U.S. Consitution

The U.S. Constitution

Open Ended

Where do you think the U.S. government gets its instructions? In other words, how does the President, Congress, and the Federal Judges know what to do?

What if there was no such thing as a president of the United States?  What if the sour government had no money to pay Armed Forces?  What if every state had different kinds of money?

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​WHAT IF?

All of this was true during the US’ first year.  When the American colonists gained their independence from the British after the Revolutionary War, the Americans were faced with a problem: What kind of government should they have? The leaders realized they needed some form of government to help manage things like trade, defense, and laws.

They’d lived for years under British rule, and they had lots of complaints. Now they would create a government from scratch, and they had a few requirements.

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​Independent Citizens Seek Awesome Government

Their experience under heavy-handed British rule left the newly independent Americans a little bit skittish. Basically, they wanted a government that couldn’t do much.

In 1777, the Continental Congress (a group of leaders from the colonies) drafted the Articles of Confederation. This document was the first set of rules that helped the United States work together as a country, but, in general, each state did as it pleased. 

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Independent Citizens Seek Awesome Government

​weak

The Articles were very weak and had many problems including:

Under the Articles, there was a Congress, but no president to enforce decisions made by Congress. 

The national government was very weak. It couldn’t collect taxes or enforce laws, which made it hard to pay for things like the military.

Each state had its own currency, making trade between states difficult.

There was national courts, so problems between states was difficult to solve.

And in order to change the Articles, every single state had to agree to the changes.

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Weakness

Multiple Choice

The country's first set of rules after the revolutionary war was the--

• Articles of Confederation
• Declaration of Independence

• Bill of Rights
• Mayflower Compact

Dropdown

The Articles of Confederation formed a ____​

Select answer

Government.

Multiple Choice

Americans feared that if they gave the government too much _____ they would be left with similar issues they had while under King George III rule

• freedom

• money

• power

By 1787, many leaders feared that the new country would fall apart without a stronger central government. 
They called for a meeting to make changes in the Articles of Confederation.  Instead, they wrote a brand new document called the Constitution.  It’s the supreme law of the land.

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​A Brand New Document

Lesson: U.S. Constitution

6/43

In most other nations in 1787, the government was the master of the people.  The government was unlimited, the leaders held all the power. 
Even today, many governments are still the masters of their people.  People living under unlimited governments have very few of the rights we have.

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Unlimited Power

The Framers knew when they created our government that they faced a difficult problem.

They wanted to create a stronger national government.  But, they also worried about creating a government with too much power.  

A government with too much power might become our master instead of our servant.  

The government solved this problem with our Constitution.

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Unlimited Power

Multiple Choice

A form of government where the ruler has absolute control and is above the law.

• Democracy
• Limited Government

• Unlimited Government

• Constitution

Poll

What are some rules that you have at home? You can answer more than one.

• Wash the dishes

• Clean your room

• Go to bed at a certain time

• Other Rules not listed here

• There are no rules in my home.

The U.S. Constitution is basically the rulebook for the United States. It's a set of laws that tells the government how it should work and what it can and can't do. By doing so, the Constitution created a limited government. It is also known as the supreme law of the land.

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​U.S. Constitution

The Constitution is like a small book. You know how books are divided into chapters, the Constitution doesn't have chapters but it is divided into parts. The first part, the Preamble, explains the Constitution's purpose.
The second part, the Articles, creates the three branches of government and explains how the country should be run and who has the power to make decisions.
The third part, the Amendments, explains people's rights.

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​U.S. Constitution

Multiple Choice

What is the U.S Constitution?

• A declaration of war.

• A collection of amendments to the Bill of Rights.
• A treaty between the U.S. and foreign nations.
• A document with rules for how our government works and how the country is run.

Multiple Choice

A system where the government's power is restricted by laws often by a constitution

• Unlimited Government

• Authoritarian government

• Limited government

• Totalitarian government

The first part of the Constitution is called the Preamble. It is an introduction.

They may be the most famous 52 words in American history.

The Preamble is the opening statement to the United States Constitution. The preamble explains the reasons why the Framers of the Constitution made our government. 

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What is a Preamble?

This phrase means all the citizens of the United States of America. 

Even though the Constitution was written up by some of the most well-educated men of the new country, the Constitution was written for all the people of the United States of America.

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"We the People"

Multiple Choice

What is the introduction to the Constitution called?

