Parts of the Constitution

Parts of the Constitution

What is the purpose of the Constitution?

It is used to form and lay out our government.

Today, we are going to break the Constitution up into 3 parts.

• Preamble

• Articles

• Amendments

These parts can be broken up further.

• Preamble

• Articles 1-7

• Bill of Rights

• Other amendments

We are going to look into these parts some more on a deeper level.

Part 1

Preamble

Preamble

Introduces the Constitution and lists 6 reasons why the people are creating a new government

Multiple Choice

Why do we have the Constitution? What is its purpose?

• To form and lay out the government

• To decide who will win the election

• To tell us how long kids go to school

Part 2

Articles

Article 1

Gives the legislative branch (Congress) powers and limits

Multiple Choice

What does the legislative branch do?

• Creating and passing Laws

• Deciding who will be president

• Coming up with the National Anthem

Article 2

Gives the executive branch (the president) its limits and powers

Multiple Choice

Who makes up the executive branch?

• Manager, teacher, doctor

• President, vice president, cabinet

• Store worker, pizza man, deli manager

Article 3

Gives the judicial branch (judges) its powers and limits

Multiple Choice

What is the main building that is a part of the judicial branch?

• Schools

• Washington Memorial

• Supreme Court

Article 4

Outlines the relationship between states and between each state and the federal government (ex. rules for adding new states to the US)

Article 5

Explains how to change the Constitution through amendments

Article 6

Declares that the Constitution is the supreme (most important, highest level) law of the laws, doesn't allow religious tests and states that the US will pay its debts

Article 7

Explains the process for ratifying (changing) the Constitution

Multiple Choice

How many articles are there in the Constitution?

• 1

• 0

• 7

• 100

Part 3

Amendments

Bill of Rights

Lists important individual rights and places limits on government power (first 10 amendments)

Other Amendments

17 changes made to the Constitution (ex. voting rights for women, lowered voting age to 18......)

Poll

How do we feel about the parts of the Constitution?

• Excellent!! Let's take a test!

• Need a bit more practice

• Ummm.... I didn't pay attention