The road to our government

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Creating the Constitution

• The road to our government!

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Convention in Philadelphia

• Present Framers
• James Madison
• Alexander Hamilton
• George Washington
• Absent
• Thomas Jefferson
• Patrick Henry
• John Adams

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Compromise

• Issues
• State size
• Representation
• Weight of Votes

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Virginia Plan Big State Plan

• 3 branches of government
• Bicameral legislature
• Both based on size of population
• National Executive
• National Judiciary

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New Jersey Plan

• Unicameral legislature
• Equal representation for states of different
  sizes
• More than one federal executive

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The Great Compromise aka Connecticut Compromise

• 3 branches of government
• Bicameral legislature
• Senate
• House of Representatives
• National Judiciary
• National Executive

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Other Important Compromises

• 3/5 Compromise
• Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise

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Important Basis

• Locke
• Rousseau
• Articles of Confederation
• State governments

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Reactions to the Constitution

• Federalists
• For ratification
• Anti- federalists
• Against ratification
• Why?
• Bill of Rights

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Structure of the Constitution

• Preamble
• 7 Articles
• Added later 27 Amendments

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6 Basic Principles of the Constitution

• Popular Sovereignty
• Limited Government
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• Judicial Review
• Federalism

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Popular Sovereignty

• Consent of the Governed
• Vote
• The government derives its power from the will of
  the people

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Limited Government

• Government is restricted in what it may do
• Individuals have certain rights that cannot be
  taken away

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Separation of Powers

• Independent and coequal branches of government
• Legislative (Congress)
• Executive (President)
• Judicial (Supreme Court)

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Checks and Balances

• Each branch has the power to restrain the power
  of the others
• Examples?

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Judicial Review

• The right for the courts to determine the
  constitutionality of a law or governmental action
• Marbury v Madison

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Federalism

• Sharing of power between a national and state
  governments
• Example Boling Park

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Can the Constitution be Changed?

• Living Document
• What was the purpose of this?
• Amendments

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Amendment Process

• Step 1
• Proposed by Congress and passes BOTH houses with
  2/3 vote
• Step 2
• Goes to individual state legislatures. It must
  pass at least ¾ of state legislatures to become
  and amendment

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