The U.S. Constitution: Who, What, Where, When, Why & How

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1 The U.S. Constitution: Who, What, Where, When, Why & How 'a ^Va&o/z Fighting between the American colonists and British forces under King George III was in its second year when the Declaration of Independence was issued in July Later that month, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. This first constitution of the United States established a federal government and was an attempt to unify the thirteen former British colonies into a 'firm league of friendship' of mutual assistance and protection. Under the Articles of Confederation, the states would keep most of their powers but would delegate some powers - for example, conducting foreign relations and declaring war - to the federal (U.S.) government. The Articles called for a single branch, the legislative, in this new American government - there was neither an executive nor a judicial branch. Each state had one vote in the legislature, it took nine out of thirteen votes to pass a law, and - since the federal Legislature was not so empowered - enforcement of laws was left to the states. f 14th State? ~! Article Xl of the Articles of I Confederation stated that I Canada could automatically [ join the union if they wanted, j The Articles, however, had many weaknesses. The federal Congress could not regulate interstate trade nor could it directly tax people - the states were to supply the federal treasury. When the states failed to adequately fund the U.S. government, the Continental Army struggled to get needed supplies, putting the war effort in jeopardy. Congress turned to printing money which led to so much inflation U.S. currency became worthless. After the war, European countries took advantage of the weak U.S. government. Great Britain f still held on to forts it was supposed to give up and Spain closed off 'Not Worth a Continental" This phrase which means from American farmers the vital port of New Orleans. For some, it 'worthless' came into being became apparent the Articles needed revision when, in 1786, during the Revolution after Congress was unable to deal with Shays' Rebellion - an uprising in Congress printed too many continental dollars. Massaschusetts against harsh economic policy and debt collection. ^^ ) In May 1787, delegates from twelve of the states met in Philadelphia atthe Constitutional Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation but they ended up ^ ^^ / Rhode Island writing a new constitution altogether. The delegates decided to keep Rhode Island was the only state the proceedings secret to allow for a more open exchange of ideas not to send delegates to the and to foster compromise. Much of our knowledge of the events Constitutional Convention. comes from the copious records of James Madison which were They were also the last to ratify it - doing so a year into published after the death of all the delegates. James Madison had Washington's first term as president of the United States! / 2015 Dog Star Publishing PageS

2 also drafted fellow Virginian Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan which was the launching point for constitutional debate. The Virginia Plan called for three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch makes laws, the executive enforces them, and the judicial interprets them. Under the Virginia Plan, the legislature was to be bicameral - consisting of two houseswith the number of representatives in each house to be proportional to the state's population. States with smaller populations instead supported the New Jersey Plan which proposed keeping the one state-one vote system of the Articles of Confederation. Delegates from the various states were stalled for weeks over the issue of representation until Roger Sherman proposed what became known as the Great Compromise. Under Sherman's system, in one house of the legislature - the House of Representatives - a state's representation would be proportional to population; in the other house - the Senate - each state would get two senators. Bills could only become law after gaining a majority of the vote in each of these two houses of Congress (and then being signed by the president). The issue of slavery also divided the delegates. For one, some northern delegates wanted to ban the importation of slaves but after it became apparent the South would never agree to this, they compromised by allowing for Congress to vote for a ban in the year 1808, at the earliest. Another part of the slavery debate was that states with large slave populations wanted to count them in regards to representation in the House of Representatives. Delegates who opposed slavery only wanted to count the free population of a state for determining representatives. Eventually, delegates agreed that only three-fifths of the total slave population would count towards representation and taxation - the so-called Three-Fifths Compromise. f / Slaver/ The Constitution does not actually use the words 'slave' or 'slaver/.' Rather Article I says "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all V other Persons." Even the issue of the executive branch proved to be a rich field for debate. How should the president be chosen? How long would a president's term be? How many terms could a person serve as president? Could the president block a law from going into effect? It was decided that a group of people chosen by the voters of each state - f Voters the Electoral College - would select the president and that the president could serve any number of four-year terms. A president could block a bill from becoming a law by vetoing it, but Congress could override the veto with a two-thirds majority of both houses. '^ I Voters, at the time the I Constitution was written, I largely meant white males, 21 years or older, who owned land. ; / / 2015 Dog Star Publishing Page 6

