2. The Constitution of the United States Principles & Structure

3. The Establishment of a Republic Power held by voting citizens Power exercised by elected representatives  Importance of educated citizens  Representative democracy

4. Flexible Document Founders left it to later generations to work out details

5. Major Principles of the Constitution

6. Popular Sovereignty People are the only source of government power Government can govern only with the consent of the governed Found throughout the Constitution, especially the Preamble

7. Limited Government The government may only do those things that the people have given it the power to do  Each individual has certain rights that the government cannot take away Rule of law- The government and its officers are always subject to, and never above, the law.

8. Separation of Powers To strengthen the national government while limiting its power we established three branches of government  Legislative  Executive  Judicial  Congress makes the laws  The President executes, enforces, & administers the laws  Federal and Supreme courts interpret & apply the laws

9. Checks and Balances The powers of the executive, judicial and legislative branches overlap in order for each branch to check the operations and balance the power of the other two

11. Judicial Review The power of the courts to decide the constitutionality of government actions This power is not spelled out in the Constitution, but was implied by the Framers  It was established by the Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison in 1803

12. Federalism The division of power between the national government and several regional (state) governments  This is a compromise to allow citizens to manage their own local affairs but provides national structure and cohesion without too strong of a national government

13. The Structure of the Constitution Three Parts

14. 1. Preamble Provides an introduction Explains the purpose of the document

15. 2. Articles Article I– legislative branch  Creates the legislative branch  Describes Congress’ makeup & rules Article II- executive branch  Creates the executive branch  Describes election procedures of the President and Vice President  Describes the President’s power’s and duties

16. Article III- judicial branch  Creates the judicial branch  Lays out the structure of the judiciary and describes its’ powers Article IV- federalism  Describes the relationship between states  Defines states’ relationship with the national government

17. Article V- amending the Constitution  Describes how the Constitution can be amended (changed) Article VI- “the supremacy clause”  Says the Constitution and laws passed by Congress are the Supreme law of the land Article VII- ratification  Explains that the Constitution would become law when ratified by 9 of the states

18. 3. The Amendments