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Since representation in the House of Representatives was to be based on population, a debate arose over whether enslaved people should be counted in a state’s population. According to James Madison’s diary, the issue of slavery was the most divisive subject at the convention. A few of the attendees, especially John Dickinson, a Quaker representative from Pennsylvania argued forcefully against slavery. Others saw slavery as inconsistent with their principles of the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence but knew that there was little chance of abolishing it. After all, if those opposed to slavery insisted on its abolition, slave states could have walked out of the convention and formed their own nation with a pro-slavery constitution. Washington and other Founders hoped that slavery could be eliminated from the United States once a strong union was formed. The compromise that settled the issue of how to count slaves for representation in the House came to be known as the Three-fifths Compromise. It is sometimes wrongly said that the compromise meant the founders considered slaves as only partial human beings. In fact, the compromise had nothing to do with the human worth of the individual enslaved man or woman. States with enslaved people wanted to count all of them in their state’s population because that would yield more representatives in Congress. The opponents of slavery, noting that slaves had no rights of citizenship including the vote, argued that enslaved people should not be counted at all for purposes of representation. In the end, the compromise was to count three-fifths of the state’s slaves in the total population. In other words, for every five enslaved men, three would be added to the population count used to determine representation in the House of Representatives. The delegates also disagreed over the slave trade. By the time of the Convention in 1789, some northern states had outlawed slavery. These states wanted a ban on the slave trade included in the Constitution. Southern slave states objected, claiming that the slave trade was important to their agricultural economy. Finally, the two sides compromised by allowing the slave trade to continue for 20 years after which time the Congress could regulate it. In 1808, Congress abolished the slave trade. The Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. The Virginia delegation took the initiative to frame the debate by immediately drawing up and presenting a proposal, for which delegate James Madison is given chief credit. It was, however, Edmund Randolph, the Virginia governor at the time, who officially put it before the convention on May 29, 1787 in the form of 15 resolutions. The scope of the resolutions, going well beyond tinkering with the Articles of Confederation, succeeded in broadening the debate to encompass fundamental revisions to the structure and powers of the national government. The resolutions proposed, for example, a new form of national government having three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. One contentious issue facing the convention was the manner in which large and small states would be represented in the legislature. The contention was whether there would be equal representation for each state regardless of its size and population, or proportionate to population giving larger states more votes than less-populous states. Virginia PlanThe Virginia Plan proposed a bicameral legislature, a legislative branch with two chambers. This legislature would contain the dual principles of rotation in office and recall, applied to the lower house of the national legislature . Each of the states would be represented in proportion to their "quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants." States with a large population would thus have more representatives than smaller states. Large states supported this plan, while smaller states generally opposed it.
Visual representation of the structure of James Madison's Virginia Plan. In addition to dealing with legislative representation, the Virginia Plan addressed other issues as well, with many provisions that did not make it into the Constitution that emerged. It called for a national government of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The people would elect members for one of the two legislative chambers. Members of that chamber would then elect the second chamber from nominations submitted by state legislatures. The legislative branch would then choose the executive branch. The terms of office were unspecified, but the executive and members of the popularly elected legislative chamber could not be elected for an undetermined time afterward. The legislative branch would have the power to negate state laws if they were deemed incompatible with the articles of union. The concept of checks and balances was embodied in a provision that a council composed of the executive and selected members of the judicial branch could veto legislative acts. An unspecified legislative majority could override their veto. New Jersey Plan
Visual representation of the structure of the New Jersey Plan. After the Virginia Plan was introduced, New Jersey delegate William Paterson asked for an adjournment to contemplate the Plan. Paterson's New Jersey Plan was ultimately a rebuttal to the Virginia Plan . The less populous states were adamantly opposed to giving most of the control of the national government to the more populous states, and so proposed an alternative plan that would have kept the one-vote-per-state representation under one legislative body from the Articles of Confederation.
Portrait of William Paterson (1745–1806) when he was a Supreme Court Justice (1793–1806). Paterson was also known as the primary author of the New Jersey Plan during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Under the New Jersey Plan, the unicameral legislature with one vote per state was inherited from the Articles of Confederation. This position reflected the belief that the states were independent entities, and as they entered the United States of America freely and individually, so they remained. The plan proposed that the Articles of Confederation should be amended as follows:
Connecticut CompromiseUltimately, the New Jersey Plan was rejected as a basis for a new constitution. The Virginia Plan was used, but some ideas from the New Jersey Plan were added. Page 2During the Constitutional Convention, the most contentious disputes revolved around the composition and election of the Senate, how "proportional representation" was to be defined, whether to divide the executive power between three people or invest the power into a single president, how to elect the president, how long his term was to be and whether he could stand for reelection, what offenses should be impeachable, the nature of a fugitive slave clause, whether to allow the abolition of the slave trade, and whether judges should be chosen by the legislature or executive. Most of the convention was spent deciding these issues, while the powers of legislature, executive, and judiciary were not heavily disputed .
During the Constitutional Convention, some the most contentious disputes revolved around the composition of the Presidency and the Judiciary. James Madison's InfluenceWhile waiting for the convention to formally begin, James Madison sketched out his initial draft, which became known as the "Virginia Plan" and which reflected his views as a strong nationalist . By the time the rest of the Virginia delegation arrived, most of the Pennsylvania delegation had arrived as well. The delegates agreed with Madison that the executive function had to be independent of the legislature. In their aversion to kingly power, American legislatures had created state governments where the executive was beholden to the legislature and by the late 1780s, this was widely seen as being a source of paralysis. The Confederation government was the ultimate example of this.
James Madison authored the Virginia Plan, which contained important provisions on the presidency and judiciary. Madison believed that in the American states, this direct link between state executives and judges was a source of corruption through patronage and thought the link had to be severed between the two, thus creating the "third branch" of the judiciary which had been without any direct precedent before this point. Madison, however, did not believe that the judiciary should be truly independent, but rather be obligated to the legislature not the executive. By insisting on the independence of the judiciary, Madison stepped away from the Articles of Confederation to create something entirely new. At the convention, some sided with Madison that the legislature should choose judges, while others believed the president should choose judges. A compromise was eventually reached that the president should pick judges and the Senate confirm them. The Early DebateOne of the most pressing issues during the early debate was the election of the president. Few agreed with Madison that the executive should be elected by the legislature. There was widespread concern with direct election, because information diffused so slowly in the late eighteenth century and because of concerns that people would only vote for candidates from their state or region. A vocal minority wanted the national executive to be chosen by the governors of the states. This was one of the last major issues to be resolved and was done so in the Electoral College. At the time, before the formation of modern political parties, there was widespread concern that candidates would routinely fail to secure a majority of electors in the Electoral College. The method of resolving this problem, therefore, was a contested issue. Most thought that the house should then choose the president, since it most closely reflected the will of the people. To resolve this dispute, the convention agreed that the house would elect the president if no candidate had an Electoral College majority, but that each state delegation would vote as a block, rather than individually .
