Constitution handbook Essential Question: examine how the rights and responsibilities of the U.S. citizenship reflect on the American national identity.

7 principles of the Constitution 1. Popular Sovereignty: a government where the people rule

7 principles of the Constitution 2. Republicanism: people exercise their power by voting for their political representatives

7 principles of the Constitution 3. Federalism: system of gov’t in which the power is divided between the central gov’t and state gov’t Constitution is based on this Powers assigned to national gov’t = delegated powers Powers assigned to states = reserved powers Powers shared by national and state gov’t = concurrent powers

7 principles of the Constitution 4. Separation of Powers: gov’t is divided into branches to keep the power from one individual person or branch.

7 principles of the Constitution 5. Checks and Balances: each branch of gov’t has to work with the other branches Framers put this in to make sure the branches work fairly with each other

7 principles of the Constitution 6. Limited Government: rule of law = everybody must obey the law

7 principles of the Constitution 7. individual Rights: personal liberties and privileges = Bill of Rights