Constitutional Principles Name:

The First of Its Kind

It may sound dramatic to say the U.S. Constitution revolutionized the
world, but that’s exactly what it has done. Since the Constitution was
adopted in 1791 as the foundation for government in the United States,
nations across the world have created their own constitutions modeled
after ours. What makes the U.S. Constitution so popular? The principles
behind it. At the time it was written, the U.S. Constitution represented a
complete reversal from the kind of governments people were used to—
autocratic, all-powerful systems where citizens had little or no power. For
the first time, a group of citizens had freed themselves from that kind
of government and created a brand new system where government was
responsible to the people it governed.

Where Power Comes From

Every nation’s government has sovereignty—absolute power within its
own borders, answering to no higher authority. For much of history,
most of the world’s governments were based on a system of nobility
in which power was based on social class and passed down through
families. America’s Founders wanted to flip that on its head. They
believed in popular sovereignty, the principle that a government’s
power is derived from the people.

“The People” Popular sovereignty may be the most fundamental idea behind the U.S.
Then & Now Constitution. You see it in the very first line, “We the People.” You also
see it in Articles 1, 2, and 3, which create a government whose officials
1791 are either elected by the people or chosen by representatives who
were elected by the people. Throughout the Constitution, you can see
a common theme: “the States” have a say in almost everything. That
3,929,214 people; 13 states
may not sound like popular sovereignty at first, but it is. How? Article
4 guarantees that voters in each state will have the right to elect their
own state governments, so the ultimate power of state governments
is… the people! That means even where the Constitution gives power to
2016 “the States,” it’s actually giving power to the people who elect the states’
governments. If you look closely at the government structure set up by the
323,995,528 people; 50 states Constitution, you’ll see how each part ultimately links back to the people.

Consent of the Governed “The governing persons

Most historical governments didn’t care what their citizens thought are the servants
about the government’s actions. They didn’t need to. When the of the people.”
people you govern don’t have any way to kick you out of power, who
cares what they think? It was exactly this situation that got America’s Patrick Henry
Founders so steamed that they started a war in order to create their thought the
Constitution was
own government. Consent of the governed goes hand in hand dangerous and
with popular sovereignty. You can’t have government power derive worked hard
from the people if the government doesn’t need the people’s consent to keep it from
for its actions. being approved.

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Constitutional Principles Name:
Consent of the governed is found everywhere in the Constitution,
Consent of [Some of] the Governed
even though you won’t find those exact words. It’s all about how
When the Constitution was written, the members of government are chosen. Under the Constitution,
large groups of “governed” people did the “governed” (the people) give their “consent” (approval) by
not have the power of consent. Women,
people of color, enslaved people, and
voting. They also express disapproval by voting. But let’s pause for
poor people who owned no land were all a reality check: In practical terms, we can all see that citizens don’t
denied the right to vote. The Founders get to consent to everything the government does. Should we cry
were all about escaping a power system foul? First, take a closer look and see that the Constitution doesn’t
based on birth and social class. Like
intend for citizens to be quite that involved. It creates a republic—a
most people at that time, they generally
accepted that it was okay to deny government where citizens elect representatives to government.
power to people based on other factors, Those representatives are empowered to make all kinds of decisions,
such as gender or race. but if they displease too many citizens, the people might not consent
to letting them keep their jobs.
Hold It Right There!
Most governments in the 1700s—including the British government the
Americans had just broken free from—had few (if any) limits on their
power. Governments were usually led by kings or similar figures who
gained power by birth and could essentially do anything they felt like
doing. Even in places like Great Britain, where society had demanded
some limits on government, the starting point was unlimited power.
Reform movements aimed to restrain that power. By contrast, the
Constitution’s starting point is limited government. Under this
principle, a government only has the power that’s been given to it.
Federalism To understand how the Constitution limits government, you need to
The Constitution created a federalist understand who was actually creating the Constitution: the states. Each
system that divides power between a state was basically an independent nation that agreed to cooperate with
the other states. The men who attended the Constitutional Convention
wrote the Constitution as representatives of the state they lived in.
When they wrote Articles 1, 2, and 3, they created the three branches
of the United States government and assigned each branch certain
powers. Their starting point was that states were the source of the
federal government’s power. The only powers the federal government
central government and smaller units
of government (the states). would have were the powers assigned to it in the Constitution. The
states (and the people) would keep the rest.
Limited? Seriously?
Time for another reality check: Today’s federal government doesn’t
seem very limited. So what’s up? In one sense, nothing has changed—
Americans still operate on the principle that the government is
limited to what the Constitution says it can do. But over time, several
changes have evolved. For one thing, society’s ideas about the role
of government have changed. Today, Americans generally feel it’s
appropriate for government to keep an eye on everything from airline
safety to food contamination to children’s well-being. For another
thing, “what the Constitution says” requires interpretation (because it doesn’t
say much), and the Constitution has been interpreted differently over time. In many
cases, that has led to an expanded view of what the federal government’s powers
actually are.
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Limited by Law
For the Founders, limited government was about more than just
defining which powers the government would have. In the British
system of nobility, the law simply wasn’t applied to nobles in the
same way it applied to everyone else. At the same time, there was
little to hold the government itself accountable to the law. This kind of
government was missing the rule of law—the principle that society
is governed by laws, not people, and that even the government must
follow the law.