The Constitutional Convention agreed that the house would elect the president if no candidate had an Electoral College majority, but that each state delegation would vote as a block, rather than individually. ModificationsThe Committee of Detail was a committee established by the United States Constitutional Convention on June 23, 1787 to put down a draft text reflecting the agreements made by the convention up to that point, including the Virginia Plan's 15 resolutions. It was chaired by John Rutledge, and other members included Edmund Randolph, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson, and Nathaniel Gorham. The committee shortened the president's term from seven years to four years, freed the president to seek re-election after an initial term, and moved impeachment trials from the courts to the Senate. It also created the Office of the Vice President whose only roles were to succeed a president unable to complete a term of office and to preside over the Senate. The committee transferred important powers from the Senate to the president who now, for example, would be given the power to make treaties and appoint ambassadors. One controversial issue throughout much of the Convention had been the length of the president's term and whether the president was to be term limited. The problem had resulted from the understanding that the president would be chosen by Congress; the decision to have the president be chosen instead by an electoral college reduced the chance of the president becoming beholden to Congress, so a shorter term with eligibility for re-election became a viable option. Page 3The Constitutional Convention took place in 1787, from May to September, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was convened to address problems in governing the United States of America following independence from Great Britain. Before the Constitution was drafted, the nearly four million inhabitants of the thirteen newly-independent states were governed under the Articles of Confederation, created by the Second Continental Congress. However, the chronically underfunded Confederation government, as originally organized, was inadequate for managing the various conflicts that arose among the states. Due to the difficulty of travel in the late 18th century, very few of the selected delegates were present on the designated day of May 14, 1787. It was not until May 25 that a quorum of seven states was secured. The Early DebateDuring the debates, each state was allowed to cast a single vote in accordance with the majority opinion of the state's delegates. The first area of major dispute was the manner by which the lower house would be apportioned. A minority wanted all states would have equal weight. Most accepted the desire among the slave states to count slaves as part of the population, although their servile status was raised as a major objection against this. The Three-Fifths Compromise designated that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted as part of a state's population. The First DraftThe Convention adjourned from July 26 to August 6 to await the report of the Committee of Detail. The Committee of Detail drafted agreements made by the Convention up to that point, including the Virginia Plan's fifteen resolutions. It was chaired by John Rutledge . Other members included Edmund Randolph, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson, and Nathaniel Gorham. This report constituted the first draft of the United States Constitution. Much of what was contained in the final document was present in this draft.
The Constitutional Convention adjourned to await the report of the Committee of Detail, which was to produce a first draft of the Constitution. It was chaired by John Rutledge (nicknamed "Dictator John" as a reflection of the extraordinary power he had assumed as South Carolina's governor during the early days of the Revolution). Many details recorded by the Committee had never been discussed during the Convention, but the Committee viewed these details as uncontroversial and unlikely to be challenged. Much of the Committee's proposal would ultimately be incorporated into the final version of the Constitution without debate. Examples of these details include the Speech and Debate Clause, which grants members of Congress immunity for comments made in their jobs and the rules for organizing the House of Representatives and the Senate. Further ModificationsAnother month of discussion and minor refinement followed. During this month, few attempts to alter the Rutledge draft were successful. Some delegates wanted to add property qualifications for people to hold office. Others wanted to prevent the national government from issuing paper money. James Madison wanted to push the Constitution back in the direction of his Virginia plan. Drafting and SigningOnce the final modifications had been made, the Committee of Style and Arrangement was appointed "to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed to by the house." Unlike other committees this final committee included no representatives from smaller states. Its members were mostly in favor of a strong national government and unsympathetic to calls for states' rights. For three days, the Convention compared this final version with the proceedings of the Convention. The Constitution was ordered engrossed on Saturday, September 15 by Jacob Shallus, and it was submitted for signing on September 17. George Washington signed the document first. Moving by state delegation from north to south, as had been the custom throughout the Convention, the delegates filed to the front of the room to sign their names . As the final delegates were signing the document, Benjamin Franklin commented on the painting of a sun behind Washington's chair at the front of the room. He said he often looked at the painting, "without being able to tell, whether it was rising or setting. But now at length, I have the happiness to know it is a rising, and not a setting sun. " The Constitution was then submitted to the states for ratification, as stipulated by Article VII.
Reproduction of secretary's handwritten records of votes conducted at the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, as published in Farrand's Records, Volume 1 (1911).
George Washington; Oil on canvas, 361/2" x 273/4" (circa 1787-1790). Page 4The Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America . The first three articles of the Constitution establish the rules and separate powers of the three branches of the federal government: a legislature, the bicameral Congress which is an executive branch led by the President, and a federal judiciary headed by the Supreme Court. The last four articles frame the principle of federalism. The 10th Amendment confirms its federal characteristics.
In the U.S. Constitution, the Taxing and Spending clause gives the federal government of the United States its power of taxation. The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was ratified by conventions in 11 states. It went into effect on March 4, 1789. The first 10 constitutional amendments ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1791 are known as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution has been amended 17 additional times – for a total of 27 amendments – and its principles are applied in courts of law by judicial review. The Constitution guides American society in law and political culture. It is the oldest written national constitution in continuous use. It influenced later international figures establishing national constitutions. Historical InfluencesSeveral ideas found in the Constitution were new. These were associated with the combination of consolidated government along with federal relationships with constituent states. The due process clause of the Constitution was partially based on common law and on Magna Carta (1215, ), which had become a foundation of English liberty against arbitrary power wielded by a tyrant. Both the influence of Edward Coke and William Blackstone were evident at the Convention. In his Institutes of the Laws of England, Edward Coke interpreted Magna Carta protections and rights to apply not just to nobles, but to all British subjects.
