THE STUDENT’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING …

1 THE STUDENT SGUIDE TOUNDERSTANDINGCONSTITUTIONAL LAWO nline CompanionJohn DeLeoAustralia Canada Mexico Singapore Spain United Kingdom United StatesChapter ObjectivesWhile studying this chapter, the student will learn to:1. Identify the problems of the Articles of Confederation that led to the development of Cite instances where the Supreme Court has used historical documents such as theArticles, the debates of the constitutional Convention, debates of the ratifyingconventions, and the Federalist Papers to resolve modern cases and interpret List the components of Madisonian Explain why the founders felt a need to check Recount the ratification of the ConnectorThis chapter explains why the Constitution was necessary and describes some of the problemswith our first constitution, the Articles of Confederation.

2 This chapter traces the development ofthe Constitution from the Virginia Plan that was presented at the constitutional Conventionthrough ratification by the states. Also covered is the structure of the constitutional system of Madi-sonian democracy and how this structure operates to produce a government that is strong enough tobe effective yet not so powerful as to trample on individual rights. Individual rights are protected inthe text of the Constitution, in the Bill of Rights, and in subsequent amendments to the Constitu-tion. Note that historical documents from this period are currently used by the Supreme Court tointerpret the OUTLINER elevancy of the Articles of ConfederationProblems under the Articles of ConfederationConstitutional ConventionFederalist PapersRatification of the ConstitutionRelevance of the Historical DocumentsTransformation of GovernmentSTUDY TIPS1.

3 Examine how the government operated under the Articles of Confederation and theproblems that Note how the new Constitution attempts to solve these problems and Exhibit 1-1, which lays out the solution in the form of Madisonion three components can help to organize your thought process as you proceedthrough this chapter and as you progress through the rest of the text. See Exhibit 1-3,which shows the transformation of government during this period in Articles ofConfederation andMadisonian DemocracyChapter13. Realize that the Supreme Court today uses the Articles of Confederation, FederalistPapers, and records of the constitutional Convention as tools to interpret Keep in mind the early development of the Constitution: constitutional Convention(1787), ratification of the Constitution by the states (1787 1789), first governmentformed under the Constitution (1789), and Bill of Rights (1791).

4 See the ConstitutionalTimeline (Appendix B, pages 254 255) to get a perspective on the sequence of As you proceed throughout your course and this text, keep in mind some basic principles:a. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution trumps all otherforms of law. If there is a conflict between federal and state law, federal law wins articles comprise the original text of the Constitution. The Bill of Rightscontains the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. There are a total of 27amendments. Once an amendment is approved (by two-thirds of the House ofRepresentatives, two-thirds of the Senate, and three-fourths of the states), theamendment becomes part of the The Constitution is the source of many rights, such as freedom of speech, due process,and equal protection of the law.

5 However, the Constitution does not regulate thebehavior of individuals. For the Constitution to come into play, the federal, state, orlocal government must have acted on an individual. Put another way, for the mostpart, only the government can violate the Constitution. This concept that for theConstitution to be violated, the violator must be the government is called a private citizen breaks into your house and conducts a search without asearch warrant, the Fourth Amendment is not violated. If a federal, state, or localpolice officer did the same thing, however, the Fourth Amendment right againstunreasonable searches and seizures would be violated. You may have a private lawsuitagainst the person who broke into your home, and that person may be prosecuted forviolation of criminal law, but the Constitution was not violated.

6 If a private restaurantrefuses to serve customers based on the race of the customer, the Constitution is notviolated. This kind of discrimination may violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but notthe Constitution. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal statute that outlaws privatediscrimination. A statute is a rule of law that comes from a legislature, such asCongress. Thus, statutes can and do add more rights to the rights contained in theConstitution. Chapter 7 covers the principle of state action but it is important to get afeel for the concept The 50 states can pass laws that add to our rights. The states cannot give fewer rightsthan the Constitution requires.

7 Florida can pass a law tomorrow legalizing same-sexmarriages, but Florida is not required by the Constitution to do so. Florida cannot passa law requiring everyone to join a state religion because the First Amendment forbidsit. Put another way, states are free to do anything they want as long as their laws do notconflict with the Constitution or federal Take a few minutes to go through the original text of the Constitution and the 27amendments. The entire Constitution can be read in a short time. However, over theyears the United States Supreme Court has been called upon to interpret theConstitution, and as a result we have thousands of cases from the Court to consider as wetry to understand constitutional law.

8 These cases are the framework of the study of theConstitution because it is the job of the courts to tell us what the Constitution means andthe extent to which the Constitution protects our No. 51states if angels were to govern men, neither external nor internalcontrols would be necessary. State how the Constitution addresses this Diagram the three branches of the federal government and list the basic functions of Read the Preamble of the Constitution and list the reasons that the Constitution 1 INTERNET EXERCISES1. Go to down to Historical Documents. Click on Federalist Papers. a. What were the Federalist Papers? many Federalist Papers were there?

9 C. Who were the authors?QUIZTRUE OR FALSE1. The Articles of Confederation were America s first The Constitution replaced the Articles of The central or federal government was too strong during the era of the Articles The government under the Articles of Confederation had no The government under the Articles had no The Federalist Papers were written to help get the Constitution ratified by the James Madison was the primary drafter of the plan that became the The plan that came to be the Constitution was called the New Jersey The Constitution required unanimous approval of the states before it became The Bill of Rights contains the first 10 amendments to the KEY1.

10 True2. True3. False4. True5. False6. True7. True8. False9. False10. TrueThe Articles of Confederation and Madisonian Democracy3 Chapter ObjectivesWhile studying this chapter, the student will learn to:1. Identify the powers granted to Congress by Article I of the Identify the methods by which the powers of Congress are State ways in which the federal government is a limited government of Describe how Congress enlarges its scope of authority by use of its enumerated powers inconjunction with the Necessary and Proper ConnectorChapter 1 gave an overview of the structure of the Constitution under Madisonian chapter covers the powers of the Congress and gives an introduction of how the powers of Con-gress interact with the powers of the president.