HOUSEKEEPING

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HOUSEKEEPING

• Please hand in your papers on the conventions
• Take a copy of the rubrics for the Media Watch
  presentation as well as the convention papers
• Take a colored card from the desk by the door,
  write your name on the back of card and place it
  on the desk by the computer screen
• Stanley will present his media watch today
• September 26 Debate
• Note schedule Chapter 6, Congress, will begin
  Wednesday
• Remember Constitution Day September 17, 2008
• Lehman Theater, 12 noon.

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Quick Review

• During last session spoke of
• The Declaration of Independence
• The Virginia and New Jersey Plans
• The Great Compromise
• The Articles of Confederation and its weaknesses
• Compromises (i.e., Three-fifths compromise)

TODAY The Constitution
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Other Compromises

• Executive branch
• Controversies over terms in office and method of
  selection
• Committee on Unfinished Portions
• Chose four-year term of office with possibility
  of re-election
• Created Electoral College (give states a role and
  limit the power of the masses)
• Process to impeach and remove the president
  (House and Senate get separate roles)

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The U.S. Constitution

• The preamble
• We the people
• Of the United States
• Why important?

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The U.S. Constitution

• Basic principles
• Federalism
• Power divided among the states and the national
  government
• Vertical division of power
• Separation of Powers
• Framers wanted to limit government
• Three branches of government
• Horizontal division of powers
• Each branch independent and equal with different
  staffs and functions

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The U.S. Constitution

• Basic principles
• Checks and Balances
• Power of each branch of government checked
  (limited) and balanced by powers of other
  branches
• No branch can tyrannize the others or the people
• The Supremacy Clause
• Article IV says federal law is supreme

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Article I The Legislative Branch

• legislative powers
• bicameral legislature (House of Representatives
  and Senate)
• Covers qualifications, terms for and of office
• Section 8
• Enumerated Powers of Congress
• Right to tax
• Regulate commerce
• Coin money, etc.
• Implied powers of Congress (elastic clause or
  necessary and proper clause)
• Congress shall make all laws which shall be
  necessary and proper for carrying into Execution
  the foregoing powers
• Interpreted as broad grant of power over the years

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Article II The Executive Branch

• Establishes executive branch headed by president
• Section 1
• Presidents term of office
• Electoral college
• Sets qualifications for office and how to renove
• Section 3
• Powers and duties
• I.e. Commander in chief
• Authority to make treaties
• President told to report to Congress from time
  to time
• State of the Union Address

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Article III The Judicial Branch

• Establishes Judicial Branch
• Supreme Court
• Does not specify number of judges or
  qualifications
• Federal judges serve terms of good behavior
  basically life time
• Judiciary has independence from political motives
  (cant even lower judges salary while he or she
  is in office)

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Articles IV Through VII

• Article IV
• full faith and credit clause
• Each state should honor the laws and proceedings
  of other states (i.e. window tinting)
• Why might this be a major issue
• Article V and amendments-
• Article VI and the supremacy clause-
• Article VI and no religious test for public
  office-
• Article VII and ratification-

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The Drive for Ratification

• Not certain the new Constitution would be
  ratified Full year of hot debate
• Mainly between Federalists Versus
  Anti-Federalists
• Federalists- in favor
• Anti-Federalists- opposed
• Worried about power of new central government
• Civil liberties and freedoms
• Power should be at state level, where it can be
  controlled
• Worried about a standing army, a Supreme Court, a
  potentially tyrannical executive
• Complained there was no bill of rights (a
  tradition in state constitutions)
• The Federalist Papers
• Written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and
  John Jay
• Anti-Federalists papers)
• Patrick Henry, John Winthrop, and George Mason

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The Drive for Ratification

• By June 1788 nine states had ratified
• But Virginia and New York ratified (40 percent of
  population)
• Other small states also had not ratified
• Then Virginia ratified
• New York held out but, afraid it would be left
  out of the Union, ratified
• Insisted, however, that a bill of rights be
  written
• Then North Carolina and finally Rhode Island

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The Drive for Ratification

• "Publius"-
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay-
• The Federalist Papers-
• "Brutus" and "Cato -
• Anti-Federalist arguments
• particular concerns over power of national
  government over personal liberty
• Madison answers criticisms raised by the
  Anti-Federalist
• Federalist Nos. 10 and 5 1

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Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
Under the U.S. Constitution
Legislative Branch
Executive Branch
Pass all Federal laws Pass the Federal
budget Declare War Approve treaties and
presidential appointments Establish lower federal
courts and the number of judges
Enforce federal laws and court orders Propose
legislation to Congress Make foreign
treaties Nominate officers of the U.S. government
and federal judges Serve as commander in chief of
armed forces Pardon people convicted in federal
courts or grant reprieves
Judicial Branch

• Legislative Checks on Judicial
• -Change number and jurisdiction of federal courts
• Impeach federal judges
• - Propose constitutional amendments to override
  decisions

Interpret federal laws and U.S.
Constitution Review the decisions of lower state
and federal courts

• Executive Checks on the Judicial
• Appoint federal judges
• Refuse to implement decisions

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Ratifying the Constitution

• Article VII-
• demands for a bill of rights as amendments to
  guarantee personal liberties

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Adding a Bill of Rights

• Proposed amendments sent to the states for
  ratification
• Twenty-Seventh Madison Amendment
• Ratification of the Bill of Rights
• Protections and guarantees of the Bill of Rights
• The Bill of Rights (Table 2.3)

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Methods of Amending the ConstitutionFormal
Methods

• Reasons for the formal amendment process to be a
  slow one
• Article V
• Methods of Amending the Constitution (Figure 2.2)
• Two-stage amendment process
• Two methods of proposal
• Ratification must occur in one of two ways
• Eighteenth and Twenty-First Amendments
• Reaction to Texas v. Johnson (1989)
• Proposed Constitutional amendment banning
  same-sex marriage

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Methods of Amending the ConstitutionInformal
Methods

• Judicial interpretation
• Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• Criticism of judicial review
• Social and cultural change
• Evolution of Constitution
• Great Depression and New Deal