The Magna Carta of 1215 was written in iron gall ink on parchment in medieval Latin using standard abbreviations of the period. It was authenticated with the Great Seal of King John. The original wax seal was lost over the centuries. This document is held at the British Library identified as The British Library, Cotton MS. Augustus II. Following the Glorious Revolution, British political philosopher John Locke was a major influence expanding on the contract theory of government advanced by Thomas Hobbes . Locke advanced the principle of consent of the governed in his Two Treatises of Government. Government's duty under a social contract among the sovereign people was to serve them by protecting their rights. These basic rights were life, liberty, and property. Montesquieu emphasized the need for balanced forces pushing against each other to prevent tyranny. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu argues that the separation of state powers should be by its service to the people's liberty: legislative, executive, and judicial.
The English political theorist Thomas Hobbes was very influential to the Founding Fathers when the created the Constitution of the United States. The AmendmentsChanging the "fundamental law" is a two-part process with three steps: amendments are proposed, then they must be ratified by the states. An amendment can be proposed one of two ways. Both ways have two steps. It can be proposed by Congress and ratified by the states. Or it can be on demand of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Congress could call a constitutional convention to propose an amendment, then it would be ratified by the states. To date, all amendments, whether ratified or not, have been proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress. Over 10,000 constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789. During the last several decades, between 100 and 200 amendments have been offered in a typical congressional year. The Constitution has 27 amendments. The first 10, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified simultaneously by 1791. The next 17 were ratified separately over the next two centuries. Civic Religion and Worldwide InfluenceThere is a viewpoint that some Americans have come to see the documents of the Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, as being a cornerstone of a type of civic religion. This is suggested by the prominent display of the Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. They are kept in massive, bronze-framed, bulletproof, moisture-controlled glass containers vacuum-sealed in a rotunda during the day. At night they are housed in the National Archives Building in multi-ton bomb-proof vaults. The United States Constitution has had a considerable influence worldwide on later constitutions. International leaders have followed it as a model within their own traditions. These leaders include Benito Juarez of Mexico, Jose Rizal of the Philippines, and Sun Yat-sen of China. Page 5The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution. It is a series of limitations on the power of the U.S. federal government, protecting the natural rights of liberty and property including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, a free press, free assembly, and free association, as well as the right to keep and bear arms . In federal criminal cases, the Bill of Rights requires indictment by a grand jury for any capital or "infamous crime", guarantees a speedy, public trial with an impartial jury composed of members of the state or judicial district in which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy. In addition, the Bill of Rights reserves for the people any rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution and reserves all powers not specifically granted to the federal government to the people or the States.
The First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of association, and freedom of petition protect lobbying, including grassroots lobbying. Articles of ConfederationPrior to the acceptance and implementation of the United States Constitution, the original 13 colonies followed the stipulations and agreements set forth in the Articles of Confederation, created by the Second Continental Congress and ratified in 1781. The Articles of Confederation established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution . The national government that operated under the Articles of Confederation was too weak however to adequately regulate the various conflicts that arose between the states. The Philadelphia Convention set out to correct weaknesses inherent in the Articles of Confederation. The newly constituted Federal government included a strong executive branch, a stronger legislative branch and an independent judiciary.
The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. This was the format for the United States government until the Constitution. The Philadelphia ConventionDelegates arrived at the Philadelphia Convention on September 12, 1787, to debate whether to include a Bill of Rights in the body of the U.S. Constitution. An agreement to create the Bill of Rights helped secure ratification of the Constitution itself. Ideological conflict between Federalists and anti-Federalists threatened the final ratification of the new national Constitution. Thus, the Bill addressed the concerns of some of the Constitution's influential opponents, who argued that the Constitution should not be ratified because it failed to protect the fundamental principles of human liberty. Ideas Behind the Bill of RightsTo some degree, the Bill of Rights incorporated the ideas of John Locke, who argued in his 1689 work, Two Treatises of Government, that civil society was created for the protection of property . Locke also advanced the notion that each individual is free and equal in the state of nature. He expounded on the idea of natural rights that are inherent to all individuals.
Author of Two Treatises of Government (1689) which argued that civil society was created for the protection of property. This piece was influential in the creation of the Bill of Rights. Locke's political theory was founded on social contract theory. Unlike Thomas Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance. Like Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature allowed men to be selfish. Like Hobbes, Locke assumed that the sole right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people established a civil society to resolve conflicts in a civil way with help from government in a state of society. However, Locke never refers to Hobbes by name and may instead have been responding to other writers of the day. Locke also advocated governmental separation of powers and believed that revolution is not only a right but an obligation in some circumstances. These ideas would come to have profound influence on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Adoption and Ramification As the author of the amendments, James Madison submitted his proposal for the ten amendments on June 8, 1789. Madison's proposal was reworked and adopted as seventeen amendments by the House of Representatives on August 21, 1789, and forwarded to the Senate on August 24. The House version rejected Madison's idea to incorporate the amendments into the body of the Constitution and instead submitted its seventeen articles to be attached separately "in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution. " The Senate edited the House's proposed seventeen amendments and adopted a version with twelve amendments. The two versions went to the Joint Committee and the Senate's version became the one adopted by joint resolution of Congress on September 25, 1789, to be forwarded to the states on September 28. Legacy of the Bill of RightsThe Bill of Rights plays a key role in American law and government, and remains a vital symbol of the freedoms and culture of the nation. One of the first fourteen copies of the Bill of Rights is on public display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. In 1991, the Bill of Rights toured the country in honor of its bicentennial, visiting the capitals of all fifty states. Page 6The United States Constitution consists of a preamble, seven original articles, twenty-seven amendments, and a paragraph certifying its enactment by the constitutional convention. Article I of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. To establish the powers of and limitations of the Congress, the Article addresses the creation of the House of Representatives, which is composed of Representatives from each state. The number of representatives for each state is dependent upon the size of the population. The Article also establishes that there will be two Senators from each state.
The United States Congress is an example of a two-party system of governance. In this picture, Obama's Health Care Speech is being given to both the House and the Senate. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers. However, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential appointments, while the House of Representatives initiates revenue-raising bills. The House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before an impeached person can be forcibly removed from office.
