Updated Constitution Lesson

The United States

Constitution

The United States Constitution

The Constitution is the Supreme
Law of the Land.

Parts of the Constitution:

-Preamble

-Introduction

-Articles

- Seven articles that list the

powers of our gov't
-Amendments

27 current additions to our

Constitution

●To Form A More Perfect Union – To allow the states to operate as a
single country for the benefit of all.

●To Establish Justice – Make certain that all citizens are treated
equally and fairly.

●To Insure Domestic Tranquility – To keep peace and order with
in the United States

The Preamble
Serves to explain the purpose and intent of our Constitution.

●

To Provide For The Common Defense – Maintain and armed
forces.

●

To Promote The General Welfare – To ensure that citizens
will be free from poverty, hunger and disease.

●

To Secure The Blessings Of Liberty To Ourselves And
Our Posterity – To guarantee that no American’s basic
rights will be taken away now or in the future.

The Preamble

Reorder

Reorder the following

• Preamble- introduces the goals of the document

• 7 Articles

• 27 Amendments

1

2

3

• 1
• 2
• 3

Open Ended

List the 5 goals of the Preamble.

7 Articles of The Constitution

Article I

L = Legislative

Article II

E = Executive

Article III

J = Judicial

Article IV

S = States

Article V

A = Amendments

Article VI

S = Supremacy Clause

Article VII

R = Ratification

Let's Eat Juicy Steak And Spicy Rice!

Open Ended

Now work with the persons around you and come up with a way to remember the 7 Articles in order

Article I

●

Article I Legislative Branch
(Congress)

●

#1 Power – Make Laws

●

Congress is made up of two houses:
House of Representatives and the
Senate

●

Describes how members will be
chosen and what rules they must
follow

Article II

●

Article II Executive Branch

●

#1 Power – Enforce the laws

●

Headed by President &
Vice-President

●

How they would be elected and
removed from office

●

Lists president president’s powers

Article III

●

Judicial Branch

●

#1 Power -Interprets laws

●

Sees that laws are fairly applied

●

Lead by Supreme Court & other lower
courts

●

Lists the powers of the courts and the kinds
of cases they can hear

●

Also allows Congress to create lower
courts (Judiciary Act)

Match

Match the branch with its main power.

• Legislative

• Executive

• Judicial

CREATE laws

ENFORCE laws

INTERPRET laws

• CREATE laws

• ENFORCE laws

• INTERPRET laws

Article IV - VII

Article IV:Relations Among States
Relationships among states to one another and to the national
government.

Article V: Amendment Process
Ways The Constitution can be amended (changed).

Article VI: National Supremacy
Constitution, laws passed by Congress, and treaties of US “shall be
SUPREME LAW of Land.”

Article VII: Ratification
Addresses ratification and declares Constitution to take effect
after 9 states ratified it.

Match

Match the Article with its topic.

• Article IV (4)

• Article V (5)

• Article VI (6)

• Article VII (7)

Relationship among the States

How to amend

(change) the Constitution

Supremacy of Federal Gov't/Constitution

Ratification

( how to make it official)

• Relationship among the States

• How to amend

  (change) the Constitution

• Supremacy of Federal Gov't/Constitution

• Ratification

  ( how to make it official)

Federal Government:

●Proposal: 2/3 of both the House of Representatives and the Senate
must approve

●Ratification: ¾ of the 50 state legislatures must approve

State Government:

●Proposal: 2/3 of the 50 state legislatures must agree

●Ratification: ¾ of the 50 states must approve by ratifying convention

Amending the Constitution

(Allows the Constitution to be revised to adapt to change)

The Constitution was designed to be a very general document that can be

changed as times change.

Loose Interpretation
●People who believe that Congress should be able to pass any laws
that the Constitution does not strictly forbid

Strict Interpretation
●People who believe that Congress should not pass any law unless
it is mentioned in the Constitution.

Interpretation through Custom
●Political Parties

Interpreting the Constitution

●

The Supreme Court has the final say on what the Constitution
says.

●

Their job is to interpret the document and how it applies to
laws and actions the government takes.

