What are Political Concepts in the US Constitution or What are the guiding themes behind our government? Name Page

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1 Name of the Political Concept and related image. 1.Representative democracy AKA Republicanism Definition of the Political Concept using page of your blue text, outside resources or in stations around the room. Explain why the writers (framers) of the Constitution thought it was important to have this idea in their government: Describe what this looks like or how this works today in our government: Other important details related to this specific concept that you should add - either answer questions that have been added or add your own info. Give 2 examples of representative democracy at work: 1. Bonus: Find an article and section from the Constitution that supports this belief Federalism Example of: Concurrent powers: Define: Concurrent powers: Delegated powers Delegated powers Reserved powers Reserved powers

2 Name of the Political Concept and related image. 3. Separation of Powers Definition of the Political Concept using page of your blue text, outside resources or in stations around the room. Explain why the writers (framers) of the Constitution thought it was important to have this idea in their government: Describe what this looks like or how this works today in our government: What are the separate powers? Other important details related to this specific concept that you should add - either answer questions that have been added or add your own info. What is the main job of each: Legislative: Bonus: Find an article and section from the Constitution that supports this belief. Executive: Judicial: 4. Bicameralism Literally this means: however it refers to the two different law making groups of our current Congress. How many members of the House of Representatives are there? How many Senators are there? Identify at least 2 legislative powers are given only to the House: Identify at least two legislative powers given only to the Senate: 1. 2.

3 Name of the Political Concept and related image. 5. Popular Sovereignty Definition of the Political Concept using page of your blue text, outside resources or in stations around the room. Explain why the writers (framers) of the Constitution thought it was important to have this idea in their government: Describe what this looks like or how this works today in our government: Read the Preamble to the Constitution - do the first three words support this concept or not? Why? Other important details related to this specific concept that you should add - either answer questions that have been added or add your own info. In what other ways do the people run the US Bonus: Find an article and section from the Constitution that supports this belief. 6. Individual Rights Look at the Bill of Rights - make a list of two rights you didn t know where included: Write down one right you think should be in the list but are not:

4 Name of the Political Concept and related image. 7. Limited Government Definition of the Political Concept using page of your blue text, outside resources or in stations around the room. Explain why the writers (framers) of the Constitution thought it was important to have this idea in their government: Describe what this looks like or how this works today in our government: Other important details related to this specific concept that you should add - either answer questions that have been added or add your own info. Bonus: Find an article and section from the Constitution that supports this belief. 8. Checks and Balances Give one way that the... Executive checks the Legislative branch... Judicial checks the Executive... Judicial checks the legislative... The Legislative checks the Executive... Legislative checks the judicial... Executive checks the Judicial...

5 1. Republicanism AKA Representative Democracy Definition: The people run the government by voting for representatives to make political decisions. The story behind this political concept: The Framers of the Constitution wanted the people to have a voice in government. Yet, they feared that the people might not always be able to make the smartest or best political decisions on their own. To solve that problem, they used the concept of republicanism. According to the guys who wrote the Constitution (we call them the Framers), these representatives then play the key role in making the government work. In fact, in addition to the US being run as a republic, the Constitution guarantees that each state will be able to have a republican form of government as well. We model this today by voting for all kinds of representatives who make our political decisions for the US on a national level such as. The electors who chose the President every four years. The 435 members of the House of Representative elected by the people every two years. The 100 members of the Senate elected by the people every six years.

6 2. FEDERALISM Definition: Federalism is the concept of shared power between the states and the national government. The story behind this political concept: The Framers (those are the guys who wrote the Constitution) wanted the states and nation to become partners in government and to cooperate. To build cooperation, the Framers turned to federalism. They used federalism to set up the Constitution. It s cool because they assigned certain powers exclusively to the states and those are called reserved powers and certain powers are given only to the federal government and those are called delegated powers and certain powers with given to both the states and the national government and those shared powers are called concurrent powers. By the way, you need to know these definitions: DELEGATED powers: Powers given ONLY to the national government RESERVED powers: Powers given ONLY to the states. CONCURRENT powers: Powers shared by the states and the national government. If you notice, they share the power to TAX. Bummer, that sort is a double whammy on the taxpayer.

