Ch 5: The US Constitution

1) Delegated and Reserved Powers

a) Delegated Powers – are powers only the national government has
i) Regulate foreign trade and conduct foreign relations
ii) Regulate interstate trade
iii) Coin and print money
iv) Establish post offices and establish post roads
v) Raise and support armed forces
vi) Declare war and make peace
vii) Govern US territories and admit new states
viii) Pass naturalization laws and regulate immigration
ix) To make all laws considered “necessary and proper” to carry out the above powers
(1) This is called the “Elastic Clause” because it can be used stretch the powers of the
national government beyond the stated
b) Reserved Powers – only the state governments have
i) Regulate intrastate trade = trade within one state’s own borders
ii) Establish local governments
iii) Conduct elections
iv) Determine qualification of voters
v) Establish and support public schools
vi) Incorporate business firms
vii) License professional workers
viii) Keep all powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution nor
specifically prohibited to the states by the Constitution
(1) Very important; also included in the 10th amendment
c) Concurrent Powers
i) Collect taxes
ii) Borrow money = selling bonds
iii) Establish courts = federal court & state courts
(1) What crime and where you committed determines which court you will be tried in
iv) Enforce law and punish lawbreakers = FBI and US Marshals enforce federal laws.
State police enforce state laws; federal prisons for those convicted in federal court or
state prison for those convicted in state court
v) Provide for the health and welfare of the people
2) Three Branches of Government
a) Legislative Branch = Congress
i) Powers:
(1) Writes bills
(2) Can override President’s veto by a vote of 2/3rds of the House and 2/3rds of the
Senate
(3) Approves presidential nominations of US Ambassadors, US Federal court judges,
and high US government officials
(a) All of these are written into the Constitution
ii) Checks and Balances:
iii) Can impeach and remove Federal court justices as a control on the Judicial branch
 iv) Can refuse to approve nominations to be a US Ambassador or a high US government
official as a control on the Executive branch
v) Can refuse to approve nomination of US Federal Court judges as a control on the
Judicial branch
vi) Can override a veto as a control on the Executive branch
vii) Can impeach and remove the President or Vice President as a control on the
Executive Branch
viii) Can amend the Constitution to make legal what was ruled unconstitutional as a
control on the Judicial branch
b) Executive Branch = President, Vice President, and all people who work in the Executive
Departments
i) Powers:
(1) Can sign bill into law or veto bill
(2) Executes bills by putting bill into effect
(3) Nominates people to be US Ambassador, US Federal court judges, or high US
government officials
(a) All of these are written into the Constitution
ii) Checks and Balances:
(1) Can veto bills as a control on the legislative branch
c) Judicial Branch = US Supreme Court and all other US Federal Court judges
i) Powers:
(1) Interprets the meaning of laws
(2) May rule that laws passed by congress or actions done by the president of
Congress are unconstitutional
(a) These are NOT written into the Constitution. The branch had no powers.
However, these came from court cases handled by the US Supreme Court
ii) Checks and Balances:
(1) Can rule that a law is unconstitutional as a control on the legislative branch
3) A Flexible Constitution
a) 27 Amendments
b) 1st way to amend the Constitution
i) Congress writes an amendment bill
ii) The bill must be approved by 2/3rds of the House and 2/3rds of the Senate
(1) A regular bill must only be approved by 1/2 of the House and 1/2 of the Senate
iii) The bill goes to the states for approval
(1) A regular bill goes to the President to be signed into law or vetoed
iv) 2/3rds or 38 of the states must approve the bill
(1) They can approve the amendment bill by a vote of the state legislature or by
holding a ratification convention and approving it at the convention
nd
c) 2 way to amend the Constitution
i) 2/3rds of the states petition Congress to hold a national convention for the purpose of
creating a Constitutional amendment. Congress MUST set up the convention
ii) The convention writes it and sends it to the states for ratification
iii) 3/4ths of the states must approve the bill
(1) States can approve the amendment bill by a vote of the state legislature or by
holding a ratification convention and approving it at the convention
 d) Once an amendment in made, it can only be changed by another amendment
i) The US has done this one time: the 18th Amendment made alcohol illegal and the 21st
cancelled the 18th
4) Vocabulary
a) Limited government – basic principle of American government that states that
government is restricted in what it may do and each individual has rights that the
government cannot take away
b) Popular sovereignty – basic principle of the American system of government which
asserts that the people are the source of any and all governmental power and government
can exist only with the consent of the governed
c) Constitutionalism – basic principle that government and those who govern must obey the
law; the rule of law
d) Rule of law – concept that holds that government and its officers are always subject to the
law
e) Unconstitutional – contrary to constitutional provision and so illegal, null and void, of no
force and effect
f) Amendment – a change in, or addition to a constitution or law
g) Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the Constitution
h) Preamble – introduction
i) Constitution – the body of fundamental law setting out the principles, structures, and
processes of a government
j) Checks and balances – system of overlapping the powers of the legislative, executive and
judicial branches to permit each branch to check the actions of the others
k) Majority rule – system in which the decision of more than half the people is accepted by
all
l) Federalism – taking all government powers and assigning them to a level of government,
national or state level
m) Unwritten constitution – traditional ways of doing things in our government that are
seldom written down or made into laws
n) Mayflower compact – document written in the New World by the pilgrims to form a new
government based on cooperation and the consent of the people
o) Separation of powers – basic principle of government, that is the executive, legislative,
and judicial powers are divided among independent and coequal branches of government
5) Preamble
a) “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish
justice, ensure 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 for the United States of America.”