The United States Constitution

The United States Constitution

By: Dave McPeak

A Country in Crisis

After the Revolutionary War, The United States was searching for an identity.  The country was nervous about a strong central government, since that is what they had to deal with under King George of England.  Therefore, they established the Articles of Confederation.  This was a plan that gave states all the power and had a weak central government.  It  did not work and the founders knew they needed to come up with a new plan.  

A Government is Formed

Once it became apparent that the Articles of Confederation were not going to work, there was a call for a Constitutional Convention.  The point of the Convention was to revise the Articles of Confederation.  Many of the nation's founders were present, such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison.  After debating for most of the summer, the Framers finally had a Constitution to present to the 13 states.  

The Constitution starts with a short Preamble that explains the purpose of the the document.  The words of the Preamble stress that the strength of the Constitution comes from the citizens of the United States.  Watch the video below to learn more about the words that are in the Preamble of the Constitution.

The Articles of the Constitution

The follwoing pages of the book will discuss the Articles of the Constitution.  The Articles are the foundation of the government.  They establish the three branches of government and other governmental procedures.

Article I

The first Article of the Constitution creates the United states Congress.  The Congress is made up of two branches; the House of Representatives and Senate.  It says how Congress will be elected and how it is set up and what jobs they need to carry out and what jobs they can't.  

Article II

Article II of the United States Constitution establishes the Executive Branch of the government.  The Executive Branch is the branch of government that contins the president.  The president's duties and obligations are listed in Article II.  The authors of the Constitution were worried about making the presdient too powerful, therefore they included numerous checks and balances to keep their power in check.

Article III

Article III of the United States Constitution establsihes the Judicial Branch of the governement which contains the United States Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court has the power to decide arguments about how the Constitution should be interpreted .  There decisions will uphold a law or strike it down.  

Articles IV-VII

Article IV (4)= This article establishes the relationship between the states.  It also establishes the relationship between each state and the national government.  

Article V (5)= This article expalins the two ways the Constitution can be amended or changed.  

Article VI (6)= This article explains that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.

Article VII (7)= This article states that nine of the thirteen states need to ratify the Constitution, in order for it to take effect.  

The Amendments

The next portion of our book will examine the Amendments of the Constitution.  We will break them up into two parts; The Bill of Rights and other notable Amendments.  We will not be able to cover all the Amendments but we will highlight the ones that are widely considered to be the most important.

Bill of Rights

The first ten Amendments of the Constitution are referred to as the Bill of Rights.  They outline some basic rights of the citizens.  The First Amendment gives people the freedom of speech, religion, and press.  The Second Amendment gives people the right to bear arms.  The Fourth Amendment protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures.  The Fifth Amendment allows people the right to remain silent and it also says they cannot be tried for the same crime twice.  The Sixth Amendment allows people to have a speedy and public trial and guarantees them a lawyer.  The Eight Amendment protects Americans from cruel and unusual punishment. Please watch the video below to help review the Bill of Rights and learn more about them.  

Other Important Amendments

Even though the Bill of Rights covered some of the most basic rights of citizens, the authors of the Constitution left some important ideas out.  For instance, they did not address the issue of slavery in the United States.  This issue was not looked at until the completion of the Civil War.  After the war The US passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.  The 13th ended slavery, the 14th says that everyone born in the US is a citizen, amd the 15th states that former slaves have the right to vote.  Speaking of voting, the 19th Amendment finally gave women the right to vote.  Another voting issue was fixed with the 26th Amendment.  It lowered the voting age from 21, down to 18.