INSIDE THE
CONSTITUTION: PART 1
Constitution Center:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Unit
Overview
To
guide their work, the framers of the Constitution relied on several major
principles to solve the problems experienced under the Articles of
Confederation. They used the Preamble or
introduction of the document to establish the goals of the new government and
to explain its purpose. At the same
time, the founding fathers knew that the Constitution had to be flexible if it
was going to survive the test of time.
Let’s see how it all happened.
The
Basic Principles of the Constitution
When
the delegates of the Constitutional Convention designed the framework for the
government of the United States, they relied on several basic principles to
guide their work. Although the framers
interpreted them in different ways, the influence of these values is found
throughout the Constitution. Inspired by
the Enlightenment, they include popular sovereignty, limited government, federalism,
separation of powers and checks/balances.
§ Popular Sovereignty:
Popular sovereignty means that the power to rule belongs to the
people. They, in turn, entrust this
power to leaders who are under their control.
For example, thanks to the Great Compromise, the members of the House of
Representatives are directly elected by the voters. The Constitution has extended popular
sovereignty to women and African Americans by adding a number of changes or
amendments to guarantee the right to vote for these groups. This ideal is also the reason that the Constitution
begins with the words, “We, the people...”
§ Limited Government:
The
men who developed the Constitution knew that there were both risks and benefits
in creating a powerful national government.
Although the United States needed a strong central authority, many feared
that this would result in a misuse of power.
Americans wanted to prevent their government from giving advantages to
some groups. At the same time, they
wanted to make sure that other groups were not deprived of their individual
rights. For this reason, the
Constitution is very specific concerning the powers the national government has
and the powers it does not have. The
addition of a Bill of Rights established more limitations on the government’s
authority and guaranteed certain liberties for the people. Limited government is sometimes described as
leadership or rule by law. In other
words, government officials must obey the law, and no single person or group is
an exception.
The Basic Principles of the Constitution
§ Federalism: Under
the Constitution, the states gave up some of their independence. For example, they could no longer coin make
money or make separate treaties with other countries. However, they still were able to govern
themselves much as they had in the past.
The sharing of power by state and national governments is known as the
federal system or federalism. This
principle permits each state to deal with its needs in its own way but lets the
states ban together for the good of all Americans. For this reason, the Constitution defines
three types of powers: enumerated,
reserved and concurrent. Enumerated
powers only belong to the federal government.
They include the power to regulate foreign trade, to print money and to
maintain an army. Reserved powers, such
as the establishment of schools, the regulation of trade within a state and the
issuing of drivers’ licenses, belong to the states. Some powers, called concurrent powers, are
shared by both the state and federal governments. The right to raise taxes and to borrow money
are examples. When conflicts arise
between state and federal law, however, the Constitution is the supreme law of
the land. The sentence within the
Constitution that states this point is known as the Supremacy Clause.
§ Separation of Powers: The framers of the Constitution wanted to
design a government that was capable of maintaining order without placing too
much power in the hands of any one person or group. To accomplish this goal, the Constitutional
Convention applied the principle of separating the government’s authority among
its three basic branches or parts. The
Constitution designates the functions and responsibilities of each branch. It is the role of the legislative branch or
Congress to make the laws. The executive
branch, headed by the President, carries out the laws, and the judicial branch,
made up of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, decides what the laws
mean and ensure that they are in line with the Constitutional. Although the Constitution assigns specific
duties each part of the federal government, this does not mean that three
branches do not work together. For
example, many laws passed by Congress are actually suggested by the President,
and Supreme Court decisions often decide the direction of a President’s national
policy.
§ Checks and Balances:
When
they established the three branches of government, the Constitutional
Convention wanted to make sure that no single branch was left
uncontrolled. Therefore, it set up a
group of procedures known as checks and balances. Each branch of government exercises some
control or check over the other two and prevents the accumulation of too much
power by maintaining a balance. For
example, Congress has the authority to a law, but the President has the power
to veto or reject the law. Although Congress
can still pass the law if two-thirds of its members agree to do so, the Supreme
Court has the capability to declare the law unconstitutional.
Go to Questions 1 through 6.
The
Preamble
Like
any well-written essay or document, the Constitution begins with a preamble or
introduction. The first sentence
emphasizes the foremost ideal of American government which is the right of the
people to rule themselves. Note that it
begins with the phrase, “We, the people…”
It goes on to list the six primary goals of United States
government. These are as important today
as when the Constitution was written.
