10-13-2014 Warm-Up What would the United States look like if there was no government in place?

Constitution 101: An Introduction & Overview to the US Constitution

What is the US Constitution? The supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the Federal Government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government.

What are the basic principles of the Constitution? Popular Sovereignty – Government power resides in the people Limited government – Government is not all powerful, can only do what the people let it. Separation of Powers Helps prevent one branch from becoming too powerful Federalism Division of power among national and state governments Checks and Balances A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power Republicanism A form of government in which people elect representatives to create and enforce laws Individual Rights Basic liberties and rights of all citizens guaranteed in the Bill of Rights

Debate of Constitution After the Constitution was created it need to be ratified (approved) It became obvious that there was two ways to think about the Constitution, some were for it, some were against it These two groups were called the Federalist and Anti-Federalist

Who were the Federalists? The Federalists supported the Constitution. They liked to explain what it was about and strongly defended it. Three of the most famous Federalists were James Madison, of course, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay

Who were the Anti-federalists? They believed that the Constitution created a national government that was too powerful. Men like George Mason and Patrick Henry also opposed the Constitution because there was no bill of rights to protect individual freedoms and felt it gave the president too much power