3 .1 NOTES

Basic Principals of The Constitution

Five Basic Principals

The Constitution is based on five basic principals

These ideas form the basis for the rules that the Constitution establishes

Popular Sovereignty

1. Popular Sovereignty means that the government’s authority comes from the people

The first lines of the Constitution read “ We the People of the United States…”

The Constitution establishes a republic where the leaders are elected by the people

Limited Government

2. The Constitution sets up guidelines for how the government can act

It establishes limits to their power and states what they can and can’t do

Separation of Powers

3. Divided the powers of the federal government between three branches

Legislative, Executive and Judicial

Checks and Balances

4. Checks and Balances allow branches of government to restrain each other’s powers

To be sure no one branch becomes too powerful

Federalism

5. Federalism balances the power between national and state governments

There are also powers that are shared between the two these are called concurrent powers

Assignment

Complete questions 2-5 on page 67