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Constitutional Convention.mp4US Constitution.mp48 The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism_ Crash Course US History #8.mp4Bill of Rights.mp4The Bill of Rights.mp4The Constitution of the United States is the written framework, or plan, for the government of the United States. In the following questions, you will learn about the Constitution's structure as well as many of the ideas behind it.
What was the first government plan like?
The Articles of Confederation were written during the Revolutionary War. People in the United States were fighting against the British king, a strong central leader. So, this plan did not give the central government much power. Under the Articles, the central government:
could not collect taxes
had no king or president like we have today
had no court system
had less power than state governments
This plan for government wasn't able to solve many of the problems of the young United States. So, representatives met in 1787 and wrote the Constitution.
The Constitution lays out how the federal government, or national government, should work.
What does "federal" mean?
The word "federal" comes from the Latin word foedus, which means "league" or "alliance." So, the federal government represents the alliance of the states of the U.S. together. The Constitution is the document that explains the rules of that alliance.
The first part of the Constitution is called the Preamble.
The Preamble describes many of the goals of the Constitution. The list below defines some of the challenging words in the preamble. Read the list. Then follow the instructions below.
domestic tranquility: peace inside the country
liberty: freedom
posterity: future generations
ordain: declare officially
Who wrote the Preamble?
The Preamble was mainly the work of a man named Gouverneur Morris. Morris was a representative from Pennsylvania to the convention that wrote the Constitution.
Morris was a nationalist. At the time, a nationalist was someone who wanted a strong federal government that united all the states together. Those beliefs are reflected in the text of the Preamble.
The Constitution is divided into seven articles. Each of these articles explains how a different part of the U.S. government should work. In addition to the articles, there are 27 amendments, or changes, that have been added since the Constitution was written.
What's in Article Six and Article Seven?
There are seven articles in the Constitution. You've learned about the first five. Here are the last two:
Article Six states that the Constitution and any laws passed by the federal government are the "supreme law of the land." This means that laws passed on the state level can't contradict, or conflict with, laws passed by the federal government.
Article Seven describes the process by which the Constitution would be ratified, or approved. Once 9 of the 13 states ratified it, the Constitution would go into effect, but only for the states that had ratified it. Rhode Island didn't approve the Constitution for three years!
The Constitution created a system of government that reflects many important principles, or ideas, for governing. For example, the Constitution created a system of federalism. Federalism divides powers between federal powers, which belong to the federal government, and state powers, which belong to each state government. Other powers are shared powers, which both kinds of government can use.
How is the law enforcement power shared?
A lot of law enforcement happens on the state and local level. But there are also federal law enforcement agencies.
State law enforcement agencies include highway patrol and local police forces. States also have state police that conduct investigations. These agencies are responsible for enforcing state laws.
Federal law enforcement agencies include the U.S. Marshals and the FBI. The U.S. Marshals are responsible for transporting federal prisoners and serving arrest warrants. The FBI is an intelligence service that investigates federal crimes.
Another important principle of the Constitution is the separation of powers. The Constitution gives the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch different responsibilities, so no branch can get too powerful. Here is each branch's responsibility:
The legislative branch creates laws, or writes and passes them.
The executive branch enforces laws, or carries them out.
The judicial branch interprets laws, or decides if they are allowed under the Constitution.
Drawing ideas from all over the world
The people who wrote the Constitution were part of a worldwide movement called the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment, many people wrote about how they believed government should work. So, the Constitution is the product of ideas that were circulating around the world during the 1700s.
Where did the idea of separation of powers come from?
The idea of separation of powers mainly comes from one of these writers, a man called Baron de Montesquieu. Montesquieu wrote that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another."
The framers of the Constitution used this philosophy to divide power among three branches. This would keep any one branch from becoming too powerful and controlling the other two.
The Constitution creates checks and balances that allow each branch to check, or limit, the power of the other branches. Using checks, the Constitution keeps a balance among the different branches, so that no branch becomes too powerful.
Has a president ever been removed from office?
