The U.S. Constitution

The Constitution: The Constitution sets the broad rules for the game of politics. These rules are never neutral, they give some participants and policy options advantages over others. The goal of our Constitution is to keep any specific group from gaining too much advantage. There are five principles designed to achieve this goal:

Popular Sovereignty – the basic principle that the power to govern belongs to the people and that government must be based on the consent of the governed.

2. Separation of Powers – the division of government’s powers into three separate branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

3. Checks and Balances – a political system in which branches of government have some authority over the actions of the others.

4. Limited Government – the basic principle that government is not all-powerful, and that it does only those things that citizens allow it to do.

5. Federalism – the division of governmental powers between a central government and the states.

Background to the Constitution: Articles of Confederation – the first central form of government that provided a loose unity for the separate states.

Limitations under the Articles of Confederation The central government consisted only of a Congress in which each state was represented equally. No executive or judiciary branches were created. The central government could not regulate commerce between states. The states taxed each other’s goods and negotiated trade agreements with other countries.

4. No law enforcing powers were granted to Congress. 5. No process for amending the Articles was provided. 6. States retained all powers not specifically granted to Congress.

Shay’s Rebellion – a series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers. Such attacks encouraged leaders to seek a stronger central government.

The Constitutional Convention: A meeting of 55 delegates in Philadelphia, their original authority was only to revise the Articles of Confederation. Virtually all of them thought a strong national government was needed to bring economic stability to the chaotic union of states that existed under the Articles of Confederation.

A Document of Compromises: Most delegates believed that only property owners should have the vote. In their view, ordinary people would either scheme to deprive property owners of their rights or become the “tools of demagogues.”

But the founders did not include specific voting requirements in the Constitution, leaving each state to decide voter qualifications.

Virginia Plan – called for a strong central government. It also called for a bicameral legislature: the larger house with members elected by popular vote and the smaller, more aristocratic house selected by the larger house from nominees from state legislatures. Representation in both houses would be based on population. It also called for a national executive and judiciary.

New Jersey Plan – called for a unicameral legislature, and each state would have the same vote.

The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise) – called for one house in which each state would have an equal vote (The Senate) and a second in which representation would be based on population (The House of Representatives). The Senate would be chosen by the state legislatures. The House of Representatives would be directly elected by all voters.

The Three-fifths Compromise – allowed southern states to count a slave as three-fifths of a person, allowing a balance of power between North and South.

Electoral College – The Framers believed that after Washington retired as president, each of the 13 states would run their own candidate for this office. If the President was chosen by popular vote, then only candidates from large states would win. Thus a compromise was made between the large and small states.

A candidate for President has to get 50+ percent of the Electoral College to win. If no one candidate reaches this goal then the House of Representatives chooses the winner from the top three Electoral vote takers. Since each state gets one electoral vote for each of its congressional representatives, it was believed that the three top vote winners in the Electoral College would come from the three most populated states.

But in the House selection of the President, each state gets one vote. Since there were more smaller than larger states, the small states would choose the final winner. The Framers never envisioned the creation of political parties which has changed the nature of this compromise.

Amending The Constitution: Formal Amendments: Amendments may be proposed by 2/3 vote of each house of Congress and ratified by at least ¾ of state legislatures. All but one of the amendments have been added through this process.

Amendments may be proposed by a 2/3 vote of each house of Congress and ratified by specially called conventions in at least ¾ of the states. This method was used once, for the 21st Amendment that repealed Prohibition.

Amendments may be proposed by a national constitutional convention requested by at least 2/3 of state legislatures and ratified by at least ¾ of the state legislatures. Amendments may be proposed by a national constitutional convention and ratified by specially called conventions in at least ¾ of the states.

The End