The Senate functioning as the Court of Impeachment for the Trial of Andrew Johnson. Powers of CongressCongress has authority over financial and budgetary policy through the enumerated power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. Moreover, Congress has an important role in national defense, including the exclusive power to declare war, to raise and maintain the armed forces, and to make rules for the military. Congress can establish post offices and post roads, issue patents and copyrights, fix standards of weights and measures, and establish Courts inferior to the Supreme Court. One of Congress' foremost non-legislative functions is the power to investigate and oversee the executive branch. Congressional oversight is usually delegated to committees and is facilitated by Congress' subpoena power. A good historical example of Congressional Oversight was the investigation of President Richard Nixon and Watergate. The Executive branch and political parties and major sources of legislation. For example, the President can use his power to hand a member of Congress the content of a major bill to introduce in the house. Another souce of legislation are Courts. Judges and Justies make law everytime they struckdown laws and provide the new precedent for future legislation. The only institutions that are not sources for legislative ideas are government departments and agencies. The House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses in the United States Congress. The major power of the House is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country, although its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by the President before becoming law. The House has several exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials, and to elect the U.S. President in case there is no majority in the Electoral College. Each state is represented in the House in proportion to its population, but is entitled to at least one representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who presides over the chamber, is elected by the members of the House, and is therefore traditionally the leader of the House Democratic Caucus or the House Republican Conference, whichever of the two Congressional Membership Organizations has more voting members. Elections for representatives are held in every even-numbered year, and on Election Day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. By law, Representatives must be elected from single-member districts by plurality voting. The SenateThe composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Each state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered six-year terms. The chamber of the United States Senate is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., the national capital.
This is an image of the western front of the United States Capitol. The Neoclassical style building is located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. The Capitol was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. The Senate has several exclusive powers not granted to the House, including consenting to treaties as a precondition to their ratification. The Senate also confirms appointments of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, other federal executive officials, military officers, regulatory officials, ambassadors, and other federal uniformed officers, as well as trial of federal officials impeached by the House. The Vice President of the United States is the ex officio President of the Senate, with authority to preside over the Senate's sessions, although he can vote only to break a tie. Senators are regarded as more prominent political figures than members of the House of Representatives because there are fewer of them, and because they serve for longer terms, usually represent larger constituencies. Page 7The executive power in the federal government is vested in the President of the United States, although power is often delegated to the Cabinet members and other officials. The head of the Executive Branch is the President of the United States. The President and the Vice President are elected every four years; they are elected as running mates by the Electoral College. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats in the Electoral College based on its representation in both houses of Congress. The President is limited to a maximum of two four-year terms. If the President has already served two years or more of a term to which some other person was elected, he may only serve one more additional four-year term. President of the United StatesThe executive branch consists of the president and those to whom the President's powers are delegated. The President is both the head of state and government, as well as the military commander-in-chief and chief diplomat. The President, according to the Constitution, must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed", and "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. " The President presides over the executive branch of the federal government, an organization numbering about 5 million people, including 1 million active-duty military personnel and 600,000 postal service employees. The people indirectly elect the President to a four-year term through the Electoral College; the president is one of only two nationally elected federal officers. The Twenty-second Amendment, adopted in 1951, prohibits anyone from being elected to the presidency for a third full term. It also prohibits anyone who has previously served as President for more than two years of another person's presidential term, or who has acted as President, from being elected to the presidency more than once . In all, 43 individuals have served 55 four-year terms. On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama became our 44th President and current President .
Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009). Barack Obama's presidential campaigns were successful partly as a result of youth participation. Eligibility CriteriaIn the United States, a person must be at least 35 to be President or Vice President, 30 to be a Senator, or 25 to be a Representative, as specified in the U.S. Constitution. Most states in the U.S. also have age requirements for the offices of Governor, State Senator, and State Representative. Some states have a minimum age requirement to hold any elected office (usually 21 or 18). Most states will not allow ballot access to people who do not meet the age requirement of the office they are running for. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets the requirements to hold office. A president must:
Vice-President of the United StatesThe vice president is the second-highest ranked executive official of the government. As first in the line of presidential succession in the U.S., the Vice President becomes President upon the death, resignation, or removal of the President. Transitions of this type have happened nine times in U.S. history. Under the Constitution, the Vice President is President of the Senate. By virtue of this role, he or she is the head of the Senate. In that capacity, the Vice President is allowed to vote in the Senate, but only when necessary to break a tie vote. While the Vice President's only constitutionally prescribed functions, aside from presidential succession, relate to his or her role as President of the Senate, the office is now commonly viewed as a member of the executive branch of the federal government. The current Vice President is Joseph Biden .
Official portrait of Vice President of the United States Joe Biden. Cabinet of the United StatesThe Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, who are generally the heads of the federal executive departments. All Cabinet officers are nominated by the President and then presented to the Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority. If they are approved, they are sworn in and then begin their duties. Aside from the Attorney General, and formerly the Postmaster General, they all receive the title of Secretary. Members of the Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President, which means that the President may dismiss them or reappoint them (to other posts) at will. Positions in the Cabinet include Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General. Page 8The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make law or enforce law, but rather it interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. The judiciary branch is often tasked with ensuring equal justice under law. It consists of a court of final appeal in addition to lower courts. Judiciary Branch of the United StatesThe United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government. These courts are organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. In the United States court system, the Supreme Court is the final authority on the interpretation of the federal Constitution as well as the constitutionality of the various state laws. In the US federal court system, federal cases are tried in trial courts, known as the US district courts, followed by appellate courts and then the Supreme Court. State courts, which try 98% of litigation, are subject to the jurisdiction of each state. The judicial system begins with a court of first instance, is appealed to an appellate court, and then ends at the court of last resort. Supreme Court of the United StatesThe U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a small range of cases . The Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate. Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, or are removed after impeachment.
The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, in 2010. Top row (left to right): Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Bottom row (left to right): Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Under the U.S. Constitution, the President of the United States appoints justices "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. " Most presidents nominate candidates who broadly share their ideological views, although a justice's decisions may end up being contrary to a president's expectations. Because the Constitution sets no qualifications for service as a justice, a president may nominate anyone to serve, subject to Senate confirmation. Before 1981, the approval process of justices was usually rapid. From the Truman through Nixon administrations, justices were typically approved within one month. From the Reagan administration through the present, the process has taken much longer. Some believe this is because Congress views justices as playing a more political role than in the past. United States Court of AppealsThe United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system . A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies. The United States Courts of Appeals are considered among the most powerful and influential courts in the United States. Because of their ability to set legal precedent in regions that cover millions of people, the United States Courts of Appeals have strong policy influence on U.S. law.
