USHX 2.1: Citizenship and the Constitution
Drill: Intolerable & Malnutrition
Intolerable – unbearable, not able to tolerate
Malnutrition – lack of food or proper nourishment
OBJECTIVE: Student will be able to describe the balance of state and federal powers by listing the three branches of the federal government and analyzing the division of power.
Notes:
1. The framers of the Constitution created three branches of
- Judicial Branch – Supreme Court/ Interprets/ Supreme Court Bldg.
B. Executive Branch – President/ Enforces / The White House
C. Legislative Branch – Congress / Makes Laws / CapitalBuilding
2. Later added the Bill of Rights to protect the citizens’ most basic rights.
3. coining: making money
4. diplomacy: maintaining relations with other countries
5. census: official counting of the population
6. pro tempore: temporary; existing just for the present time
Odds & Ends
1. House of Representatives - a current membership of 435
2. delegated powers -granted to the federal government, including the power to coin money, to regulate interstate and international trade, and to declare war
3. reserved powers - powers retained by the state governments
4. concurrent powers - shared by both the federal and state governments, 5. including the power to tax, to borrow money, and to enforce laws
5. president pro tempore - leader of the Senate in the absence of the vice president
6. elastic clause - found in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to stretch its delegated powers to address issues that the nation’s founders could not have foreseen
7. executive orders - issued by the president to carry out laws that affect administrative matters or executive policy
8. representative democracy -government by representatives of the people
9. Speaker of the House - leader of the House of Representatives
USHX 2.1: Citizenship and the Constitution
Reading Review:
1. b 6. a
2. h 7. k
3. d 8. g
4. f 9. c
5. j 10. I
PRIMARY SOURCE
1. This selection addressed the “necessary and proper” clause in Section 8 of Article I
2. No; the author thinks that it will be one central government
3. The author thinks individual states will eventually be done away with by the growing power of the federal government
4. Some of the “great and uncontrollable” powers are laying and collecting taxes, duties, regulating trade, raising and supporting armies, organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, instituting courts, and other general powers
5. The principle of human behavior that the author points to is that those vested with power usually want to increase it and remove everything that stands in their way.
Summary: In today’s lesson we describe how the framers of the Constitution addressed concerns about the balance of state and federal powers. We also listed the three branches of the federal government and analyzed the division of power.
Homework: Reserved Powers & Concurrent Powers
Reserved Powers – Are the powers held by the states, such as to issue licenses, and diplomas.
Concurrent powers are those shared by the state and federal governments, and include collecting taxes.
Name ______Class ______Date ______
USHX 2 .1 Citizenship and the Constitution
MATCHING:Match each of the following terms with the correct description by writing the letter of the description in the space provided. Some descriptions will not be used.
______1. delegated powers ______6. House of Representatives
______2. elastic clause______7. Speaker of the House
______3. reserved powers ______8. president pro tempore
______4. concurrent powers ______9. impeach
______5. representative democracy _____10. executive orders
a. larger of the two houses of Congress, with a current membership of 435
b. powers granted to the federal government, including the power to coin money, to regulate interstate and international trade, and to declare war
c. bring charges against a president who may have committed a crime or violated the
essential presidential duties
d. those powers retained by the state governments or by citizens, such as conducting elections, establishing local governments, and regulating education
e. smaller of the two houses of Congress, with a current membership of 100
f. those powers shared by both the federal and state governments, including the power to tax, to borrow money, and to enforce laws
g. leader of the Senate in the absence of the vice president
h. found in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to stretch its delegated powers to address issues that the nation’s founders could not have foreseen
i. issued by the president to carry out laws that affect administrative matters or executive policy
j. government by representatives of the people
k. leader of the House of Representatives
l. cancel legislation.
11.What are the three branches of the federal government?
12. How is power divided among the three branches of government? (What does each branch do?)
2.1 PRIMARY SOURCE READING Antifederalists Papers
Although the Constitution was eventually ratified by all 13 states, citizens engaged in heated public debates about its adoption. Supporters and opponents of the Constitution carried on their debates in a series of letters and editorials that were published in many newspapers. Supporters of the Constitution, known as Federalists, and opponents of the Constitution, known as Antifederalists, argued about the meaning of the Constitution and its power to create a strong central government. In this selection from Antifederalist No. 17, one of the most brilliant of the Antifederalist writers, BRUTUS, predicts exactly how and why federal powers would increase, through an interpretation of the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution. As you read this excerpt, consider which of BRUTUS’s arguments were most convincing, and which might still raise questions.
2.1 PRIMARY SOURCE READING Antifederalists Papers….continued
This [new] government is to possess absolute [complete] and uncontrollable powers, legislative, executive, and judicial, with respect to every object to which it extends, for by the last clause of section eighth, article first, it is declared, that the Congress shall have power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing [previous] powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof.”
It appears from these articles, that there is no need of any intervention of the State governments, between the Congress and the people, to execute [carry out] any one power vested in [held by] the general government, and that the Constitution and laws of every State are nullified [canceled] and declared void, so far as they are or shall be inconsistent with this Constitution, or the laws made in pursuance [support] of it, or with treaties made under the authority of the United States. The government, then, so far as it extends, is a complete one, and not a confederation.
It is true this government is limited to certain objects, or to speak more properly, some small degree of power is still left to the States; but a little attention to the powers vested in the general government, will convince every candid [honest] man, that if it is capable of being executed, all that is reserved for the individual States must very soon be annihilated [destroyed], except so far as they are barely necessary to the organization of the general government. The powers of the general legislature extend to every case that is of the least importance—there is nothing valuable to human nature, nothing dear to freemen, but what is within its power. It has the authority to make laws which will affect the lives, the liberty, and property of every man in the United States; nor can the Constitution or laws of any State, in any way prevent . . . the full and complete execution of every power given. But what is meant is, that the legislature of the United States are vested with the great and uncontrollable powers of laying and collecting taxes, duties, . . . regulating trade, raising and supporting armies, organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, instituting courts, and other general powers; and are by this clause invested with the power of making all laws, proper and necessary, for carrying all these into execution; and they may exercise this power as entirely to annihilate all the State governments, and reduce this country to one single government. . . . [I]t is a truth confirmed by the unerring [accurate] experience of ages, that every man, and every body of men, invested with power, are ever disposed to increase it, and to acquire a superiority over everything that stands in their way.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU READ
1. What part of the Constitution is the author concerned with in this selection?
2. Does the author think that the federal government will be a confederation of the separate states?
3. What does the author think will eventually happen to the power of individual states under the new federal system?
4. What are some of the “great and uncontrollable” powers of the new federal government listed by the author?
5. What is the principle of human behavior that the author points to as a reason not to give so much power to a central government?
In your own words, summarize today’s lesson.