• Preamble
• Bill of Rights

• Articles of Confederation

• Declaration of Independence

Multiple Choice

In the Preamble, what does it mean when it says, "We the people..."?

• The constitution was written for all the people of the United States.

• Referring to "the people" who wrote the constitution.

• The constitution was only written for the delegates at the Constitutional Convention.

• The people of Massachusetts.

When the founders were creating a new American government, the abuses of power from a single ruler were fresh in their minds. They didn't want another king! So the United States government was designed to prevent any single person or group from becoming too powerful. We call this idea "separation of powers."

The first three Articles of the Constitution separates the government's power into three branches. Each branch has separate powers and responsibilities.

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The Articles

Poll

Who makes the rules in your home?

• Mom

• Dad

• Other Family Member

• There are no rules in my home.

Article I is the first and longest part of the Constitution. It creates the legislative branch of our government. Legislative means law-making. 

Congress creates rules for our country.

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Creating Congress:
ARTICLE I

​The Capitol building is where Congress meets. The main work of senators and representatives is to make laws and approve the money that the government spends.

In 1787, Americans still remembered how much trouble they had experienced with the British king.  Americans believed that the king had violated their rights.

With this experience in mind, the Framers faced the problem of creating an executive branch of government.  

They wanted an executive branch with enough power to carry out its responsibilities yet not strong enough to overwhelm the other branches.

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​Article II: Executive Branch

Article II of the Constitution created the executive branch. This branch executes, or carries out, laws. The president heads this branch, which also includes the vice president and many departments in charge of carrying out the government’s day-to-day business.

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​Article II: Executive Branch

Article II describes who qualifies to be the president, what powers the office has, and what happens if a president misbehaves!

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​Article II: Executive Branch

President's DUTIES and RESPONSIBLITIES

Article III creates the last of the three branches, the judicial branch. 

The judicial branch has the job of interpreting laws to decide what they mean. It is made up of nine Supreme Court Justices.

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​Article III: Judicial Branch

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Options (3)

Makes Laws

Enforces Laws

Interprets Laws

Correctly classify the descriptions to the correct branch of government.

Legislative Branch

Executive Branch

Judicial Branch

Multiple Choice

Look at the photo to the left. Which branch of government works in this building?

• Legislative branch
• Judicial branch
• Executive branch
• Military branch

Multiple Choice

Which of these powers does the president have?

• The president can create laws.

• The president has the power to rule a law unconstitutional

• The president has the power to command the military.

Multiple Choice

Look at the photo to the left. Which branch of government did this historical figure serve in?

• Executive Branch.

• Legislative Branch

• Judicial Branch

• No branch, he was a famous artist.

The men who wrote the Constitution wanted to make sure that no one branch became too powerful. 

First, they set up the three branches of government, and carefully described the powers of each branch in the Constitution. (Separation of Powers)

Then they created a system of checks and balances - a way to make sure that no one branch of the U.S. government gets too powerful.

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Checks and Balances

Legislative Branch (Congress): They make the laws, but the President (in the Executive Branch) can veto or reject those laws if he or she doesn’t agree. However, Congress can override that veto if they get enough votes.

Executive Branch (President): The President can enforce laws, but Congress controls the budget and can decide how much money the President gets to use. Also, if the President does something wrong, Congress can impeach (remove) the President.

Judicial Branch (Courts): The courts interpret the laws. If Congress makes a law that goes against the Constitution, the courts can declare it unconstitutional and cancel it. This means they can check if laws are fair and legal

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How Does it Work?

Multiple Choice

Dividing the federal government into three branches was a way to _____

the government's power.

• centralize
• expand
• consolidate
• limit

Multiple Choice

The president is commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, but Congress has the power to declare war. This is an example of

• Bill of Rights

• federal authority
• executive privilege
• checks and balances

When the Constitution was first presented to the states, it was not immediately accepted. Basically, the people were split on allowing big government or not. 

The first draft of the Constitution really focused on the rights of the government, it did very little to focus on the rights of the people. 

For this reason, the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, was added to the Constitution before it was ratified.

Ratification

The Bill of Rights is like a special list of rules that protect our freedoms and rights as American citizens. It’s made up of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Once these individual rights were written, the Constitution was complete and was fully ratified on September 17, 1787.

Bill of Rights

It may sound dramatic to say the U.S. Constitution revolutionized the world, but that’s exactly what it has done.

Since the Constitution was adopted in 1791 as the foundation for government in the United States, nations across the world have created their own constitutions modeled after ours.

The First of Its Kind