A New Plan of Government

A New Plan of Government

Objective: I will be able to discuss the ideas found in the United States Constitution.

Roots of the Constitution

After four long and difficult months, Franklin and the other delegates had produced a new constitution. Although a uniquely American document, the Constitution has roots in many other civilizations. The delegates studied and discussed the history of political thought at length-starting with ancient Greece-so that their new government could avoid the mistakes of the past. Many ideas in the Constitution came from the study of European political institutions and political writers. British ideas and institutions influenced the delegates.

Roots of the Constitution

 The Framers who shaped the document were familiar with the parliamentary system of Britain, and many had participated in the colonial assemblies or their state assemblies.

Roots of the Constitution

They valued the individual rights guaranteed by the British judicial system. Although the Americans broke away from Britain, they respected many British traditions, or cultural beliefs and practices.

Multiple Choice

Traditions are cultural beliefs or practices.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The framers of the Constitution borrowed ideas from the Native Americans.

• False

• True

European Influences

The English Magna Carta (1215) placed limits on the power of the monarch. The assemblies had some control over colonial governors. 

European Influences

The English Bill of Rights of 1689 provided another model for Americans' Many Americans felt that the Constitution also needed a bill of rights.

European Influences

 The Framers of the Constitution believed in the ideas about the nature of people and government promoted by European writers of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a movement of the 1700s that promoted knowledge, reason, and science as a means of improving society.

Multiple Choice

What placed limits on the power of the monarch?

• Enlightenment

• Magna Carta

• English Bill of Rights

Multiple Choice

What promoted knowledge, reason, and science as a means of improving society.

• Enlightenment

• Magna Carta

• English Bill of Rights

European Influences

James Madison and other architects of the Constitution were familiar with the work of John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu, two philosophers of the Enlightenment.

John Locke...

...an English philosopher, believed that all people have natural rights. These natural rights include the rights to life, liberty, and property. He wrote that government is based on an agreement, or contract, between the people and the ruler.

Barron de Montesquieu...

The French writer Montesquieu declared that the powers of government should be separated and balanced against each other. This separation would prevent any single person or group from gaining too much power.

Barron de Montesquieu...

The Framers of the Constitution agreed with Montesquieu and viewed the Constitution as a contract between government and the people; and that the three branches of the government should be divided and spelled out (specified).

Multiple Select

Two important philosophers of the Enlightenment.

• James Madison

• John Lock

• Baron de Montesquieu

• Benjamin Franklin

Multiple Choice

He believed that ALL people had the right to life, liberty, and property.

• Barron de Montesquieu

• John Locke

Multiple Choice

He believed that the powers of government should be separated and balanced against each other.

• John Locke

• Baron de Montesquieu

The Federal System

The Constitution created a federal system of government that divided powers between the national, or federal, government and the states. Federalism, or sharing power between the federal and state governments, is one of the distinctive features of the U. S. government.

Multiple Choice

The sharing of power between the federal and state governments is known as...

• Communism

• Dictatorship

• Federalism

• Racism

The Federal System

Under the Constitution, the federal government gained broad powers to tax, regulate trade, control the currency, raise an army, and declare war. It could also pass laws that were "necessary and proper" for carrying out its responsibilities.

State Powers

The Constitution, however, left important powers in the hands of the states. The states had the power to regulate trade within their borders. They also could establish local governments and schools and set marriage and divorce laws.

Shared Powers

The Constitution also allows for power to be shared between the federal and state governments. Both federal and state governments have the power to tax and administer criminal justice.

Multiple Select

Under the constitution the national government could now tax, regulate trade, control currency, raise an army, and declare war.

• True

• False

Multiple Select

States could NOT establish local governments and schools and set marriage and divorce laws.

• True

• False

Multiple Select

The Constitution does NOT allow the Federal government and the State governments to share power.

• False

• True

Multiple Select

Who can tax and administer criminal justice?

• Federal Government

• State Government

• Neither State nor Federal

• Both State & Federal

The Supreme Law of the Land

The Constitution and the laws that Congress passed were to be "the supreme law of the land." No state could make laws or take actions that went against the Constitution. Any dispute between the federal government and the states was to be settled by the federal courts on the basis of the Constitution.

Open Ended

Exit Ticket: How is the government divided up?