•Power is divided between the National And State Governments•National Government is Supreme

•Supreme law of the Land•All people are held to the law

Federal power is separated into 3 branches; Legislative, Executive, & Judicial

•Each branch can check the others• No one branch can dominate another

Representatives are freely elected for limited terms by the people (popular sovereignty)

Power of the national government is limited by Constitution

Protection from a strong government

Ability to change with the times: elastic clause, amendment process, judicial review

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to

ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this

Constitution of the United States of America.”