1. The U.S. Constitution

2. What was Locke’s & Hobbes’ views about the state of nature of humans?
Warm up
What was Locke’s & Hobbes’ views about the state of nature of humans?
What purpose does government serve in relation to their views?

3. Key Terms Constitution Legislative Branch Bicameral Executive Branch
Confederation
Judicial Branch
Ratify
Amendment
Great Compromise
Popular sovereignty
Three-Fifths Compromise
Separation of Powers
Electoral College
Checks and Balances
Federalism
Expressed Powers
Anti-Federalists
Reserved Powers
Preamble
Concurrent Powers

4. Articles of Confederation
Unicameral legislature – Consist of one chamber or house; each state had one vote.
Congress could
Congress could not
Declare war & make peace
Draft soldiers
Establish a military
Collect taxes
Sign treaties
Enforce laws
borrow money
Coin money
Operate post offices
Establish national court
Enforce treaties
Regulate trade among states
Easily pass laws (needed 9 out 13 states)
Federalism: Power is divided between national and state governments.

5. AOC’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Ordinance of 1785
Divided the land into townships and allowed Congress to raise money by selling the land to settlers.
Northwest Ordinance (Ordinance of 1787)
Established a government for the Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin), outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the original thirteen states.

6. The End of the AOC The Articles proved to be too weak for the country.
Shay’s rebellion: A group of farmers in Massachusetts were in debt because of heavy state taxes rebelled but were defeated. The rebellion proved that a stronger central government was needed.

7. Constitutional Convention
May 25, delegates from 12 states met in Philadelphia.
The purpose of the meeting was to revise the Articles of Confederation.
James Madison wrote most of the Constitution (became known as the father of the constitution)
The delegates agreed on four things:
1. Throw out the articles.
2. Each state had one vote regardless of the amount of delegates.
3. Keep the meeting secret.
4. George Washington would be in charge.
Because technically, it wasn't what they were supposed to be doing. They were on orders to fix the Articles of the Confederation but were not given the authority to draft a whole new Constitution. In a manner of speaking, they overthrew the government.  Remember, this is post-Revolution so Britain has already let the colonies secede. However, in light of Shaw's Rebellion, the federal government was clearly too weak to do anything and the states were unable to work together because of the varying governments and currencies. At the time they were 13 nations loosely allied together, rather than the 13 parts of a greater nation they became after the Constitution.

8. Plans of Government Virginia (Big state Plan) James Madison
1. Bicameral legislature based on population.
2. Strong Executive Branch
3. National Court System
New Jersey
(Small state plan)
William Patterson
1. Unicameral legislature with equal representation.
3. National Court system
Connecticut (Combo state plan)
Roger Sherman
1. Bicameral legislature: Upper house equal and lower house based on population.

9. Constitutional Compromises
Details
Great Compromise
Bicameral legislature
Upper House: Equal Representation (Senate)
Lower House: Based on population (House of Rep)
Three-Fifths
One slave equals three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation.
Slave trade and commerce
Congress can control all aspects of foreign and interstate trade, but decided not to deal with the slavery until the 13th amendment.
Executive
The Executive branch will be lead by one individual called “President” and will be elected every four years by the Electoral College (that is their sole purpose)

10. Ratification 9 out of 13 states had to ratify the Constitution.
It was signed by the delegates on September 17, 1787.
Federalists supported the Constitution. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton & John Jay They wrote the Federalist papers defending the Constitution.
Anti-federalists opposed the Constitution. They felt that too much power was given to the National government. They wanted a bill of rights to protect individuals & states
June 21, 1788 New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Island was the 13th state to ratify it in 1790.

11. Constitution Supreme law of the land.
Provides the framework for government in the United States.
All powers of each branch of government & the rights of citizens are in the Constitution.

12. Constitution 6 Purposes To unite the country
Preamble – an introduction that states the goals and purposes of the government.
“We the people of the United States , in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
6 Purposes
To unite the country
To create fairness & equality
To maintain peace
To provide defense
To promote healthy and happy life
To guarantee basic rights of all citizens (present and future)

13. Constitution breakdown
1. Preamble 2. Seven Articles (Lawyers eat juicy steaks and super rats) : I. Legislative Branch II. Executive Branch III. Judicial Branch IV. State Relations V. Amending process VI. Supreme law of the land VII. Ratification process 3. Twenty-seven amendments

14. Checks and Balances
The powers of the government are divided into three branches (Separation of powers):
Legislative: Congress - Make laws (HOR & Senate)
Executive: President - Enforce laws.
Judicial: Supreme Court - Interpret laws.
The system of checks and balances keeps one branch of government from becoming too powerful.

15. Checks and Balances

16. Four basic principles
The Constitution was designed on four basic principles:
Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Federalism
Separation of powers

17. Popular Sovereignty Rule by the people (vote).
Voters elect representatives and through the Electoral College, they elect a president (representative democracy).
The president and representatives are there to serve the people.

18. Limited government
A danger is that the majority may deny rights to the minority.
The Constitution protects the rights of all Americans.
The Bill of Rights (supported by the Antifederalists) was added later to secure the rights of the people.

19. Federalism National government shares power with the states.
This gives Americans freedom to provide for their own needs.
The main reason is sectional differences.

20. Separation of Powers
Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu advocated for a separation of powers.
The constitution separates powers and incorporates a system of checks and balances.
3 Branches of Government
Legislative Branch
Creates the laws
Executive Branch Execute the laws
Judicial Branch
Interpret the laws

21. Federalism Continued Types of Power:
Enumerated: Powers given to the national government. Can be expressed or implied (Elastic clause).
Reserved: Powers given to the state governments.
Concurrent: Powers shared between national and state.

22. Amending Process Process to formally change the Constitution.
An amendment must be proposed and ratified.
An amendment can be proposed by a 2/3 vote from both houses of Congress or by a national convention called by 2/3 of the state legislatures. The national convention has never occurred.
An amendment can be ratified by the approval of ¾ of the state legislatures or by special ratifying conventions that pass in ¾ of the states. The ratifying convention has occurred only once.

23. Interpretation
Loose interpretation: Congress can make any law that the constitution does not specifically forbid
Strict interpretation: Congress can only make laws that the constitution gives them direct authority over.
The Supreme Court interprets the constitution and can declare laws unconstitutional.

24. Writing Prompt
Q1: What safeguards did the founders put in place to ensure that power was not concentrated in one place.
Q2: With all of the issues that the delegates had to deal with at the constitutional convention, what did the delegates have to do to ratify the constitution.
Please write legibly.