●

The Constitution is a living document that has changed over
the past 200 years and will continue to change as times call for
it to.

Supreme Court and the Constitution

●Popular Sovereignty
○Citizens decide who will represent them in government

○Rule by the people

●Rule of Law
Laws apply to everyone equally, even to members of the
government

○Also referred to as limited government

●Separation of Powers
○Division of power so that no part can become too powerful

○Three branches of government

●Checks and Balances
○Limits the powers of the three branches by having each “check” the
other

●Federalism
○Sharing of power between the State and Federal government

Principles of the Constitution

●Republicanism
○Voting is a right

○Voting is power

○Voting is protected and defined

●Individual Rights
○Bill of Rights

Principles of the Constitution

Match

Match the Constitutional principle with its definition

• Popular Sovereignty

• Rule of Law

• Separation of Powers

• Federalism

• Republicanism

Rule by the people

Laws apply to everyone/limited gov't

Divide the gov't power into 3 branches

States and Federal gov't sharing power

Voting is protected for the people

• Rule by the people

• Laws apply to everyone/limited gov't

• Divide the gov't power into 3 branches

• States and Federal gov't sharing power

• Voting is protected for the people

●Expressed, Enumerated or Delegated powers
○Powers that are listed in the Constitution
Run the military, waging war, making treaties

●Reserved powers
○Powers that are just for the States
■Ex. Marriage, driving laws

●Concurrent powers
○Powers shared by the Federal and State
governments
■Ex. Tax

.

Types of Powers

●The Elastic Clause/ “Necessary and Proper” Clause
.

●Example: Since Constitution gives Congress the power to coin money,
Federalists argued that the Constitution also authorizes Congress to
create a national bank. The clause expands Congress’s authority. It
stretches like elastic!

●Example: The government could not collect taxes, which is a power
stated in the Constitution, without passing a law to create a
tax-collecting agency.

Federal and State Powers

This clause authorizes Congress to make laws that are necessary
and proper for it to carry out its duties.

Implied Powers come from Elastic Clause

Match

Match the power with its definition

• Expressed, Enumerated and Delegated Powers

• Reserved Powers

• Concurrent Powers

• Implied Powers

Written in the Constitution

Powers for just the states

Shared by the state and federal gov't

Come from the Elastic Clause

• Written in the Constitution

• Powers for just the states

• Shared by the state and federal gov't

• Come from the Elastic Clause

Categorize

Options (9)

regulate foreign and interstate trade

declare war

coin money

tax

make laws

build roads

regulate intrastate trade

establish and maintain schools

issue licenses, permits and certificates

Who has that power? Put the power under the level of gov't that has that power

Federal Gov't

BOTH the Federal and State(concurrent)

State

●Full Faith and Credit Clause
○This requires that states respect each other’s laws.

●Example: If you are ordered by a court in North Carolina to pay $5,000 in
damages, you cannot move to Montana to get out of it!

●Examples: marriages, drivers licenses

Federal and State Powers Cont.

●Whenever the laws of the
Federal government and a State
government conflict, the Federal
government will always win.

●The Federal government and its
laws are supreme.

●The Constitution is the
“SUPREME LAW OF THE
LAND”

Supremacy Clause

●It was an amazing improvement on the Article of Confederation, yet…

○Several states refused to ratify (make it official) including North Carolina
because it did not go far enough to protect the rights of citizens.

●In 1788 it was ratified, but NC and RI held off on ratification until a Bill of Rights
was submitted to Congress. In 1789 these first 10 amendments were the first order
of business for the new Congress.

The United States Constitution

Open Ended

Write down the 7 Articles of the Constitution using the memory device you made earlier.

The Federalist Papers

●Leading Federalists responded to the Anti-Federalists with a series of 85
essays outlining the necessity of a strong federal government. The
Federalist was written between 1787 and 1788.

●Federalists included James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay.

●Supporters included George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

●The Federalists’ campaign was effective at winning over people to support
the Constitution.

●Federalists agreed to add a Bill of Rights once the Constitution was ratified.

●June 1788 the 9th state (New Hampshire) ratified the document.

●By Spring 1790, all 13 states had ratified