GOV CH 3-2 CONST PRINCIPLES

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Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

The Articles

There are seven articles in the Constitution, identified by the Roman numerals I through VII. The first three articles establish the structure and explain the functions of the three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

Article I outlines the legislative powers given to Congress and describes how laws should be made.

Article II, in a similar manner, tells how the executive branch-the presidency-is empowered to carry out the laws passed by Congress. It also tells how the president is elected. Article III establishes the judicial branch of the federal government.

Article III states that there shall be one Supreme Court and gives Congress the power to create lower courts. It also defines what kinds of cases the courts can hear.

The relations among states are outlined in Article IV, which describes how state governments and the federal government are linked together.

The amendment process, or how to change the Constitution, is described in Article V

Article VI makes the Constitution, laws passed by Congress, and treaties of the United States the "supreme law of the land." This part of Article VI is called the supremacy clause. The supremacy clause means that all U.S. citizens, as well as state and local governments, grant ultimate authority to federal laws, treaties, and the Constitution.

Finally, Article VII indicates that the Constitution was to go into effect after nine states ratified it.

How many articles are there in the constitution?

a.	three	c.	seven
b.	six	d.	twenty seven

Which article explains how the Supreme Court will be organized?

a.	one	c.	three
b.	two	d.	four

Which article explains the power of the presidency?

a.	one	c.	three
b.	two	d.	four

Which article says the laws will be made by congress?

a.	one	c.	three
b.	two	d.	four

Which article makes the Constitution superior to the states and state constitutions.

a.	one	c.	five
b.	four	d.	six

What branch of government is responsible for carrying out the laws passed by Congress?

a.	legislative	c.	judicial
b.	executive	d.	senate

Amendments (changes to the constitution.)

The third part of the Constitution consists of twenty-seven amendments-formal changes to the basic document. The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were added in 1791. The remaining seventeen amendments have been added since then. The last one, the Twenty-seventh Amendment, was added in 1992. Later in this chapter, we examine the amendments in more detail, as well as how the amendment process actually works. First though, we look at the major principles of government embodied in the U.S. Constitution.

What are the first ten amendments to the Constitution called?

a.	the Colonial Amendments	c.	the Bill of Rights
b.	the Bill of Particulars	d.	the 4 Freedoms

The Major Principles of Government Embodied in the Constitution

Major Ideas of American Government are in the Constitution The governmental framework supplied by the Constitution has a number of elements. In general, they fall under six broad principles. Much of the Constitution seems to focus on how the government should be controlled. As James Madison (1751-1836) once said, after you have given the government the ability to control its citizens, you have to "oblige it to control itself." In keeping with the concept of controlling the government, the first basic governing principle of the Constitution is limited government. Governments that are not limited are dictatorships. Here are the six broad principles:

1. limited government
2. popular sovereignty,
3. separation of powers,
4. checks and balances,
5. judicial review, and
6. federalism.

What do they mean?????

According to the passage above, a good part of the Constitution is devoted to

a.	making the government stronger	c.	making the government weaker
b.	controlling the government to limit its power	d.	making the government more powerful so it can protect its citizens

From the passage above we can infer that James Madison

a.	hated the government	c.	trusted the government
b.	distrusted the government	d.	did not like citizens

Limited Government

The framers were fearful of the powerful English monarchy, against which they had so recently rebelled. They therefore included in the Constitution the principle of limited government, which means that the national government created by the Constitution can do only what the people allow it to do. This principle can be found in many parts of the Constitution. For example, while Articles I, 11, and III indicate what the national government can do, the first nine amendments to the Constitution list ways that the national government cannot limit certain individual freedoms. Under a limited government, all citizens must live according to the rule of law. Like other citizens, those who run the government must always obey the laws found in the Constitution. Otherwise stated, no person- even the president-is above the law.

10.

In a limited form of government

a.	only the president is above the law	c.	everyone except the president is above the law
b.	even the president is above the law	d.	no one is above the law

11.

What is the main idea of the passage above?

a.	The Constitution is designed to limit the power of government	c.	Only the president is above the law
b.	The constitution is designed to enhance the power of government	d.	No one makes the laws for the U.S. except the Congress.

Popular Sovereignty

Popular sovereignty means that the people are the ultimate source of any power given to the government. Remember that the phrases that frame the Preamble to the Constitution are "We the People of the United States ... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." In other words, it is the people who form the government. The principle of popular sovereignty is closely linked to the principle of limited government. According to both principles, the people are the ultimate source of governmental authority.

12.

Popular sovereignty means

a.	being sovereign is popular	c.	it is important to be popular
b.	the people are more powerful than the government	d.	you muse be free to be popular

13.

Who established the Constitution the United States?

a.	George Washington	c.	the people
b.	James Madison	d.	the government

Separation of Powers

The framers of the Constitution wanted to create a government that would prevent the rise of tyranny, absolute and unlimited power and authority. To do so, they separated the powers of the government. They distributed governmental powers among three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. When powers are separated in this way, no one branch has enough power to dominate the others. The plan for separation of powers used in the Constitution is called the Madisonian Model, for James Madison, who developed it. The plan is laid out in Articles 1, 11, and 111. Congress, or the legislative branch, passes laws; the president, or the executive branch, carries them out; and the courts, or the judicial branch, interpret them.

