The Principles of the Constitution Popular Sovereignty

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The Principles of the ConstitutionPopular
Sovereignty

• The framers of the constitution included the
  principle of Popular Sovereignty in their design
  of the new government.
• Simply explained, this means that the people rule
  this country.
• The people elect public officials to represent
  them in free and frequent elections.
• Citizens can vote at the age of 18.
• We the People of the United Statesdo ordain and
  establish this Constitution for the United States
  of America.

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Limited Power

• The citizens of the new nation feared tyranny.
  They had just gotten done fighting a war to win
  their independence from England and were not
  about to hand that over to the new National
  Government.
• Many states pressured the framers of the
  constitution to add a Bill of Rights, or a list
  of the basic rights of citizens.
• The framers also made the national and state
  governments share some powers.
• The people gave the Government its powers and
  have the ability to take them away through
  elections.

The Government only has the powers that the
people give it. The Constitution clearly states
what the Government can and cannot do.
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FEDERALISM Sharing of Power

• America's government was based on Federalism,
  where power is divided between the Federal
  (national) and the state governments.
• The constitution states what powers the Federal
  government has, what powers are shared, and
  leaves the rest for the states.
• Whenever a dispute arises the constitution is the
  "supreme law of the land.
• What it says goes!

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Separation of Powers

• The new federal government had three branches,
  the legislative, judicial, and executive.
• The legislative branch includes the congress and
  house of representatives and has the power to
  tax, coin money, and declare war. The legislative
  branch makes the laws.
• The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme
  Court and interprets laws.
• The executive branch is made up of the president
  and his cabinet. The main purpose of this branch
  is to carry out the laws and deals with foreign
  affairs and the military.

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Checks and Balances

• Checks and balances is a system where the three
  branches can check on each other and possibly
  stop the other branch from doing something.
• This prevents one branch gaining all the power in
  the Government or the branches making
  unconstitutional decisions.

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Checks on the Legislative Branch

• The executive branch can control the Legislative
  by proposing laws, vetoing laws, calling special
  sessions of Congress and negotiating foreign
  treaties.
• The judicial branch can also check the
  legislative branch by declaring acts of branch
  unconstitutional.

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Checks on the Executive Branch

• The legislative branch can help control the
  executive branch by overriding a veto, ratifying
  treaties, declaring war, appropriating money and
  impeaching the president.
• The Judicial Branch can also declare acts of the
  executive branch unconstitutional.

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Checks on the Judicial Branch

• The executive branch appoints judges and can
  grant pardons to federal offenders.
• The legislative branch checks the judicial branch
  by creating lower courts, impeaching, and
  removing judges, and proposing amendments to
  overrule decisions.

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Judicial Review

• Power of the courts to determine whether the
  things that the government does are allowed by
  the Constitution
• Can declare acts of Congress or the President
  unconstitutional
• Declare illegal, null and void, of no force and
  effect
• The doctrine of judicial review was first
  announced as part of federal law in 1803, by the
  Supreme Court decision Marbury v. Madison.

"The judicial Power of the United States, shall
be vested in one supreme Court, and in such
inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to
time ordain and establish The judicial Power
shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity,
arising under this Constitution" (Article III,
US Constitution)
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Who Influenced the Framers of the Constitution?

• The league of the Iroquois was respected by the
  framers. They decided to include the unity of the
  league in their own government.
• From England came the idea of representative
  government. They incorporated this idea with
  England's Magna Carta, (Great Charter) which is
  based on the idea of limiting government power.
• The enlightenment thinkers believed that people
  could improve society through the use of reason.
  One very important enlightenment thinker was John
  Locke. Locke said that all people deserved the
  right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
  happiness.
• Locke believed that the government is an
  agreement between the ruled and the ruler.
• Montesquieu was a French thinker who published
  The Spirit of Laws.
• His idea was that government should be divided
  among three different branches legislative,
  judicial, and executive, and become known as the
  separation of powers.