: process by which many changes have been made in the Constitution that have not led to changes in the documents written words.

16. Informal Amendment Process • Five basic ways to informally amend the Constitution: • Basic Legislation: Congress has passed many laws to spell out several of the Constitution’s brief principles. -Judiciary Act of 1789 set up the court system. The Constitution just called for a court system to be established. -Under powers granted by the Constitution, Congress passes laws that gives meaning to the words in the Constitution.

17. Informal Amendment Process 2. Executive Action: President cannot declare war, but his title as Commander in Chief allows him to deploy troop without the consent of Congress. (Done at least 200 times) -President can use the executive agreement: pacts made between Presidents and heads of other countries. This is not a treaty, but is recognized as the same. A treaty has to be approved by the Senate.

18. Informal Amendment Process 3. Court Decisions: Through judicial review, the Supreme Court can interpret and apply the Constitution in many cases they heard. Their interpretation can change over time and with different justices.

19. Informal Amendment Process 4. Party Practices: We have a two-party system and these parties are often the source of informal amendment. -Presidential conventions are an example. -Parties or conventions are not mentioned in the Constitution. -G. Washington warned against the formation of political parties.

20. Informal Amendment Process 5. Custom: If the President dies, then the Vice President takes over. -This was not in the Constitution until the 25th Amendment, but before then it was a custom that the VP would take over the powers and duties of the President. -Term limits. Tradition was set by Washington who only served two terms. The tradition was broken FDR who was elected to four terms. Changed with the 22 amendment.