Why do we have a United States Constitution?
On July 4th, 1776, the United States declared its independence from Great Britain; in 1783, the United States won the Revolutionary War and became its own nation.
Fearing the Articles of Confederation were too weak to serve the great United States, state representatives met in 1786 and concluded an entirely new constitution was needed. Over the next couple of months, Congress met and wrote the United States Constitution. It was signed on September 17, 1787, adopted by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, ratified by 3/4 of our 13 states in 1789, and took effect in 1790.
The preamble to the Constitution
“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.” [We the People]
Article I: The Legislative Branch
Section 1
• A United States Congress makes the laws.
• Congress is made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
Section 2
• The United States House of Representatives is composed of members of each state; each state has at least 1, and the number of representatives is based on population.
• These representatives are elected by qualified voters in their state.
• Members of the House of Representatives are elected to 2 year terms.
• Qualifications:
• Must be at least 25 years old
• Must live in the state elected to represent
• Must have been a citizen for at least 7 years
• Members of the House select a Speaker of the House, who presides over them.
• The House of Representatives, alone, has the power to impeach federal officials.
Section 3
• The United States Senate is composed of members of each state; each state has 2.
• These senators are elected by qualified voters in their state.
• Members of the Senate are elected to 6 year terms.
• Qualifications:
• Must be at least 30
• Must live in the state elected to represent
• Must have been a citizen for at least 9 years
• The Vice President is president of the Senate, but votes only to break a tie; the Senate elects a President Pro Tempore to preside in the Vice President’s absence.
• The Senate tries all impeachment cases, and the Vice President presides over these trials; however, the Chief Justice of the United States presides over impeachment trials of the President. [star and text “Only two presidents have been impeached, Andrew Johnson and William J. Clinton; both were acquitted.”]
• A person who is impeached and convicted is removed from office, may never fill another federal office, and can be prosecuted.
Section 4
• State legislatures decide when and where to hold Congressional elections.
• The US Congress must meet at least once a year.
Section 5
• A majority of the members of each house must be present for a vote.
• Each house makes its own rules, punishes its members for poor behavior, and has the power to expel a member.
• Each house must keep a journal on its proceedings.
• When Congress is in session, neither house can adjourn for more than 3 days.
Section 6
• Members of Congress receive a salary.
• Members of Congress cannot be arrested in House or Senate chambers.
• Members of Congress cannot be prosecuted for spoken or written words relating to their duties.
• Members of Congress cannot hold a federal office while serving in Congress.
Section 7
• All tax bills must originate in the House, but the Senate may amend these bills.
• Bills passed by both houses are presented to the US President; if the President signs a bill, it becomes a law; if the President does not sign a bill, he vetoes it.
• If 2/3 of both houses still approve the bill, it passes despite the President’s veto.
• If the President fails to return a bill to Congress within 10 days, excluding Sundays, it automatically becomes a law.
• If Congress adjourns before 10 days pass, preventing the President from returning it, the bill does not become a law; this is known as a pocket veto.
• All orders, resolutions, or votes that require the agreement of the House and the Senate must be presented to the President; if the President disapproves, a 2/3 vote of both the House and the Senate overrides the President.
Section 8
Congress has the power to perform the following duties:
• Determine and collect taxes
• Borrow money
• Regulate national and international trade
• Establish rules for naturalization, or rights to citizenship
• Print money, make coins, set the value, and punish counterfeiters [coin]
• Establish post offices and post roads
• Encourage science and the arts by granting patents and copyrights
• Set up federal courts
• Punish piracy and crimes committed at sea
• Declare war
• Raise and support military forces
• Raise and support a navy [naval sign]
• Establish rules for military forces
• Call on the National Guard to enforce laws and to suppress rebellions
• Support, organize, arm, and discipline the National Guard
• Make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out its Constitutional powers
Section 9
Congress does not have the power to perform the following acts:
• Migrate or import “such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit” until 1808
• Suspend habeas corpus, unless required for public safety
• Pass a law that singles out a particular group for punishment (Bill of Attainder)
• Pass a law that punishes people for actions before a law was passed (Ex post facto)
• Pass a head tax, unless it is in proportion to the census
• Pass a tax on items exported from any state
• Pass trade laws that favor one state over another
• Pass laws requiring ships to pay taxes as they pass from state to state
• Spend government money without the consent of Congress
• Grant titles of nobility or permit federal officials to accept gifts or titles without Congress’s consent
Section 10 [outline of NC]
The states are unable to perform the following acts:
• Enter into any treaty or alliance
• Approve private military action
• Coin money
• Give out bills of credit
• Pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law
• Grant titles of nobility
• Tax imports or exports, except for small inspection fees, without the approval of Congress
• Keep troops or ships of war in peacetime without the approval of Congress
• Make treaties without the approval of Congress
• Make war without the approval of Congress, unless invaded
Article II: The Executive Branch
Section 1
• All federal executive power is given to the President of the United States.
• The US President and Vice President are elected to 4 year terms.
• Each state appoints electors equal in number to the state’s senators and representatives; electors from each state vote for President and Vice President in a process known as the Electoral College.
• A presidential election resulting in a tie is decided by the House of Representatives.
• Qualifications for Presidency:
• Must be at least 35 years old
• Must be a 14-year resident of the US
• Must be a natural-born citizen
• If the President leaves office for any reason, the Vice President will assume his duties.
• The President receives a salary, and this salary will not change during his term of office.
• The President must take the Oath of Office. [hand on the Bible]
Section 2
• The President is the Commander in Chief of the US Army, the US Navy, and the National Guard when called into service by the federal government. [US Army]
• The President can grant reprieves and pardons.