Map of the geographic boundaries of the various United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts. There currently are thirteen United States courts of appeals. The eleven "numbered" circuits and the D.C. Circuit are geographically defined. The thirteenth court of appeals is the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over certain appeals based on their subject matter. Currently, there are 179 judges on the United States Courts of Appeals authorized by Congress and Article III of the U.S. Constitution. These judges are nominated by the President of the United States, and if confirmed by the United States Senate, have lifetime tenure. They earn an annual salary of $184,500. United States District CourtsThe United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States district court. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and many districts have more than one. In contrast to the Supreme Court, which was established by Article III of the Constitution, the district courts were established by Congress. There is at least one judicial district for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. There are eighty-nine districts in the fifty states, with a total of ninety-four districts including territories. Page 9Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units. Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments, creating what is often called a federation. Proponents are often called federalists.
A map showing countries currently organized along federalist principles in green. History of Federalism in the United StatesFederalism in the United States is the evolving relationship between U.S. state governments and the federal government of the United States. Since the founding of the country, and particularly with the end of the American Civil War, power shifted away from the states and toward the national government.
The United States is composed of fifty self-governing states and several territories. Originally, federalism was the most influential political movement arising out of discontent with the Articles of Confederation, which focused on limiting the authority of the federal government. In 1787, fifty-five delegates met at a Constitutional convention in Philadelphia and generated ideas for a bicameral legislature, balanced representation of small and large states, and checks and balances. Once the convention concluded and released the Constitution for public consumption, the Federalist movement became focused on getting the Constitution ratified. The most forceful defense of the new Constitution was The Federalist Papers, a compilation of eighty-five anonymous essays published in New York City to convince the people of the state to vote for ratification. These articles, written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, with some contributed by John Jay, examined the benefits of the new, proposed Constitution, and analyzed the political theory and function behind the various articles of the Constitution. The Federalist Papers remains one of the most important documents in American political science.
Title page of the first printing of the Federalist Papers. In 1789, Congress submitted twelve articles of amendment to the states. Ten of these articles, written by Madison, achieved passage on December 15, 1791 and became the Bill of Rights. The Tenth Amendment set the guidelines for federalism in the United States. The Tenth Amendment states the Constitution's principle of federalism by providing that powers not granted to the federal government nor prohibited to the States by the Constitution are reserved to the States or the people. Dual Federalism, Cooperative Federalism and New FederalismDual federalism is a theory of federal constitutional law in the United States according to which governmental power is divided into two separate spheres. One sphere of power belongs to the federal government of the United States while the other severally belongs to each constituent state. Each sphere is mutually equal, exclusive, and limiting upon the other sphere, and each entity is supreme within its own sphere. The theory originated within the Jacksonian democracy movement as backlash against the mercantilist American System and supported centralization of government under the Adams administration during the 1820s. With an emphasis on local autonomy and individual liberty, the theory served to unite the principles held by multiple sectional interests: the republican principles of northerners, the pro-slavery ideology of southern planters, and the laissez-faire entrepreneurialism of western interests. The Great Depression marked an abrupt end to Dual Federalism and a dramatic shift to a strong national government. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies reached into the lives of U.S. citizens like no other federal measure had. The national government was forced to cooperate with all levels of government to implement the New Deal policies; local government earned an equal standing with the other layers, as the federal government relied on political machines at a city level to bypass state legislatures. This became known as Cooperative Federalism. Another movement calling itself "New Federalism" appeared in the late 20th century and early 21st century. New Federalism, which is characterized by a gradual return of power to the states, was initiated by President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) with his "devolution revolution" in the early 1980s and lasted until 2001. . Previously, the federal government had granted money to the states categorically, limiting the states to use this funding for specific programs. Reagan's administration, however, introduced a practice of giving block grants, freeing state governments to spend the money at their own discretion. New Federalism is sometimes called "states' rights", although its proponents usually eschew the latter term because of its associations with Jim Crow and segregation. Page 10A constitutionally limited government is a system of government that is bound to certain principles of action by a state constitution. This system of government is dialectically opposed to pragmatism, on the basis that no state action can be made that conflicts with its constitution, regardless of the action's possible consequences. An example of a constitutionally limited government is the United States of America, which is a constitutionally limited republic. Correspondingly, constitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law." In the United States Constitution , several articles and sections describe and specify the limits set upon the federal and state governments in the Union.
"We the People", as it appears in an original copy of the Constitution. LegislatureArticle I, Section 9 lists eight specific limits on congressional power. It includes sections such as "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken" and "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. " ExecutiveArticle II, Section 1 creates the presidency. The section vests the executive power in a President. The President and Vice President serve identical four-year terms. This section originally set the method of electing the President and Vice President, but this method has been superseded by the Twelfth Amendment. More importantly, Section 2 grants and limits the president's appointment powers: "The president may make treaties, with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds of the senators who are present agree;" "With the advice and consent of the Senate, the President may appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not otherwise described in the Constitution;" and "Congress may give the power to appoint lower officers to the President alone, to the courts, or to the heads of departments. " In addition, the Twenty-fifth Amendment limits the presidency to two terms .
Joint Resolution Proposing the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, page 1. Self RestraintThe Supreme Court has developed a system of doctrine and practice that self-limits is power of judicial review. The Court controls almost all of its business by choosing what cases to consider, writs of certiorari. In this way it can avoid expressing an opinion if it sees an issue is currently embarrassing or difficult. The Supreme Court limits itself by defining for itself what is a "justiciable question. " First, the Court is fairly consistent in refusing to make any "advisory opinions" in advance of actual cases. Second, "friendly suits" between those of the same legal interest are not considered. Third, the Court requires a "personal interest," not one generally held, and a legally protected right must be immediately threatened by government action. Cases are not taken up if the litigant has no standing to sue. Having the money to sue or being injured by government action alone are not enough. Codified and Uncodified ConstitutionsA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are written down in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. Codified constitutions are often the product of some dramatic political change, such as a revolution. States that have codified constitutions normally give the constitution supremacy over ordinary statute law. Some constitutions are largely, but not wholly, codified. As of 2013, only two sovereign states have uncodified constitutions, namely New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Uncodified constitutions are the product of an "evolution" of laws and conventions over centuries. By contrast to codified constitutions (in the Westminster System that originated in England), uncodified constitutions include written sources. Page 11In a limited government, the power of government to intervene in the exercise of civil liberties is restricted by law, usually in a written constitution. It is a principle of classical liberalism, free market libertarianism, and some tendencies of liberalism and conservatism in the United States. The theory of limited government contrasts, for example, with the idea that government should intervene to promote equality and opportunity through regulation of property and wealth redistribution. Limited Government in the United StatesA constitutionally limited government is a system of government that is bound to certain principles of action by a state constitution. This system of government is dialectically opposed to pragmatism, on the basis that no state action can be made that conflicts with its constitution, regardless of the action's possible consequence. The United States of America, a constitutionally limited republic, is an example of a constitutionally limited government. In the United States, as discussed in the Federalist Papers , the idea of limited government originally implied the notion of a separation of powers and the system of checks and balances promoted by the U.S. Constitution. This understanding of limited government maintains that government is internally limited by the system of checks and balances (as well as the Constitution itself, which can be amended), and externally through the republican principle of electoral accountability. Such an understanding of limited government, as explained by James Madison, does not place arbitrary and ideologically biased parameters on the actions of a government, thus allowing government to change as time demands.
