Mr
Mr. McCormack
American Government
Central Dauphin School District
Chapter Three – Essential Study Guide
• The Framers organized the Constitution into seven sections known as articles. The Constitution also contains an introductory paragraph known as the Preamble.
• The first and longest article describes the Legislative Branch (Congress), while Article II describes the Executive (President) and Article III describes the Judicial (Supreme Court).
• The Constitution contains six basic principles:
|Principle |Explanation/Definition |Example of Principle in Practice |
|Popular Sovereignty|All power comes from the people |The people govern themselves by picking |
| | |representatives at periodic elections |
|Limited Government |Government only has certain, specific powers and cannot violate the rights of the people|The people have freedom of speech, freedom of |
| | |religion, etc. |
|Separation of |By dividing the powers of government among three branches, no one can control all of the|We have Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches |
|Powers |governments’ powers at one time | |
|Checks and Balances|Each branch of government has some influence over the other branches |The president may veto an act of Congress, but |
| | |Congress can override a presidential veto |
|Judicial Review |The government cannot exceed the authority given to it in the Constitution, so if an act|This power was first exercised by the Supreme Court in|
| |of government violates the Constitution, courts can declare that act unconstitutional, |Marbury v. Madison |
| |null, and void | |
|Federalism |The powers of government are split between a strong national and weaker state |Only the national government can declare war or form |
| |governments |treaties |
• Constitutional amendments can be proposed by either of two methods: by a 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress, or by a national convention called by Congress at the request of 2/3 of the states. Every successful amendment has been proposed by Congress (we’ve never even had a national convention to propose amendments). Congress has also proposed six amendments that were never ratified.
• Constitutional amendments can be ratified by either of two methods: by votes in 3/4 of the state legislatures or by votes in 3/4 of special conventions called in each state. All but one amendment (the 21st) have been approved by state legislatures. Congress can also impose a time limit on proposals, and recently seven years has been considered appropriate. If no time limit is imposed, a proposal may linger forever (in fact, the 27th Amendment was originally proposed as part of the Bill of Rights but wasn’t ratified until the 1990s!).
• By requiring action at both the national and state levels, the amendment process reflects the federal nature of our system.
• The Constitution has been amended a total of 27 times. The first 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.
• The meaning of the Constitution can change over time, even if its language is not formally amended. This informal change can occur in five ways:
|Source of Change |Explanation/Definition |Example of Change in Practice |
|Basic Legislation|Congress can, by legislation, fill in some of the gaps in the |Congress created the federal courts under the Supreme Court |
| |Constitution | |
| | | |
| |Congress’ interpretation of its own powers influences our |Congress has stretched the meaning of the Commerce Clause |
| |understanding of them | |
|Executive Action |Presidents set precedents that become accepted as part of our system |Presidents send troops into combat without seeking a Declaration of War |
| |of government | |
|Court Decisions |The Supreme Court interprets the Constitution when hearing challenges|Segregation, first ruled Constitutional as “separate but equal,” was later |
| |under its power of judicial review |ruled unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause |
|Party Practices |Parties were never mentioned in the Constitution but play a major |Our systems of selecting a President and organizing Congress now wholly |
| |role in every branch of government |depend on political parties |
|Custom |People become accustomed to doing things in certain ways and expect |There are nine justices on the Supreme Court even though the Constitution |
| |them to continue |does not require it |
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