• The President can make treaties with 2/3 Senate approval.
• The President appoints ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, and other federal officers with the Senate’s consent.
• The President can make temporary appointments to offices requiring Senate confirmation when the Senate is not in session.
Section 3
• The President provides Congress with information on the state of the Union.
• The President ensures that laws are “faithfully executed.”
Section 4
The President, the Vice President, and other federal officials can be impeached for and convicted of treason, bribery, and other high crimes.
Article III: The Judicial Branch
Section 1
• Judicial power rests with the US Supreme Court and other federal courts established by Congress. [scales]
• Supreme Court and Federal Court Judges serve for life on good behavior.
• Supreme Court and Federal Court Judges receive a salary.
Section 2
• The judiciary decides cases of US Constitutional law and cases involving federal laws.
• Cases involving ambassadors and states go directly to the US Supreme Court; other cases can be appealed to the US Supreme Court. [gavel]
• All criminal trials are by jury, and criminal cases are heard in the state where the crime was committed.
Section 3
• Acts of treason include declaring war on the US and aiding its enemies.
• One can be convicted of treason if there is a court confession or if there are two witnesses to the act of treason.
• Congress determines the punishment for treason.
Article IV: Duties of the States
Section 1
Each state honors the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states.
Section 2
• Citizens visiting other states are entitled to the rights and privileges of citizens in the state they are visiting.
• If an individual charged with a crime flees to another state, the criminal’s state can demand his return.
Section 3
• Congress can admit new states to the Union.
• A new state cannot be formed by joining or dividing any existing states without the consent of Congress and the legislatures of the concerned States.
• Congress disposes of and regulates all US property.
Section 4
• The US guarantees every state a representative government. [voting box]
• The US will protect all states from invasion.
Article V: Amending the US Constitution
• Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed when 2/3 of both the House and the Senate deem it necessary.
• Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed when 2/3 of all state legislatures ask Congress to call a convention to do so.
• Amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by legislatures in 3/4 of the states or by conventions in 3/4 of the states.
Article VI: The US Constitution is the Law of the Land
• The US honors all debts incurred prior to the US Constitution’s ratification.
• The Constitution, federal laws, and federal treaties are the law of the land; the judges in every state are bound to these laws.
• Federal and State officials must loyally support the Constitution.
• No religious test shall ever be required to hold a public office.
Article VII: Ratifying the Constitution
Nine of the thirteen states had to ratify the US Constitution before it was established.
- Delaware, December 7, 1787
- Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787
- New Jersey, December 18, 1787
- Connecticut, January 9, 1788
- Georgia, February 2, 1788
- Massachusetts, February 6, 1788
- Maryland, April 28, 1788
- South Carolina, May 23, 1788
- New Hampshire, June 21, 1788
- Virginia, June 25, 1788
- New York, July 26, 1788
- North Carolina, November 29, 1789
- Rhode Island, May 29, 1790
The Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution, all of which were ratified on December 15, 1791 to guarantee the following Constitutional rights:
First Amendment: To establish and practice a religion, to speak or write your thoughts freely, to assemble peacefully, and to petition the government
Second Amendment: To keep and bear arms in certain situations
Third Amendment: To refuse to let soldiers stay in your home unless required by law
Fourth Amendment: To be secure against “unreasonable” search and seizures
Fifth Amendment: To be prosecuted for a capital or “infamous” crime only when indicted by a Grand Jury, to not be tried for the same crime twice, to not incriminate yourself, to not have the government remove your “life, liberty, or property without due process of law,” and to not have the government take your personal property for public use without compensation
Sixth Amendment: (If charged with a crime, you have rights) To have a “speedy and public trial,” to have an “impartial jury” from the state where the crime was committed, to know the charges against you, to confront the witnesses speaking against you, to compel a witness to speak on your behalf, and to have an attorney represent you.
Seventh Amendment: To have a trial by jury in most civil cases
Eighth Amendment: To not have excessive bail, excessive fines, or “cruel and unusual” punishment imposed
Ninth Amendment: To know you have other rights in addition to those identified in the Constitution
Tenth Amendment: To have the powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution
Other Amendments
Eleventh Amendment: States cannot sue other states in federal court.
Twelfth Amendment: Members of the Electoral College cast separate ballots for president and vice president.
Thirteenth Amendment: Slavery is abolished; Congress has the right to enforce abolition.
Fourteenth Amendment: Provides due process and equal protection under the law to citizens, who are all persons “born or naturalized in the US”
Fifteenth Amendment: Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying individuals the right to vote based on race, color, or prior servitude
Sixteenth Amendment: Creates the income tax
Seventeenth Amendment: Establishes the direct election of senators
Eighteenth Amendment: Bans alcohol; Prohibition begins
Nineteenth Amendment: Gives women the right to vote
Twentieth Amendment: Changes conditions of presidential and congressional terms and of presidential succession
Twenty-First Amendment: Prohibition is repealed
Twenty-Second Amendment: The President cannot serve more than two terms.
Twenty-Third Amendment: Gives presidential electors to the District of Columbia
Twenty-Fourth Amendment: Prohibits the federal and state governments from requiring payment of a poll tax as a qualification for voting
Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Changes conditions of presidential succession, allows temporary removal of a president, and allows the replacement of a vice president
Twenty-Sixth Amendment: Grants citizens eighteen years and older the right to vote
Twenty-Seventh Amendment: Limits congressional pay raises
Well, that’s it -- The Constitution of the United States of America. It seems like a simple document to follow.
Now over 200 years old, the United States Constitution is the oldest federal constitution in use. Describing both the structure of the federal government and the rights of the people, the United States Constitution has stood the test of time and has undergone only 27 changes or additions.
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