Title page of the first printing of the Federalist Papers. Ninth and Tenth AmendmentsIn 1789, James Madison presented to the First United States Congress a series of ten amendments to the United States Constitution, today known as the Bill of Rights . After enumerating specific rights retained by the people in the first eight amendments, the Ninth Amendment and the Tenth Amendment summarily spelled out the principle of limited government. Together, these two last amendments clarify the differences between the enumerated rights of the people versus the expressly codified delegated powers of the federal government. The Ninth Amendment codified that the rights of the people do not have to be expressly written in the Constitution to still be retained by the people. Reversely, though, the Tenth Amendment codified that any delegated powers of the federal government are only authorized to be performed so long as such delegated powers are expressly delegated to the federal government specifically by the Constitution. Government can do some things and not others.
The First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of association, and freedom of petition protect lobbying, including grassroots lobbying. The Constitution limits the power of the government in several ways. It prohibits the government from directly interfering with certain key areas: conscience, expression, and association. Other actions are forbidden to the federal government and are reserved to state or local governments. Differences with Other Doctrines"Limited government" stands in contrast to the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, which states that the king, and by extension his entire government, held unlimited sovereignty over its subjects. Limited government exists where some effective limits restrict governmental power. In Western civilization, the Magna Carta stands as the early exemplar of a document limiting the reach of the king's sovereignty. While its limits protected only a small portion of the English population, it did state that the king's barons possessed rights that they could assert against the king. The English Bill of Rights, associated with the Glorious Revolution of 1688, established limits of royal sovereignty. In contrast, and as stated above, the United States Constitution of 1787 created a government limited by the terms of the written document itself, by the election of the legislators and the executive by the people, and by the checks and balances through which the three branches of government limit each other's power.
John of England signs Magna Carta. Illustration from Cassell's History of England (1902). Page 12Separation of powers is a political doctrine originating from the writings of Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws in which he urges for a constitutional government with three separate branches of government . Each of the three branches would have defined powers to check the powers of the other branches. This idea was called separation of powers. This philosophy heavily influenced the writing of the United States Constitution, according to which the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power. This United States form of separation of powers is associated with a system of checks and balances.
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, who urged for a constitutional government with three separate branches of government. Legislative PowerCongress has the sole power to legislate in the United States. Under the nondelegation doctrine, Congress may not delegate its lawmaking responsibilities to any other agency. One of the earliest cases involving the exact limits of non-delegation was Wayman v. Southard (1825). Congress had delegated to the courts the power to prescribe judicial procedure, and it was contended that in doing so Congress had unconstitutionally clothed the judiciary with legislative powers. While Chief Justice John Marshall conceded that the determination of rules of procedure was a legislative function, he distinguished between "important" subjects and mere details . Marshall wrote that "a general provision may be made, and power given to those who are to act under such general provisions, to fill up the details. "
Henry Inman painted his original portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall in September 1831, when the jurist sat for Inman in Philadelphia. This painting is a copy of Inman's original that he made in 1832 for an engraver. John Marshall bought the painting for his daughter who passed it to her daughters. Marshall's granddaughters lent the portrait to the Virginia State Library in 1874 and the surviving granddaughter bequeathed it to the Library in 1920. Executive PowerExecutive power is vested, with exceptions and qualifications, in the President. By law, the president becomes the Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy, and Militia of several states when called into service, and has power to make treaties and appointments to office. The Constitution empowers the president to ensure the faithful execution of the laws made by Congress. Congress may terminate such appointments by impeachment, and restrict the president . The president's responsibility is to execute instructions given by Congress. Bodies such as the War Claims Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission all have direct Congressional oversight.
Floor proceedings of the U.S. Senate, in session during the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. Judicial PowerJudicial power—the power to decide cases and controversies—is vested in the Supreme Court and inferior courts established by Congress. The judges must be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, hold office during good behavior, and receive compensations that may not be diminished during their continuance in office. If a court's judges do not have such attributes, the court may not exercise the judicial power of the United States. Courts exercising the judicial power are called "constitutional courts. " Alternative Model: The Parliamentary SystemIn a parliamentary system, the head of state is normally a different person from the head of government. This is in contrast to a presidential system in a democracy, where the head of state often is also the head of government, and most importantly: the executive branch does not derive its democratic legitimacy from the legislature. The Parliamentary system can be contrasted with a presidential system which operates under a stricter separation of powers, whereby the executive does not form part of, nor is appointed by, the parliamentary or legislative body. In such a system, congresses do not select or dismiss heads of governments, and governments cannot request an early dissolution as may be the case for parliaments. Since the legislative branch has more power over the executive branch in a parliamentary system, a notable amount of studies by political scientists have shown that parliamentary systems show lower levels of corruption than presidential systems of government. Page 13To prevent one branch of government from becoming too powerful, protect the minority from the majority, and induce the branches to cooperate, governments often employ a system of "checks and balances. " Like the concept of separation of powers, this idea is credited to Montesquieu. Through this system, each branch of government "checks," or limits, the other two so that the power shared between them is balanced. An example of this is the president's veto power: the president can limit Congress's power by vetoing a bill. However, the legislative branch can overturn this veto with a two-thirds majority in both of the houses, thus maintaining the balance. LegislativeThe legislative branch of the United States checks and monitors the executive and judicial branches. The legislative passes bills, has broad taxing and spending power, controls the federal budget, and has power to borrow money on the credit of the United States. It has sole power to declare war, as well as to raise, support, and regulate the military. Further, the legislative branch is responsible for the ratification of treaties signed by the President and gives advice and consent to presidential appointments to the federal judiciary, federal executive departments, and other posts (Senate only). Lastly, the legislative has sole power of impeachment (House of Representatives) and trial of impeachments (Senate); it can also remove federal executive and judicial officers from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. ExecutiveThe President exercises a check over Congress through his power to veto bills, but Congress may override any veto by a two-thirds majority in each house. When the two houses of Congress cannot agree on a date for adjournment, the president may settle the dispute. Either house or both houses may be called into emergency session by the president. The Vice President serves as president of the Senate, but he may only vote to break a tie. The president, as noted above, appoints judges with the