The Constitution incorporates the rule of law as another “I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that
way to limit government power. Article 6 establishes the I will support and defend the Constitution of
Constitution as the “supreme law of the land” for the the United States against all enemies, foreign
and domestic; that I will bear true faith
United States. The Founders were especially concerned
and allegiance to the same; that I take this
with making sure no single person could become an all- obligation freely, without any mental reservation
powerful leader, so Article 2 requires the president to take or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and
an oath promising to “preserve, protect and defend the faithfully discharge the duties of the office on
Constitution of the United States.” Article 6 also requires which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
members of Congress, judges, and government officials
at both the federal and state levels to take an oath to U.S. law requires elected
support the Constitution. officials to take this oath.

Moreover, the Constitution does not make government

President Richard Nixon officials immune from the law. Article 1 allows members of
faced impeachment for Congress to be prosecuted for crimes and sued for other
a variety of misconduct.
He resigned after being
violations; Article 2 allows the president to be removed
connected to the burglary from office for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
of a political party office. Misdemeanors”; and Article 3 specifies that judges serving a
lifetime appointment keep their jobs “during good Behaviour.”

Failsafe Against Tyrrany

For the Founders, the principles described so far still weren’t
enough protection against runaway power. They wanted to
build protection into the structure of government itself. Having
one branch of government hold too much power could be just
as dangerous as having one person hold too much power,
so they created three branches. The separation of power
among independent branches within the government itself was
another layer of security against concentrated power.

You won’t find judicial

review in the Constitution The Constitution separates power according to function. Article 1
itself. Why? Because creates the legislative branch, which has the lawmaking power.
the power to interpret Article 2 creates the executive branch, which is empowered to
the Constitution was an
carry out the laws the legislative branch makes. In Article 3, the
interpretation of the Constitution! In 1803, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled it would be impossible Founders set up a judicial branch with the power to hear certain
for the Court to do its job if it could not types of federal cases. The judicial branch also has the power to
interpret the Constitution. interpret the Constitution, which is called judicial review.
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Failsafe Against the Failsafe

But even separating power within government wasn’t enough for the
Founders. What was to keep one of the branches from going crazy
and grabbing all the power for itself? Enter the principle of checks
and balances, which gives each branch the ability to restrain certain
actions the other branches take.

In the Constitution, this usually shows up as one branch’s actions requiring

approval from another branch. Article 1 requires the president’s approval before a
law passed by the legislative branch can actually go into effect. Article 2 requires
the Senate’s approval before a treaty the president makes with another country
can go into effect. If the president commits a crime, Article 2 also allows the
legislative branch to conduct a trial and remove the president from office.
The Constitution gives both the legislative and executive branches a say over the
judicial branch: the president has the power to nominate federal judges, but the
Senate has the power to approve the president’s nomination.
Between these failsafes and all the other principles, the Founders
hoped their Constitution would protect Americans’ liberty for all future
generations.

Web of Principles. Think about how these principles are related to each other. Draw lines between
pairs of icons and write a note on the line about how those two principles might be related. Connect as
many principles as you can. (This will get messy.)
Popular
Sovereignty

Consent of Limited
the Governed Government

Rule of
Checks & Law
Balances

Separation
of Power Federalism
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