6 Principles of the Constitution
By: Kaitlyn Wood
Popular Sovereignty
People are the source of the government power, all political power in the U.S. resides in the people, and the Government can only govern with the consent of the governed.
2 Life Examples:
* The American Revolution, Americans exchanged the rule of King George III with a rule composed of the people. After that, American revolutionaries agreed with the idea that governments were only proper if they followed popular sovereignty.
* We elect our own leaders.
Limited Government
Government is not as powerful as we think. The Government may only for the things that we have given it the power to do. The Bill of Rights was strengthened by limiting the governments power.
2 Life Examples:
* The United States has one.
* Canada has one.
Separation of Powers
The Constitution split the powers of government into 3 equal branches. They are the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, and Judicial Branch. Legislative- tasked with creation of laws, Executive- tasked with enforcement of the laws, Judicial- tasked with interpretation of the laws.
Life Example:
* Who enforces the law, who interprets the law, and who makes the law.
Checks & Balances
This is used to balance and level out the other so they don’t do anything wrong. Each branch is subject to restraints on their power by other branches.
2 Life Examples:
* The legislative branch can override what the President says.
* The Judicial Branch can says that laws or executive acts are unconstitutional.
Judicial Review
The power of judicial review is the power of courts to determine whether what government does is in accord with what the constitution provides. This means that any laws that the government creates cannot break any of our rights such as freedom of speech.
Life Example:
*The judge decides what is right and wrong.
Federalism
Life Example:
* Each of the 50 states has its own state constitution, people have to follow both the laws of their states and the United States' laws.