Democratic Ideals in TEXT

The U.S. Constitution established a federal government based upon certain democratic ideals. To insure the rights of the people were protected, they added the first ten amendments at the same time in what we now call the “Bill of Rights”. The last of these, Amendment X, reads… “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Which democratic ideal is the bases for Amendment X?

• Checks and Balances

• Rule of Law

• Popular Sovereignty

• Limited Government

“A Declaration of Rights made by the Representatives of the Freemen of the State of North Carolina.

Section I. That all political power is vested in and derived from the People only.

Section 11. That the people of this State ought to have the sole and exclusive Right of regulating the internal Government and Police thereof.”

-- N.C. Constitution, Declaration of Rights, 1776

Which democratic ideal summarizes this excerpt from North Carolina’s original constitution?

• Federalism

• Anti-Federalism

• States Rights

• Popular Sovereignty

“Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. . . The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare.”

--Articles of Confederation, 1777

What democratic ideal is most evident in this excerpt from the Articles of Confederation?

• Federalism

• Anti-Federalism

• Limited Government

• States Rights

Native American cultures have influenced many parts of American life, including our government. For example, in the Iroquois culture, each tribe would send a representative to meet with the other tribes’ representative to discuss problems and make decisions for the entire Iroquois League. Some might say the Iroquois inspired the bases for the constitutional principal of voting for congressmen today.

Which democratic principle is being compared and contrasted above?

• Democracy

• Popular Sovereignty

• Electoral College

• Representative Government

Which democratic ideal would the author of this excerpt be opposed to?

Excerpt from “Adoption of the Constitution will lead to Civil War”

The new constitution in its present form is calculated to produce despotism, and confusion, and if the United States do swallow it, they will find it a bolus, that will create convulsions to their utmost extremities. Were they mine enemies, the worst imprecation I could devise would be, may they adopt it (the constitution)…

Our present constitution, with a few additional powers to Congress, seems better calculated to preserve the rights and defend the liberties of our citizens, than the one proposed, without a proper Bill of Rights.

• Rule of Law

• Popular Sovereignty

• Representive Republic

• Federalism

“The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

— U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 4

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power to impeach an official, and it makes the Senate the sole court for impeachment trials. The power of impeachment is limited to removal from office but also provides for a removed officer to be disqualified from holding future office. Fines and potential jail time for crimes committed while in office are left to civil courts.

Impeachment is a prime example of which democratic principal?

• Popular Sovereignty

• Anti-Federalism

• Limited Government

• Rule of Law

While there are several democratic principles present in the Declaration of Independence, which one is highlighted below?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

• Popular Sovereignty

• States Rights

• Checks and Balances

• Natural Rights

Which democratic ideal is most evident below?

Excerpt from the North Carolina Constitution

“All bills shall be read three times in each house and shall be signed by the presiding officer of each house before being presented to the Governor. If the Governor approves, the Governor shall sign it and it shall become a law; but if not, the Governor shall return it with objections, together with a veto message stating the reasons for such objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, which shall enter the objections and veto message at large on its journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration three-fifths of the members of that house present and voting shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections and veto message, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by three-fifths of the members of that house present and voting, it shall become a law notwithstanding the objections of the Governor.”

• Federalism

• Anti-Federalism

• Limited Government

• Checks and Balances

Many democratic ideals are very similar and have overlapping definitions. Which democratic ideal is most similar to the constitional principal of "Limited Governemnt"?

• Federalism

• Popular Sovereignty

• Natural Rights

• Checks and Balances

Many democratic ideals are very similar and have overlapping definitions. Which democratic ideal is directly related to the idea of a "representative republic"?

• Checks and Balances

• Rule of Law

• Federalism

• Popular Sovereignty