Senate's advice and consent. He also has the power to issue pardons and reprieves. Such pardons are not subject to confirmation by either the House of Representatives or the Senate, or even to acceptance by the recipient. Many pardons have been controversial. Critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error. One of the more famous recent pardons was granted by President Gerald Ford to former President Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct that gave rise to the Watergate scandal . Polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the pardon, and Ford's public-approval ratings tumbled afterward. The President is the civilian Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. It is generally understood that he has the authority to command them to take appropriate military action in the event of a sudden crisis. However, only the Congress is explicitly granted the power to declare war, as well as to raise, fund, and maintain the armed forces. Congress also has the duty and authority to prescribe the laws and regulations under which the armed forces operate, such as the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and requires that all Generals and Admirals appointed by the president be confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate before they can assume their office. JudiciaryCourts check both the executive branch and the legislative branch through judicial review. This concept is not written into the Constitution, but was envisioned by many of the Constitution's Framers. Judicial review in the United States refers to the power of a court to review the constitutionality of a statute or treaty, or to review an administrative regulation for consistency with either a statute, a treaty, or the Constitution itself. The Supreme Court's landmark decision on the issue of judicial review was Marbury v. Madison (1803, ), in which the Supreme Court ruled that the federal courts have the duty to review the constitutionality of acts of Congress and to declare them void when they are contrary to the Constitution. Marbury, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, was the first Supreme Court case to strike down an act of Congress as unconstitutional. Since that time, the federal courts have exercised the power of judicial review.
The Supreme Court holds the power to overturn laws and executive actions they deem unlawful or unconstitutional. The judiciary also has involvement in the impeachment process of a president. The Chief Justice presides in the Senate during a president's impeachment trial. The rules of the Senate, however, generally do not grant much authority to the presiding officer. Thus, the Chief Justice's role in this regard is limited. Page 14In 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia with the declared purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, many delegates intended to use this convention to draft a new constitution. All states except for Rhode Island sent delegates, though not all delegates attended the Convention. At the Convention, the primary issue was representation of the states. Under the Articles, each state had one vote in Congress. The more populous states wanted representation to be based on population (proportional representation). James Madison of Virginia crafted the Virginia Plan, which guaranteed proportional representation and granted wide powers to the Congress. The smaller states, on the other hand, supported equal representation through William Paterson's New Jersey Plan. The New Jersey Plan also increased the Congress' power, but it did not go nearly as far as the Virginia Plan. The conflict threatened to end the Convention, but Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed the "Great Compromise" (or Connecticut Compromise) under which one house of Congress would be based on proportional representation, and the other house would be based on equal representation. Eventually, the Compromise was accepted, and the Convention was saved. Compromises were important in settling other disputes at the Convention. The Three-Fifths Compromise designated that three-fifths of slave population would be counted toward representation in Congress. In another compromise, the Congress agreed to ban slave trade after 1808. Similarly, issues relating to the empowerment and election of the President were resolved. This led to the Electoral College system in choosing the Chief Executive of the nation. Federalists vs. Anti-federalistsThe Constitution required ratification by nine states in order to come into effect. The fight for ratification was long and difficult. The Constitution was to be ratified by special ratifying conventions, not by state legislature. Interested in retaining power, states were resistant to ratifying a new, stronger central government. Those who favored ratification were known as Federalists,while those who opposed it were considered Anti- Federalists.The Federalists attacked the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists also supported a House of Representative with substantive power. They acknowledged that the Constitution was not perfect, but they said that it was much better than any other proposal. Three Federalists—Alexander Hamilton , James Madison, and John Jay—wrote a series of essays called The Federalist Papers. These essays explained the Constitution and defended its provisions. The documents were intended for the state of New York, though people from across the country read them. The Federalists defended the weakest point of the Constitution—a lack of a Bill of Rights—by suggesting that current protections were sufficient and that the Congress could always propose Amendments. Anti-Federalists such as Patrick Henry attacked the Constitution, suggesting that it would lead to a dangerously powerful national government. One of the Anti-Federalist's strongest arguments was the Constitution's lack of a Bill of Rights. Many Anti-Federalists were eventually persuaded by the Federalists' arguments.
Alexander Hamilton was a key player at the Constitutional Convention. Page 15During 1788 and 1789, there were 85 essays published in several New York State newspapers, designed to convince New York and Virginia voters to ratify the Constitution. The three people who are generally acknowledged for writing these essays are Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Since Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were considered Federalists, this series of essays became known as The Federalist Papers. One of the most famous Federalist Papers is Federalist No. 10, which was written by Madison and argues that the checks and balances in the Constitution prevent the government from falling victim to factions. Anti-Federalists did not support ratification. Madison also wrote Federalist No. 51, under the name "Publius" or "Public. " He argues here that each branch of government would not be dependent on other branches and, thus, forming factions within the national government. That way, the government can work in the best interests of the people and not each other.
Title page of the first printing of the Federalist Papers. Many individuals, such as Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee, were Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists had several complaints with the Constitution. One of their biggest was that the Constitution did not provide for a Bill of Rights protecting the people. They also thought the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government and too little to individual states. A third complaint of the Anti-Federalists was that senators and the president were not directly elected by the people, and the House of Representatives was elected every two years instead of annually. On December 7, 1787, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. The vote was unanimous, 30-0. Pennsylvania followed on December 12, and New Jersey ratified on December 18, also in a unanimous vote. By summer 1788, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York had ratified the Constitution, and it went into effect. On August 2, 1788, North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution without amendments, but it relented and ratified it a year later. Page 16Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787. The vote was unanimous, 30-0. Pennsylvania followed on December 12 and New Jersey ratified on December 18, also in a unanimous vote. The Constitution went into effect by the summer of 1788 after the following states had ratified the Constitution: Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York. On August 2, 1788, North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution without amendments, but relented and ratified it a year later. North Carolina was not the only state that wanted amendments. New York and Virginia ratified the Constitution under the condition that a Bill of Rights be added. On September 26, 1789, Congress sent a list of twelve amendments to the states for ratification. Ten of the amendments would become the Bill of Rights.