No. Two presidents, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, have been impeached, but neither one was convicted in the Senate. In 1868, the Senate failed to convict and remove Johnson by just one vote!
Richard Nixon wasn't impeached, but he did resign from the presidency in 1974. He chose to leave office when it became clear that he would be both impeached and convicted for crimes he committed during his presidency.
The Constitution created the government of the United States under the principle of representative democracy. Look at the definitions of representative and democracy.
representative: acting or speaking for others
democracy: government ruled by the people
Are there other kinds of democracies?
Today, all democratic governments are representative democracies. But in the past, there were direct democracies in which all citizens voted on every political issue. This form of government was practiced by many ancient Greek cities, such as Athens.
Some states allow voters to directly vote on whether to pass laws.
Some parts of direct democracy still exist in the U.S. political system. Many states have a referendum process, where all the people in a state vote on a law or political issue. Referendums are most common in western states like California, Oregon, and Washington.
Do other countries have constitutions?
Most historians consider the U.S. Constitution to be the oldest written constitution that is still in use today. But many other countries have constitutions, as well:
The Constitution of India was ratified in 1949, after the country became independent. It is the longest written constitution in the world. It has over 400 articles and about 150,000 words!
Some constitutions aren't written down in one document. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is one example. This constitution is made up of traditions, court decisions, and important laws passed by the British Parliament, the U.K.'s legislature.
The United States Constitution was written in the 1780s. But since then, it has been changed many times. An official change to the words of the Constitution is called an amendment.
In the following questions, you will learn about some of the most important amendments to the Constitution.
In order to become a part of the Constitution, amendments have to be proposed and then ratified, or approved. This process is described in Article Five of the Constitution. The following diagram shows this process.
How are amendments usually proposed?
The Constitution says that an amendment can be proposed by Congress or by a national convention, or a meeting of official decision-makers. But only the Congressional method has ever been used. No amendments have been proposed by national conventions.
Did any amendments not make it through?
Six amendments have been proposed but were not approved by enough states to be ratified. Here is one of them:
The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed in 1972. The goal of this amendment was to remove any differences in the way laws treated men and women. By 1977, 35 states had ratified the amendment. But it never reached the needed 38, and the amendment proposal expired in 1982.
When the Constitution was written, many Americans were afraid that it made the federal government too powerful. So, ten amendments were added to the Constitution to describe and protect the rights of individual people. These first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights.
The following passage is from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to James Madison in 1787, before the Bill of Rights had been approved.
A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to . . . and [it is] what no just government should refuse [to write down].
are entitled to: deserve
just: fair
Had there ever been a bill of rights before?
Yes! The people who wrote the U.S. Bill of Rights knew all about another bill of rights, written in England in 1689. Both documents were designed to protect the rights of individual people by setting limits on what the government could do. Some of the text is even identical to the American version!
The English Bill of Rights set limits on what the king could do. But the United States didn't have a king. So, some of these same limits were placed on the president and Congress.
The First Amendment to the Constitution protects several important individual rights about the ways people can express their opinions. Here are some of them:
freedom of speech
freedom of the press, or the freedom to publish news and opinions
the right of people to gather together peacefully
the right to communicate with the government
The First Amendment says that the federal government is not allowed to make any law that limits these rights.
"I Have a Dream"
Under the First Amendment, Americans have the freedom to assemble or hold rallies in most public spaces. One of the most famous rallies in U.S. history took place on August 28, 1963. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought about 250,000 people to the nation's capital to call for rights and better opportunities for African American people. At the time, it was the largest rally ever held in the United States.
It was at this rally that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
The First Amendment also deals with religion. Read the following text from the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise [of religion].
respecting an establishment of religion: creating an official government religion
exercise: practice or use
Separation of church and state
When discussing the freedom of religion, people sometimes talk about "separation of church and state." This phrase means that religion and the government shouldn't interfere with each other.
Those words aren't in the First Amendment, but the idea is. In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to a group of Baptists in Connecticut. In this letter, he said that the First Amendment built a "wall of separation between church and state."
