Chapter 5Section 3

The Constitution: A Living DocumentPages-149-155

Objectives

• 1. Describe how the Constitution divides power between the federal and state governments.

• 2. Explain how the separation of powers prevents each branch of government from becoming too powerful.

• 3. Discuss potential drawbacks of the checks and balances system.

• 4. Identify provisions in the Constitution that allow for its flexibility.

Let’s Get Started

Desperate to raise money, Congress has decided to issue a “youth tax”--$500 a year, payable by every person between the ages of 13 and 20. People who refuse to pay the tax will be sentenced to hard labor for a year.

Federalism

• The framers of the Constitution built a new structure of national government.

• The framers worked towards a strong central government while protecting state’s rights. They attempted to prevent conflict between national and state governments.

Evaluating the Constitution

• Alfred North Whitehead in The Oxford History of the American People

• Although the Constitution has been criticized harshly at times—abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison once claimed that its provisions protecting slavery amounted to a “covenant with death” and “an agreement with Hell”-it has also received praise from some great thinkers. Alfred North Whitehead, a prominent British philosopher who lived and worked during the early 1900s,

Constitution Continued

• Once said of its framers: “The men who founded ( the American) republic had an uncommonly clear grasp of the general ideas that they wanted to put in (the Constitution), then left the working out of the details to later interpreters, which has been, on the whole, remarkably successful.”

Activity

• With a partner create a list of three or four of the “ideas” that you think Whitehead is referring to in the above quotation.

Delegated, reserved, and concurrent powers

• With a partner write short definitions of the following terms:

• Delegated powers• Reserved powers• Concurrent powers• With your partner pick one kind of power and

write a short paper describing its roles and responsibilities.

National Supremacy

• The framers knew that having two levels of government-state and national, would lead to some conflicts. Which laws would have ultimate authority?

• To answer this question, a clause was added to the Constitution: “This Constitution, and the laws…and all treaties…of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.”

Continued

• Supremacy Clause is part of Article VI of the Constitution. It ranks the U.S. Constitution and all federal laws above state constitutions and state laws.

Definitions

• Delegated Powers-the authority to raise armed forces, coin money, and establish post offices. Listed in the Constitution.

• Reserved powers-the authority to establish schools. 10th Amendment, reserved for the states.

• Concurrent powers-the authority to charter banks. Powers held jointly by the federal and state governments.

Separation of Powers

• The framers of the Constitution separated the government into three branches executive, legislative, and judicial. The legislative branch makes the laws, executive branches sees that laws are carried out, and the judicial interprets and applies the laws.

• Separation of Powers-prevents any one branch from becoming too powerful.

The executive and legislative branches

• Separation of powers are upheld by checks and balances system which gives each branch the means to restrain the powers of the other two.

• Congress checks on the executive branch, the framer’s remembered the British experience. The president can make treaties, but must have two-thirds vote of the Senate to ratify.

• President can appoint ambassadors, federal judges, and other officials, but only with the consent of the Senate.

Branches continued

• “the power of the purse” Congress has the authority to appropriate government monies and approve the federal budget. Congress can slow or stop a presidential action that requires funding.

• Impeachment-The House of Representatives may impeach or charge, a president who is thought to be guilty “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” An impeached president is then tried by the Senate and, if found guilty, removed from office.

Impeachment

• 1868-President Andrew Johnson-Congress attempted to remove him from for violating a law concerning the removal of cabinet members. The House voted for impeachment, but the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority.

• December 1998-President Bill Clinton-The House voted to impeach for perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from a statement he had made to a grand jury. The Senate vote fell short of convictions.

Veto Power

• While the Constitution grants the president the power to veto congressional legislation, it also places a time limit on this power. If the president neither signs nor rejects a bill within 10 days of receiving it from Congress (excluding Sundays), the bill automatically becomes law. However, if Congress adjourns within this 10-day period, the bill does not become law-a so-called pocket veto.

Veto / Override

• Override or Overrule- a presidential veto, the two-thirds majority necessary to do so is often hard to obtain.

• The president can curb congressional power through influence and power. The president can call a special session or end a session if congress cannot agree. The president can influence through State of the Union messages and press conferences.

The Judicial Branch

• The judicial branch checks the legislative branch. The Supreme Court has the power to judge laws unconstitutional. The framers did not include this power in the Constitution.

• The executive and legislative branches can both check judicial powers as well. Congress has the power to impeach judges for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Judicial

• Congress can propose constitutional amendments to overturn earlier Court rulings.

• Example: Voting Rights Act of 1970- The Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional, it would have lowered the voting age. Congress reacted by passing the 26th amendment in March 1971, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. It was ratified by the states in less than four months.

Judicial

• The president or the Congress cannot remove a federal judge because they do not like their positions or their decisions may be unpopular. Federal judges may hold their offices for life.

Critics of the system

• Potential Drawbacks to the Checks-and-Balances System:

• 1. political infighting• 2. political stalemates• 3. government shutdowns-1995 –Republican

Congress and President Bill Clinton, a Democrat did not agree on a national budget, resulting in a partial government shutdown

Flexibility and Change

• The continued effectiveness of the Constitution is due to its flexibility. The Constitution allows for needed amendments, the framers specified a procedure for changing the Constitution. The founding fathers made the amendment process difficult, intending it to be used only when a change is critical.

Continued Flexibility

• Elastic clause- “necessary and proper” The elastic clause allows Congress to exert its powers in ways not specifically outlined in the Constitution. Example: New technologies that the framers could not have known. This allows Congress to pass laws. This allows the government to stretch the Constitution to fit changing times.

Activity

• Choose a partner.• Imagine that you are modern-day book illustrators

working on a children’s book about the Constitution. With your partner draw two illustrations depicting the provisions in the Constitution that allow for its flexibility. Write captions to accompany the illustrations.

• Example: Partners should draw upon the amendment process, which allows citizens to alter the Constitution, and the elastic clause, which gives Congress the authority to exercise its powers in ways not specifically outlined in the Constitution.