7 Federalism and the Division of Powers

8 3. SEPARATION OF POWERS Definition: The government is divided into three different roles or parts in the United States. The story behind this political concept: After their experience with England, the Framers (those are the guys who wrote the Constitution) were concerned that too much power might fall into the hands of a small few. To avoid this problem, they built the idea of separating the power into a few different groups. We call each part a branch of government. No one branch is given all the power. In the Constitution, Article One explains the powers of the legislative branch, Article Two explains the role of the executive branch, and Article Three explains the power of the Judicial branch.

9 Check out this chart and add the main powers of each branch into your chart. 8.

10 CHECKS AND BALANCES Definition: Each branch of the US government has a way to control or help or oversee the other branches. The Framers of the Constitution wanted the three branches of government to work together and to balance one another. Even though they are separate, they rely on one another to perform all the work of running the government. The Frames included this system of checks and blances in the Constitution to make sure they not only work together but that they work together fairly. For example, only Congress (the legislative branch) can create laws. But, the President (executive branch) has to the sign them before they go into effect. In turn, the Supreme Court (judicial branch) can declare that a law that was already passed by Congress and signed by the President violates the Constitution. Or the Supreme Court might punish someone for breaking the law that they other two put into actions. There are a ton of other checks and balances in our government. Check out this chart, and explain another example of how all three branches work together in your chart. The story behind this political concept:

11 4. BICAMERALISM Definition: Literally this is a Latin word meaning two houses. The story behind this political concept: The Framers (those are the guys who wrote the Constitution) argued over how to set up the Legislative Assembly forever. Remember the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan? Big states wanted representation based on population, small states wanted everyone to be have the same number of representatives in the assembly. So, they decided that they would compromise and have two different assemblies - one based on population and one with 2 senators per state. James Madison thought that the government needed two houses from the beginning anyway. He wasn t just trying to compromise, he wanted two houses so that they could check each other. If two houses had to agree to laws and taxes, then they couldn t get out of control. Must have been a good plan, because it s still working. Our bicameral government is a legislature called Congress made up of: House of Representatives each state has a number of representatives based on their population Senate each state has a total of two Senators! Even though they are both lawmakers, the two different parts (houses) each have a few separate powers of their own. For example. Only the House of Representatives Are elected for two year terms Need only 7 years of US citizenship to be elected Can impeach an elected official Can start a bill related to raising money Only the Senate Are elected for six years Need 9 years of US residency Can confirm treaties Can confirm presidential appointments Can try impeachments

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14 6. Individual Rights Definition: These are rights given to each American in the United States. The story behind this political concept: The Framers (those are the guys who wrote the Constitution) gave a lot more power to the federal government under the Constitution than the federal government had been given under the Articles of Confederation. Upon completion of the document, Anti-Federalists worried that TOO much power had been given to the federal government. In the end, as part of a compromise to ratify the Constitution, the Framers agreed to add a list of individual rights guaranteed to all Americans in order to PROTECT Americans from the government. Our Individual Rights are written in the Bill of Rights. Look at the attached list of the Bill of Rights - notice that some of them are for individuals and some are rights for the states as well.

15 7. Limited Government Definition: A governing or controlling body whose power exists only within pre-defined limits that are established by a constitution or other source of authority. The story behind this political concept: The Framers of the Constitution wanted a stronger government, but they also wanted to make sure that they never again were ruled by a tyrannical government. So, they created a Constitution that included limits to the federal government power. In this way, they hoped to ensure that the states and individual Americans would never again be ruled under an iron fist. Our government is limited in its power by the Constitution. In fact, Article Six of the Constitution actually says that no-one is above the Constitution and that the Constitution - not the President or Congress or anyone else - is the Supreme Law of the Land. They also wrote into the Bill of Rights that all powers not EXPLICITLY given to one of the branches of governments, were automatically given to the states and the people. That means that the people and the states have every other power imaginable other than what is given to the three branches in the Constitution. For example, no where in the Constitution does it say the government can tell you internet you have to use, that means you can use any internet you want.

16 5. Popular Sovereignty Definition: The concept that the people rule the government of the United States. The story behind this political concept: The Framers (those are the guys who wrote the Constitution) based their ideas about government on many Enlightenment thinkers. Many of those thinkers suggested that the true power of government comes from the consent of the people. So, the Framers created the Constitution so that the power of the government came from the consent of the people. If the people are unhappy, they can change the government by voting out elected officials. Preamble: Introduction to the Constitution