ConstitutionProject

Constitution Assignment = The Creation of the United States Constitution = =Wordles =
 * Shay's rebellion increased the American urgency to put together a new national government that will be more effective and that will be strong enough to benefit the country as a whole. The weak central government made with the Articles of Confederation was not suitable for a new, growing nation.
 * The Constitution was written by Thomas Jefferson (and the other Founding Fathers) on September 17th, 1787 and ratified by the needed 9 out of the total 13 states in June 1788.
 * In order for some states to agree with the ratification of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights ( First 10 Amendments ) had to be added into it to assure them their rights would not be taken away by the government.
 * The Federalists supported the Constitution and a strong national government while the Anti-Federalists were more reluctant because they were afraid of having the government taking over their lives and their depriving them of their rights as citizens.

 The most common words in the **__United States Constitution__** are "__States__", "__United__", "__Congress__", "__President__", "__Senate__", "__House__", "__Representatives__" and "__Law__". In order for the country to be united, it can not constantly have its people living in fear. Therefore, the laws need to be made in the interest of the citizens of the country as well as for the benefit for the country as a whole. Another issue that the citizens had regarding the England government is not having representatives in the government and therefore not having a say in what goes on. To solve this, a legislature branch is formed and under the Great Compromise, it will include two houses. The two houses in the legislature branch is the House of Representatives and the Senate. In addition, the country will have a president. Although the president will be an important figure/ruler in the country, the president will not have any absolute power over the government which is exactly what the people wanted.



Words commonly used in the **Bill of Rights** are "__Amendment__", "__States__", "__Constitution__", "__People__", "__Legislature__", "__United__" and "__Law__". James Madison and others all agreed that without the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution, some states might choose not to ratify the Constitution. Therefore, the Bill of Rights were included in the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the people have certain rights that are written as the first ten amendments. Neither the national government nor the state government has the power to take away rights that are specifically given to people via the Constitution. In addition to rights given specifically to the people by the Bill of Rights, the 10th Amendment gives state governments power that is not delegated to the national government.

= Key Principles of the United States Constitution =

**"Checks and Balances"**
__Legislature Branch__ __Executive Branch__
 * Appointments for office
 * Overrule president's veto.
 * Approves appointments.
 * Declare war
 * Propose taxes
 * Alter the size of Supreme Court
 * Approves federal judges
 * Bills have to be approved by both houses of the Legislature Branch
 * House of Representatives
 * Has the power to impeach.
 * Chooses president in the case where the elector votes are even
 * Senate
 * Trial for the impeachments
 * Chooses Vice President in the case where the elector votes are even
 * Veto laws
 * Commander in Chief of U.S. Military
 * Call Senate and House of Representatives into session during emergencies
 * Vice President --> President of Senate
 * Appoint judges
 * Pardon powers
 * Cabinet can vote the president as incompetent

__Judicial Branch__
 * Judicial Review
 * Interprets the law
 * Once appointed as a justice, has the job for the rest of their life unless impeached or retired.

The Bill of Rights[[image:bill-of-rights.jpg width="409" height="291" align="right"]]

 * Drafted by the first Congress, the Bill of Rights prevents the national government from imposing on the citizens of the United States. This is like a security blanket for the people of the country to assure them that the government would not take away rights given to them and become a government similar to the one in England that they fought a war to escape.
 * Amendments 1-9
 * Rights give to the citizens of America that can not be violated by the government. Ex. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, trial by jury, etc.
 * Amendment 10
 * State governments are given powers that are not specifically given to the national government and that is not specifically denied to the states.

A Representative Government - The Great Compromise
= Importance of the United States Constitution =
 * Proposed by James Madison, the Virginia Plan was a new form of legislation that divided the legislative branch in the government into an upper house and a lower house. Under this plan, the number of representatives in the lower house would be based on the state's population. This was immediately rejected by the smaller states that consisted of a smaller population. The question of whether slaves would be considered people or not was also an issue when determining the population for number of representatives.
 * The Legislative Branch will be broken into the House of Representatives and the Senate
 * Senate - 2 Per State
 * House of Representatives - Determined by the state's population
 * Slaves - Considered 3/5 of a person when counting the population to determine number of representatives in the House of Representatives.


 * The Constitution gives the citizens a sense of comfort and makes them feel more relaxed because they know they will not be ruled by a complete monarch like they were when they were still a part of England. The citizens of the United States want to know that they will have a say in the decisions being made in the country that will effect them and that is exactly what they get to do which is stated in the Constitution.
 * The Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution give citizens of the U.S. basic human rights that can not be taken away from them which makes the people feel more comfortable and satisfied with the Constitution because they know that the Constitution will protect them from being deprived of their rights as humans.
 * It established a strong national government to help rule the country and that would help to do what is best for the country as a whole. The national government is stronger than that of the state governments which was not the case with the Articles of Confederation. Because the national government is stronger, it can oversee the whole country instead of having each state have laws/policies that are different from the others.

= Key Principles in Historical Context =
 * ===The Louisiana Purchase[[image:la-purchase-map.jpg width="440" height="268" align="left"]]===
 * Although James Madison and Robert Livingston did not have the proper authorization to buy the Louisiana Territory, they thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and they bought the land without Jefferson's consent. Once Jefferson heard of the new purchase, his thoughts about it were conflicted. Jefferson is a strict constructionist. He believes that you only have the powers that are given to you by the government. Since the Constitution did not mention the expanding of territory, he was not sure about whether or not it was the right thing. However, this brought up the concept of a loose constructionist which is people who believe that as long as the Constitution does not specifically deny the government from doing something and it was for the benefit of the country, it would not be considered unconstitutional. After some persuading, Jefferson agreed that the Louisiana Purchase was a good thing and it was officially considered United States soil.
 * ===Marbury v. Madison[[image:a1175.jpg align="right"]]===
 * The Marbury v. Madison was an example of judicial review -- one of the powers given to the Judicial Branch in the national government. Marbury was to be given a commission to become a justice by Madison since Marbury was one of Adam's "midnight appointments" and it is the secretary of state (Madison at the time) to fulfill those commissions. However, Madison refused to do so. According to the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Supreme Court has the power to basically force executive officers into do things that should be rightfully done such as delivering commissions to those the previous president has appointed into office. However, once the case was reviewed, the Court decided that they should not have the right to force the executive into fulfilling the commissions; it is unconstitutional. Therefore, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was voided.
 * Even though Judicial Review can occur, there must be an actual case brought to the Supreme Court in order for them to review the law and deem is either Constitutional or Unconstitutional.


 * ===New York Times Company v. United States[[image:courtsimage002.jpg width="329" height="250" align="left"]]===
 * In 1971, the New York Times Company was being sued by the United States in order to prevent them from printing a copy of the "Pentagon Papers" which describes in detail the governmental deception concerning the Vietnam War. The New York Times argument against the case was that it violates the First Amendment which gives the freedom of press. Although the United States claimed the documents would put national security in jeopardy, they had no real proof that it would. People do have the right to know what is going on in the government and to keep informed of the events that would danger them if it was a matter of national security. The New York Times Company won in a 6-3 vote. Many of the jurors agreed that the First Amendment must stand or else it would fall apart and deprive the people from one of the basic human rights given to them by the Bill of Rights.

= Resources : =

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[|www.wordle.net]

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@http://www.infoplease.com/us/supreme-court/cases/ar25.html

Brinkley, Alan. __American History: A Survey__, Twelfth Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill > Companies, Inc, 2007.