§ To form a more perfect union: Under the Articles of Confederation, the
states had operated almost like independent nations. For this reason, they did not often work
together to resolve important issues like defense and finances. This lack of unity proved to be a major
drawback as the new nation struggled to survive. The delegates attending the Constitutional
Convention believed that a more perfect or better union would encourage the
states to find solutions to their problems through cooperation. For this reason, the Constitution gave the
federal government a wide range of powers to make this happen.
§ To establish justice: For the framers of the Constitution, the
equal treatment of citizens was of the utmost importance. Even though this was not extended to African
Americans and Native Americans, it was a fundamental principle of the new
nation’s government. The Constitution
fulfilled this goal in a number of ways, including the establishment of a
federal court system that had the authority to settle disputes between states, to
hear cases involving federal officials and to declare certain policies
unconstitutional.
Photograph
Taken after the Supreme Court's Ruling on Segregation in Public Schools
§ To insure domestic tranquility: Shays’ Rebellion, which erupted in 1786,
alarmed many Americans. Even though the
United States had become a self-governing nation, a group of people had
resorted to violent measures to express their frustration over government
policies. The strong central government
created by the Constitution provided the means to keep peace or tranquility
within the country. Eventually, this led to the establishment of federal
agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to protect lives
and property throughout the nation.
§ To provide for the common defense: Once the Revolutionary War ended, American
leaders soon realized that the country had no means to defend itself. There were no troops to protect the settlers
on the frontier or to drive the remaining British soldiers out of the Northwest
Territory. Without a navy, U.S. trading
ships were left without a safeguard on the seas. Because they realized that a
military force was a vital necessity, the framers of the Constitution gave
Congress the power to raise and support an army and a navy. They also listed the role of
commander-in-chief of the armed forces as one of the duties of the
President. Before taking a look at the
final two goals listed in the Preamble, take a quick field trip to Philadelphia
by watching the video listed below.
Field Trip to Philadelphia
§ To promote the general welfare: The Declaration of Independence had stated
that the purpose of government was to promote life, liberty and pursuit of
happiness for its citizens. The
Constitution emphasized this belief by making the improvement of the general
welfare or well-being of the people one of its goals. To fulfill this objective, the national government
was given the power to tax and to set aside money for specific projects.
Education, scientific research, national parks and programs like Social
Security are all examples of promoting the national welfare.
An Original Copy of the Constitution: National Archives, Washington D.C.
§ To secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
our posterity: Because the American colonists had fought
the Revolutionary War to gain their liberty, the delegates of the
Constitutional Convention believed that preserving it should be one of the
primary goals of the Constitution. They
wanted to secure political freedom not only for their generation but for all
those to follow or their posterity. As
long as citizens obeyed the laws and respected the rights of others, they
should have the liberty to live as they pleased. The Constitution has attempted to secure this
blessing through the Bill of Rights and the right to vote. Since it was originally written, the
Constitution has been changed a number of times to make sure that these rights
continue to be maintained for all Americans.
Go to Questions 7 through 31. You will be asked to create a poster or
collage based on the six goals of the Constitution. To complete this project, you will need to conduct
an Internet search for appropriate images.
As an alternative, the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica has
a wide variety of pictures and can be accessed by clicking on the icon below
(user name-jcesc; password-student).
Remember to follow the instructions in the question section carefully.
The
Living Constitution
Since
its ratification, the Constitution has served as the guideline for American
government. It has survived because its
founding fathers wrote a document that could be altered or amended to adapt to
the changing needs of the nation.
Because of its flexibility, the Constitution has been interpreted in
different ways depending on conditions experienced at various times in American
history. This has permitted it to deal
with matters that the framers never anticipated. For example, they never considered the
prospect of nuclear power plants, cybercrime or space travel. For these reasons, the Constitution is often
referred to as a living document.
Go to Question 32.
What
Happened Next?
The
Preamble of the United States Constitution is followed by seven articles which explain
the relationship between the states and the national government. They also describe the responsibilities and
powers of the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The final section lists the twenty-seven
amendments or changes to the Constitution that were made between 179l and
1971. In the next unit, you will explore
both the articles and the amendments.
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| Unit 14 The Federalist System of U.S. Government Worksheet |
| Unit 14 Our system of checks and balances Article and Quiz |
| Unit 14 What's the Big Idea? Worksheet |