3 vtnci/z.^e<) G/^^e ^w^^&tfw/i Other questions - How to prevent an official from having too much power? How would the states and the federal government share power? - were answered with the inclusion of several principles written into the Constitution: * The separation of powers into three branches (Articles 1-111) was meant to keep the government's power spread out. Each branch can do things no other branch can do. Only Congress can declare war; the president, as Commander-in-Chief, is in charge of the military; and the Supreme Court is uniquely empowered to rule on cases involving the Constitution. * Checks and balances allows each branch some influence over the other branches so no branch would have too much power. For example, the president has the sole power to nominate judges to the Supreme Court, but they must also be confirmed by the Senate. * Federalism calls for the division of power between the federal government and the state governments. Some powers are reserved to the states only, such as establishing schools, police and fire departments; some powers are delegated to the federal government - only Congress can declare war, coin money and regulate interstate trade; some powers are concurrent, or shared, like taxation and road-building. * The rule of law means no one is above the law. For example, Congress has the power to conduct a trial and remove a president accused of 'high crimes and misdemeanors' from office through the impeachment process. * Popular sovereignty means that the authority of the government comes from the consent of the governed. The United States is a republic - the people choose representatives to govern them. f^ 25 we One of the last items added to the Constitution was the Preamble, which serves as an introduction and states the goals of the Constitution. On September 17,1787, the delegates, starting with George Washington, signed the Constitution. To become "the supreme law of the land", though, it needed to be ratified by nine of the thirteen states. John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison wrote a number of articles and essays - now collectively known as The Federalist Papers - to urge New York to ratify the Constitution. Their opposition, the Anti-federa lists, were opposed to the Constitution mainly because it lacked a bill of rights to protect people's liberties. To ease their concerns, James Madison and other Federalists promised to amend the Constitution with a bill of rights. The first Congress submitted twelve amendments to the states for ratification - ten of which were ratified December 15, 1791 and are known as the Bill of Rights. Although he rejected the title during his lifetime, James Madison is called the "Father of the Constitution" for all of his contributions to a document which has endured for over two centuries. ( Amendments ^ Article V of the U.S. Constitution details how the document may be amended, which has happened twenty-seven times. It is even possible for an amendment to repeal a previous amendment, as the 21st did to the 18'h, ending, Prohibition. / 2015 Dog Star Publishing Page 7

4 Name: Class: Date: The United States Constitution Part 1: Chronology Number these events in the order that they occurred (from 1-5). The Bill of Rights is ratified Shays' Rebellion The Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia The Declaration of Independence is issued The Articles of Confederation are adopted Part 2: Matching Match each term with its definition by writing its letter in the space provided. 1) called for legislature with representation based solely on population 2) government where people elect representatives to govern them 3) people who wanted a bill of rights in the Constitution 4) states with smaller populations favored this plan 5) document which established the national government 6) division of power between the states and federal government 7) the first constitution of the United States 8) people who supported ratification of the Constitution A. Anti-federalists B. Articles of Confederation C. federalism D. Federalists E. New Jersey Plan F. republic G. United States Constitution H. Virginia Plan Part 3: Fill-in-the-Blanks Fill in the blanks with the word or phrase that best completes the sentence. 1) The _were essays written to support ratification of the U.S. Constitution. 2) Establishing universities is an example of a _ power. 3) Declaring war and creating post offices are examples of_powers. 4) A state with 10,000 slaves would only count 6,000 toward representation because of the 5) Roger Sherman's proposal that large and small states agreed upon is called the 6) The first ten _to the U.S. Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. ^ -),j'< S.;;r Pi.]bli;ihii;s 8

5 Part 4: Summarizing 1) What were some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation? 2) What contributions did James Madison make in the creation and adoption of the United States Constitution? 3) What were some of the main topics of debate at the Constitutional Convention? PartS: Critical Thinking 1) Pretend you are a delegate from a state with a small population, write a few sentences explaining your view of the Virginia Plan. 2) There was no limit on the numberoftimes a person could be elected president until the 22nd Amendment set the limit at two. Write 2-3 sentences arguing for or against the 22nd Amendment. ^ ''jbhshink 9

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7 ^^^^^fc^^ Across 3. branch with power to declare war 4. a government where people elect representatives to govern them 5. "Father of the Constitution" 7. a proposed law 9. division of power between state and federal governments 11. the 21st Amendment did this to the 18th Amendment 12. building roads is an example of a _ power 14. location of the Constitution's goals 15. every state has exactly two of these people at the Capitol 18. establishing schools is an example of a _ power 19. the Supreme Court's branch 20. coining money is an example of a _ power 21. this group elects the president 22. Articles demonstrate the separation of Down 1. because of this principle, the president pays taxes just like everyone else 2. the President's branch 6. overriding a veto requires this fraction of votes in both houses of Congress 8. the House can check a law-breaking president with this act 10. white male 21 year olds needed this to vote in one example of this principle would be overriding a veto 14. Commander-in-Chief 16. Jay, Madison, and Hamilton, for example 17. presidential rejection 2015 Dog Star Publishing 11

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