The signing of the Constitution of the United States. North Carolina ratified the Constitution in November of 1789, followed by Rhode Island in May 1790. Vermont became the last state to ratify the Constitution on January 10, 1791. The Bill of RightsThe Bill of Rights was enacted on December 15, 1791. Here is a summary of the ten amendments ratified on that day:
Page 17The Articles of Confederation made amending the law very difficult, as all states had to agree to an amendment before it could pass. A unanimous vote had the potential to completely stall crucial change. However, the Framers of the Constitution worried that too many changes would harm the democratic process. To protect the Constitution from hasty alteration, the framers wrote Article V . This article specified how to amend the Constitution, showing that the Constitution could adapt to changing conditions with an understanding that such changes required deliberation.
The Framers supported a process that would allow the newly created constitution to change, but also made sure it could not be changed too quickly. Proposing and Ratifying AmendmentsThere are two ways to propose amendments: First, states may call for a convention. This has never been used due to fears it would reopen the entire Constitution for revision. The other way is for Congress to pass amendments by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. There are two additional ways to approve an amendment: One is through ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures. Alternatively, an amendment can be ratified by three-fourths of specially convoked state convention. This process was used during the Prohibition era. Those in favor of ending Prohibition feared that the 21st Amendment (set to repeal the 18th Amendment prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol) would be blocked by conservative state legislatures. On December 5, 1933, these so-called "wets" asked for specially called state conventions and ratified repeal. Thus it was proved that a constitutional amendment can be stopped by one-third of either chamber of Congress or one-fourth of state legislatures. Restrictions to the Amendment ProcessThe amendment process originally came with restrictions protecting some agreements that the Great Compromise had settled during the Constitutional Convention. The Great Compromise (also called the Connecticut Compromise) was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. In part, the agreement defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the US Constitution. It called for a bicameral legislature along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states.This agreement led to the Three-Fifths Compromise, which meant less populous Southern states were allowed to count three-fifths of all non-free people toward population counts and allocations. Thus, Article V of the US Constitution, ratified in 1788, prohibited any constitutional amendments before 1808 which would affect the foreign slave trade, the tax on slave trade, or the direct taxation on provisions of the constitution. Also, no amendment may affect the equal representation of states in the Senate without a state's consent. Page 18The formal processes of amending the constitution are the processes articulated in Article V of the Constitution. These are the Congressional method and the Constitutional Convention methods. In theory the two houses first adopt a resolution indicating that they deem an amendment necessary. This procedure, however, has never actually been used. The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives instead directly proceed to the adoption of a joint resolution; thus, they mutually propose the amendment with the implication that both bodies "deem" the amendment to be "necessary. " All amendments presented so far have been proposed and implemented as codicils, appended to the main body of the Constitution .
Resolution proposing the nineteenth amendment. If at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the states make the request, Congress is then required to call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments. This provision, many scholars argue, allows for a check on the power of the Congress to limit potential constitutional amendments.The state legislatures have, in times past, used their power to apply for a national convention in order to pressure Congress into proposing a desired amendment. A classic example of this was demonstrated starting in the late 1890s. During that period a movement to amend the Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators caused such proposals to regularly pass the House of Representatives only to die in the Senate. As time went by, more and more state legislatures adopted resolutions demanding that a convention be called. In response to this pressure the Senate finally relented and approved what later became the Seventeenth Amendment for fear that such a convention—if permitted to assemble—might stray to include issues above and beyond the direct election of U.S. Senators. The President has no formal role in the constitutional amendment process. Article One provides that "every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives. " As previously stated, the Constitution requires that at least two-thirds of the members present of both the House of Representatives and the Senate the agree to a joint resolution which proposes a constitutional amendment. However, in Hollingsworth v. Virginia (1798), the Supreme Court held that it is not necessary to place constitutional amendments before the President for signature and that, by the same logic, the President is powerless to veto a proposed constitutional amendment. RatificationAfter being officially proposed, a constitutional amendment must then be ratified either by the legislatures of at least three-fourths of the states, or by conventions in the same proportion of states. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution that have been ratified, Congress has specified the method of ratification through state conventions for only one: the 21st Amendment, which became part of the Constitution in 1933. Most states hold elections specifically for the purpose of choosing delegates to such conventions. New Mexico state law provides that the members of its legislature be the delegates at such a state ratification convention. It is unclear whether this New Mexico state law violates the United States Constitution. Although a proposed amendment is effective after three-fourths of the states ratify it, states have, in many instances, ratified an amendment that has already become law, often for symbolic reasons. The states unanimously ratified the Bill of Rights; the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment, providing for equal protection and due process; the Fifteenth Amendment, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting; and the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women a federal constitutional right to vote. In several cases, the ratification process took over a century. Page 19The United States Constitution can be changed informally. Informal amendments mean that the Constitution does not specifically list these processes as forms of amending the Constitution, but because of change in society or judicial review changed the rule of law de facto. These methods depend on interpretations of what the constitution says and on interpretive understanding of the underlying intent. This type of change occurs in two major forms: through circumstantial change and through judicial review. Societal ChangeSometimes society changes, leading to shifts in how constitutional rights are applied. For example, originally only land-holding white males could vote in federal elections. Due to a burgeoning middle class at the peak of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, society became focused on expanding rights for the middle and working classes. This led to the right to vote being extended to more and more people. However, formal recognition of the right of poor whites and black males, and later of women, was only fully secured in the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the Nineteenth Amendment (1920). Judicial ReviewIn the United States, federal and state courts at all levels, both appellate and trial, are able to review and declare the constitutionality of legislation relevant to any case properly within their jurisdiction. This means that they evaluate whether a law is or is not in agreement with the Constitution and its intent. In American legal language, "judicial review" refers primarily to the adjudication of constitutionality of statutes, especially by the Supreme Court of the United States. This is commonly held to have been established by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Marbury vs. Madison, which was argued before the Supreme Court in 1803 . A number of other countries whose constitutions provide for such a review of constitutional compatibility of primary legislation have established special constitutional courts with authority to deal with this issue. In these systems, no other courts are competent to question the constitutionality of primary legislation.
John Marshall established judicial review. |
Why did the larger states object to the Virginia Plan?
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