2.  Article I ◦ Legislative Branch ◦ Congress  Senate  House of Representatives ◦ Writes laws

3.  Article II ◦ Executive Branch ◦ President (and his staff – bureaucracy) ◦ Makes sure the laws are enforced

4.  Article III ◦ Judicial Branch ◦ Supreme Court (and federal courts) ◦ Interprets the laws

5.  The national government needs to be ◦ Strong  But, with power divided ◦ Limited  By a written constitution ◦ Balanced  By three branches competing for power

6.  The Articles of Confederation showed the dangers of a weak government.  The British monarchy showed the dangers of a super-strong government

7.  Federalism divides ◦ Power ◦ Responsibility  Levels of governments ◦ National ◦ State  County  Town  School

8.  Expressed Powers ◦ CLEARLY stated as powers of the NATIONAL gov’t  Implied Powers ◦ HINTED at as powers of the NATIONAL gov’t.  Reserved Powers ◦ Are powers set-aside for STATE gov’t  Concurrent powers ◦ Shared powers of both the NATIONAL and STATE gov’t

9.  The Courts can determine if laws are ◦ Fair ◦ Constitutional  Not clearly stated in The Constitution  Essential to the power of the Supreme Court

10.  Not part of the original Constitution  First Ten Amendments  Added to protect the rights of individuals