Unit 2: American Constitution

□ Separation of Powers:

1. A system for distributing legislative, executive, and judicial powers 2. Creating these branches, people had different responsibilities, also the framers hoped to prevent one person or group acquiring all the power.

□ Purpose of checks and balances: o Checks and balances is where the three branches interact with each other. o Purpose of this is to force each branch to gain approval from the other branches o Whatever president, congress, or Supreme Court does, there is always someone checking it.

□ Federalist System: o A federal system is one which political power is divided between central government and national stat.

□ Powers of Legislative(congress): o Organization that has the power of lawmaking o Consists of two groups: house, and senate.

□ Powers of Executive(Pres, and Vp): o “the law enforcers” o Chief executive is the official in charge of law enforcing o President power, 4 year term, election, removing impeachment

□ Powers of Judicial Branch(supreme court, lower court): o Interpret the laws of Congress o Term of office for federal judges, jurisdiction.

□ Reserved Powers: o Powers reserved to the states by the tenth Amendment o Include authority over health, safety, marriage, divorce, and etc.

□ Elastic Cause/implied powers: o Gives congress the ability to expand or stretch specific powers o Powers derived from the elastic clause are known as implied powers

□ Concurrent Powers: o Powers exercised by both the federal government and the states governments o Examples: roads, highways, borrowing money, taxes, and etc.

□ Delegated/enumerated powers: o Powers given to the central government are those affecting the entire nation. o Delegated powers= are one specifically named by the Constitution

□ Supremacy Clause: o “The constitution and the laws of the United States…shall be the supreme law of the land.” o This clause declared national laws to be supreme over states laws

□ Appointments to the Supreme court:

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□ Requirements for public office: o Federal Offices : Office Age Residency/Citizenship President of the United States (United States Const., Art. II, § 1-4) 35 yrs. 14 yrs. Resident in Nation, Natural Born Citizen United States Senator (United States Const., Art. I, § 3-3) 30 yrs. Inhabitant of State, 9 yrs. Citizen Representative in Congress (United States Const., Art. I, § 2-2) 25 yrs. Inhabitant of State, 7 yrs. Citizen

□ Bicameral Legislature: o The congress=bicameral, meaning that it is divided into two houses: representatives, and senates.

□ Representation in the U.S. House:

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□ Presidential Veto: o Veto=reject o IT may be override by passing the proposed law again with a two thirds vote of approval in each house.

Procedures for making a bill into law: o Representative introduces bill by placing it in hopper o Committee studies bill o Rules committee places bill on claender o House debates bill o Bill is introduced in senate o Confference of house and senate o If both house and senate compromise and pass o Pres signs, becomes law o If vetoed congress may override veto by 2/3 votes

&nbsp □ War declaration: o President is the commander in chief of the armed force o He has to approve the military decisions o President can do a quick decision in crises o Or congress can go through it with 535 members

□ Making and signing treaties: ?????????????????????????

□ Process and ground for impeachment: o If a president commits crimes and misdemeanors, he may be forced to leave office, impeachment o House of Representative decides by majority vote o If impeachment bill is passed then the senate meets as a trial court

□ Electoral college vs. popular vote: o Electors are assigned to the 50 states by the sie of the state o The popular vote goes to the electoral college o The candidate who wins the “popular vote”, wins ALL the states electoral votes □ Arguments against and opposition to the U.S. constitution: ??????????????????????

□ Divisive issues in 1787: o ??????????????????????

□ Pro-anti slave arguments: o Those notes we took in class….

□ Shay’s rebellion o Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts(mainly Springfield) from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolution who led the rebels, known as "Shaysites" or "Regulators". Most of Shays's compatriots were poor farmers angered by what they felt to be crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor's prisons or the claiming of property by the County.

□ Bill of attainder: o A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial.

□ Writ of habeas corpus: o Habeas corpus (/'heɪbiəs 'kɔɹpəs/), Latin for "you [should] have the body," is the name of a legal action or writby means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. The Suspension Clause of theUnited States Constitution specifically included the English common law procedure in Article One, Section 9.

□ Ex post facto laws: o An ex post facto law (from the Latin for "after the fact") or retroactive law, is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law.

Double jeopardy: Double jeopardy is a procedural defense (and, in many countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico,India and Pakistan, a constitutional right) that forbids a defendant from being tried twice for the same crime on the same set of facts

□ Self-incrimination: o Self-incrimination is the act of accusing oneself of a crime for which a person can then be prosecuted.

□ Cruel and unusual punishment: o Cruel and unusual punishment is a statement implying that governments shall not inflict suffering orhumiliation on the condemned as punishment for crimes, regardless of their degree of severity.

□ Universal suffrage: o Universal suffrage (also universal adult suffrage, general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens (or subjects) as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and noncitizens.

□ Separation of Church and State: o Separation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine that government andreligious institutions are to be kept separate and independent from each other.

□ 1st Amendment rights: o The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion", prohibiting the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech and infringing on the freedom of the press

□ Judicial Review: o Judicial review is the doctrine in democratic theory under which legislative and executive action is subject to invalidation by the judiciary.

□ How congress can respond to laws ruled “unconstitutional” o Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.

□ Constitutional amendments and process for ratification: o A constitutional amendment is a change to the constitution of a nation or a state. In jurisdictions with "rigid" or "entrenched" constitutions, amendments require a special procedure different from that used for enacting ordinary laws. o Ratification is the approval by the principal of an act of its agent where the agent lacked authority to legally bind the principal. The term applies to private contract law, international treaties, and constitutional amendments in federations such as the United States and Canada.

□ Madison’s interpretation of “minority” and “majority” interest:

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□ Causes of faction: o Federalist No. 10 (Federalist Number 10) is an essay by James Madison and the tenth of theFederalist Papers, a series arguing for the ratification of the United States Constitution. o No. 10 addresses the question of how to guard against "factions," or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community.

□ Controlling the effects of faction: o Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against those dangers than smaller republics—for instance, the individual states. It is believed that James Madison took ideas from Thomas Hobbes in regard to ideas of a strong controlling government. Opponents of the Constitution offered counterarguments to his position, which were substantially derived from the commentary of Montesquieu on this subject.

□Madison’s views of democratic vs. republican government in Federalist #10: o Too lazy to look it up…..

□ Principles and goals of the framers of the U.S. constitution: o To define basic principles, like federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances o 3 branches o Bill of rights o State and local governments

□ Michael Parenti’s thesis in “A constitution for the few”

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