Structure of the Constitution
How can you remember the structure of the constitution?
One easy mnemonic device to remember the order.
Lucy - Legislative
Eats - Executive
Jam - Judicial
So - States
Apple - Amended
Sauce - Supremacy
Rocks - Ratifications
Preamble
Before Article I there is the preamble which introduces the constitution and declares that the power of the government comes from the people. It also states the various purposes of the government. Our preamble starts with "We the People" which is shown in the picture below of our constitution.
L - Legislative
The first article outlines the powers of the legislative branch which is the branch creates laws with congress. The picture below shows what the legislative branch looks like in Washington DC.
E - Executive
Article II outlines the powers of the Executive branch which is run my the president and his cabinet. They enforce the laws that the Legislative branch make. The picture below is President Obama who is a part of the Executive branch and enforces the laws.
J - Judicial
The third article outlines the power of the Judicial branch which is also the supreme court. The Judicial branch judges people who break laws and make sure everyone is treated equally under the law. The picture below is of the supreme court who make decisions and judge people who break the law.
S - States
Article IV focus' on state relationships and how states must interact with each other. Which included admitting new states, and state governments. One example of this article is that if someone commits a crime in one state and flee's to another if found they must be returned to the original state to be punished for their crimes. The picture below shows our states.
A - Amended
The fifth article how the constitution can be amended. (How it can be changed or how things can be added to it.) In the picture below is an example of one of the amendments in our constitution
S - Supremacy
Article VI declares that the constitution is the "Supreme Law of the Land" Which I interpret as is being the most important and everyone in our country but follow it. Article VI also has one important clause called the "Supremacy Clause" This clause is basically saying that no laws are above the federal law. The picture below shows the laws hierarchy.
R - Ratifications
Article VII which is the last article is about how nine states must ratify a constitution in order for it to go into effect. This picture below shows the two ways of ratification.
Amendments
After the seven articles the 27 amendments are written out. Below is a picture of our 27 amendments.