Mr. Careys Civics Class

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Mr. Careys Civics Class

• Chapter 3
• The Constitution

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Chapter 3, section 2

• Underlying Principles
• Foundations for Success

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Warm-up

• Using your text, answer the following question
• What are the four basic principles upon which
  the U.S. government is based?

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Warm-up answer

• The four basic principles upon which
• the U.S. government is based are popular
  sovereignty, limited government, federalism, and
  separation of powers.

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1.) Popular Sovereignty

• A.) The people have the right to rule themselves.
• B.) We rule ourselves through representative
  government.
• C.) Declaration of Independence Constitution
  support this.
• D.) People express their will through elections.
• E.) We can remove elected officials.

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2.) Limited Government

• A.) means the power of the government should be
  limited and serve the will of the people.
• B.) Majority may try to deny rights to minority
  Article I (powers denied Congress) of the
  Constitution prevents this.
• C.) Examples of limits Government cannot arrest
  or punish people without due process ( charged
  w/ a crime, trial by jury)
• D.) The Bill of Rights further limits government
  and protects individual rights and liberties.

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3. Federalism

• A.) Another name for the federal system or where
  states and national government share power to
  govern.
• B.) By allowing states their own government, the
  Constitution gave Americans the freedom to
  provide for their own needs.
• C.) Examples of this Delaware may not have the
  same laws governing the environment as, say,
  Alaska. Both states have different environments
  and have different needs.

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3.) Federalism continued

• D.) Three Types of Power
• 1.) Enumerated Powers powers given specifically
  to the national government. Examples controlling
  immigration, maintaining an army, and
  establishing a postal system.

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D.) Three types of Power continued

• 2.) Reserved Powers powers given to the states.
  Examples power to regulate trade within state,
  set up schools, marriage divorce laws.

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Three types of Power continued

• 3.) Concurrent Powers powers shared by the
  states and national government. Examples collect
  taxes, borrow money, set up courts prisons.

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Three types of Power continued

• 4.) The Supremacy Clause under Article IV of
  the Constitution, the Constitution the national
  government are the supreme law of the land.
  National law has the higher authority than state
  law.

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4.) Separation of Powers

• A.) Background English European history filled
  with examples of oppressive governments.
• B.) French Philosopher, Barob de Montesquieu,
  best way to protect liberty was to divide
  government and their powers into separate
  legislative, executive and judicial branches.

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4.) Separation of Powers continued

• C.) The framers of the Constitution set up the
  three branches with a system of checks and
  balances to prevent one branch from becoming too
  powerful.

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Close

• Rank the following factors in their order of
  importance ( 1 most important) as influences on
  the government the Constitution created
• Ideas from England
• Colonial experience in self-government
• Ideas of writers such as Baron de Montesquieu
• The Framers knowledge of history, especially
  about oppressive rulers
• The need to establish order in the country