14.

Why did James Madison believe it was important to separate the government into branches?

a.	He thought it would make the government more stable and secure	c.	He wanted to keep each branch from becoming too powrful
b.	He did not like the Senate and wanted to limit it’s power.	d.	He did not trust people

15.

In the Madisonian model of government, each branch of the government was equal and has the same responsibilities.

true

false

16.

How many branches of government does the Constitution create?

a.	two	c.	four
b.	three	d.	six

Checks and Balances

The separation of powers is part of a system of checks and balances. The framers feared that one branch of government could dominate the other two. In order to prevent this, the framers made sure that each branch of government could exercise certain powers over the actions of the other branches. The president checks Congress by holding veto power, which is the ability to refuse to sign congressional bills into law. Congress, in turn, controls taxes and spending, and the Senate must approve presidential appointments. For example, the president can appoint justices to the Supreme Court, but only with the approval of the Senate. Under the system of checks and balances, each branch's independence is protected. At the same time, however, the system calls for cooperation, because in order to take an action, at least two branches must work together. For example, Congress can pass a law, but the executive branch must approve, administer, and enforce it. Thus, the branches depend on each other, but they also maintain their independence.

17.

What is the purpose of checks and balances in the U.S. government?

a.	make sure each branch has the same power	c.	cut down on excessive regulation
b.	balances help the government to run smoother	d.	prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful

18.

Which branch of government has the power to veto laws written by Congress?

a.	executive	c.	judicial
b.	legislative	d.	Supreme Court

19.

The president appoints Mr. Schneemann to be the Ambassador to Mexico. Which branch of government must approve the nomination?

a.	executive	c.	congress
b.	judicial	d.	courts

20.

The system of checks and balances in the U.S. government keep the branches from working together

true

false

Judicial Review

Judicial review refers to the power of the courts to decide whether a law or other governmental action violates the Constitution. In cases that come before the U.S. Supreme Court, if the justices find that a federal or state law violates the U.S. Constitution, that law is declared unconstitutional. Such a law no longer has any validity or legitimacy-it is as if it did not exist. For example, suppose your state passed a law that allowed the state police to monitor telephone conversations (called wiretapping) without formally obtaining permission from a judge. The U.S. Supreme Court might strike down that law as unconstitutional because it violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The Constitution does not specifically mention judicial review. Most constitutional scholars believe, however, that the framers meant the federal courts to have that power. For example, in Federalist Paper No. 78, Alexander Hamilton made the following statement: The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province [specialty] of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, . . . the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute Judicial review became part of the U.S. system in the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison. In this famous case, the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that part of an act passed by Congress was unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Marshall declared that it is "the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." You can read about this case in Case Study: Government in Action-Marbury v. Madison (1803). After this important decision, the Supreme Court became part of the checks and balances system. Through the power of judicial review, the Court could declare actions of the other two branches of government unconstitutional.

21.

The case of Marbury v. Madison

a.	said the laws passed by the executive branch might be unconstitutional	c.	made the judicial branch of government more p;powerful than the others
b.	made the legislative branch of government more powerful than the others	d.	established the power of the Supreme Court to review the actions of the other branches

22.

What happens to laws that violate the constitution?

a.	the Courts declares them unconstitutional	c.	the Congress refuses to enforce them
b.	the president declares them to be unconstitutional	d.	the judicial branch must re-write them

23.

What is the purpose of judicial review?

a.	helps the government to enforce the law	c.	gives the President a chance to review and re-write the laws that are unconstitutional
b.	keeps the government from violating the Constitution	d.	gives the courts a chance to review and re-write the laws that are unconstitutional

Federalism

The Constitution set up a form of government based on the principle of federalism. In a federal system, some powers belong to the national, or federal, government, while others belong to the states. This division of powers was a compromise between two groups of delegates to the Philadelphia convention: those who had strong nationalist views and those who felt that the states should retain most of their rights. In the next chapter, you will read about the federal system in more detail.

24.

The system of federalism

a.	makes sure the states do not have power	c.	gives some power to the U.S. government and some power to the states.
b.	makes sure the U.S. government does not have power	d.	ensures that all laws are constitutional

Matching

a.	judicial review	e.	checks and balances
b.	popular sovereignty	f.	veto
c.	unconstitutional	g.	Marbury v. Madison
d.	federalism	h.	preamble

25.

established the power to the Supreme Court to review laws

26.

says that government power is shared between the U.S. government and the states.

27.

strategy for keeping any one branch of government from becoming too powerful

28.

the ability of the courts to rule a law unconstitutional

29.

the president refuses to sign a law that he does not agree with

30.

a law that violates the Constitution

31.

the introduction to the Constitution that sets forth the purpose of government

32.

the idea that all power resides with the people of the United States