Many amendments in the Bill of Rights were included because of complaints that American colonists made about the British government before the American Revolution. The Second Amendment to the Constitution protects one of those rights. Read the text of the Second Amendment.
Second Amendment to the Constitution
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
militia: small, unofficial army formed to protect a community
bear arms: carry guns
infringed: limited
In early U.S. history, militias were the first line of defense for most communities. Militias often consisted of all healthy men between the ages of 18 and 45 within a community. During times of war, they could be called up to serve in the U.S. Army. Because militia members were not professional soldiers, they often had old, outdated weapons and poor training.
Today, the National Guard does many of the things that militias used to do. They often help out during times of crisis, such as during natural disasters.
"You have the right to remain silent!"
Law enforcement agents are supposed to say words similar to these when they arrest someone:
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
These words are called the Miranda warning.
This name comes from a famous court case. The words are meant to make suspects aware of their rights under the Constitution. The rights mentioned in the Miranda warning are included in the Bill of Rights:
The right to remain silent is a part of the Fifth Amendment's protection against testifying against yourself.
The right to have an attorney, or lawyer, is in the Sixth Amendment.
The Ninth Amendment and Tenth Amendment address individual rights and government powers that aren't specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
Who runs schools in the United States?
Because of the Tenth Amendment, most school systems are run by state and local governments. State and local leaders decide what students will study, what textbooks they use, and whether they take a big test at the end of the year. In a private school, a group totally separate from the government might make these decisions.
The federal government does run some schools, but only in special situations, such as schools on military bases. The State Department, part of the federal government, runs schools for the families of people who work overseas for the U.S. government.
Since the Bill of Rights was ratified, 17 additional amendments have been added. These include amendments that have expanded and protected the rights of Americans.
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were ratified shortly after the Civil War. They are sometimes called the Reconstruction Amendments because they were passed when the United States was putting itself back together after the war.
These amendments addressed important problems in American society at that time.
Did the Reconstruction Amendments always work?
No. It was often up to state and local governments to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments. If those governments didn't want to do so, then the amendments had little effect.
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s demanded voting rights for all African American people.
For example, even though the Fifteenth Amendment was supposed to allow African American men to vote, some states found ways to avoid following it. Some states required people to pass literacy tests, or reading tests, in order to vote. But white officials could give much easier tests to white voters than to African American ones. Between the 1880s and the 1960s, most African American people in the South were prevented from voting.
When it was written, the Constitution didn't say anything about who was allowed to vote in the United States. But state governments did set many requirements for voting. Before the Civil War, most states only allowed voting by white men who were at least 21 years old. Since the war ended in 1865, more groups have had their right to vote protected by the Constitution.
The following table shows four Constitutional amendments that have expanded protections for the right to vote.
"Old enough to fight, old enough to vote!"
In the late 1960s, men as young as 18 could be forced to join the military to serve in the Vietnam War. But until they turned 21, they were unable to vote. Americans disagreed about the war, but most agreed that people fighting the war should be able to vote. So, in 1971, the Twenty-sixth Amendment was proposed and ratified in less than three months, changing the voting age to 18.
Some countries allow sixteen-year-olds to vote.
What do you think the minimum voting age should be?
The Nineteenth Amendment says that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or [limited] by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This amendment protected women's suffrage, or the right to vote, across the United States.
"The Equality State"
Did you know that Wyoming is nicknamed "The Equality State"? This name refers to Wyoming's history of women's rights. In addition to being the first state to allow women to vote, it was also the first state to elect a woman as governor!
Laboratories of democracy
Sixteen states allowed women to vote before the Nineteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. Because the United States has both a federal government and state governments, many political changes can happen on the state level before they happen nationwide.
For this reason, states are often called laboratories of democracy. What do you imagine when you think of this phrase?
Many amendments have been added to the Constitution since it was written. In order for amendments to be added, states have to ratify, or approve, them. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. These amendments protect rights such as freedom of speech and religion as well as the rights of people accused of crimes. Some of the other amendments have expanded protections for Americans' right to vote. In some cases, states have protected the rights of certain groups to vote before those groups could vote nationwide.
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