7 Principles of the Constitution
By: Cami Hardt
Popular Sovereighty
Popular Sovereighty is when the people have the power but they just transfer it over to the Government. Basically, the final say in decesions rests in the citizen's hands. Popular Sovereighty is found in the preamble to the Constitution.
Republicanism
Republicanism is when the people use their power to vote by electing representatives to govern them. This is my favorite principle because it's so easy to remember. Republicanism lets Represenatives get elected, the R's make it easy to remember. Republicanism is found in articles 1,2 and 4 in the Constitution.
Separation of Powers
The power in the National Government is divided into three spectate branches of Government. These branches are, Legislative, Judicial and Executive. The Legislative branch is the Congress and the House of Representatives, they make the laws. The executive branch is the President, Vice President, and the Cabinet, they enforce the law. The Judicial branch is the Supreme and Lower Court Justices, they say if the laws are constitutional. You can see these birth of these branches in articles 1,2 and 3 in the Constitution.
Checks and Balances
Checks and Balances is when each branch of Government checks on each other and make sure that they are doing their job. This is where each branch of Government has the same amount of power as the other branches. You can see this in articles 1,2 and 3 in the Constitution.
Limited Goverment
Limited Goverment is where the Goverment's power is LIMITED. It's basically saying that the Goverment has to follow the same rules and laws as citizens do. Here's an example, a cop cannot speed if he is not on duty. You can see examples of this in articles 1 and 6 in the Constitution.
Individual Rights
Individual Rights is very simple. It just protects your basic freedoms stated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Federalism
Federalism is when the power that the Goverment possesses is split into State and Federal (National) Goverment. This is like the power to tax, the Federal Goverment might not understand what the states need to tax ,so they let the State Goverment do that. You can see this in article 1 of the Constitution and amendment 10 in The Bill of Rights.