Chapter 8: The Constitution

Lesson 1: The Constitutional Convention

 Shays’s Rebellion highlighted the weakness of the national government.

o Shays’s rebellion was led by Daniel Shays.
 The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was held to fix the Articles of Confederation.
o Patrick Henry was one of many leaders who wanted to keep the Articles as they
were.
 George Washington was chosen as president of the Constitutional Convention.
 When the convention began, the delegates agreed to keep their discussions secret.
 The Great Compromise stated that congress would have two houses that could propose
bills. However, only the house made up of representation based on population could
propose tax bills.
 The national and state governments had to share the power to govern under the
federal system.
 At the Constitutional Convention, the delegates tried to resolve how representation
should be divided among states.
 The Three-Fifths Compromise agreed to count three-fifths of the total number of slaves
in a state towards the number of representatives.
 The United States of America is considered a republic because it has a form of
government where the people elect representatives to govern the country.

Lesson 2: Three Branches of Government

 Gouverneur Morris’s job, at the Constitutional Convention, was to write the Preamble.
 The Preamble explains the basic functions of the United States government.
 Under the Constitution, the powers of the government are limited.
 The legislative branch is the lawmaking branch.
 The executive branch is responsible for enforcing laws.
 The President can veto, or reject, bills passed by congress.
 Congress can impeach, or accuse, the president of crimes. Impeachment can result in
the president being removed from office.
 The judicial branch is the court system.
 Government must follow the rule of law, or apply laws equally to every person.
 Delegates decided that citizens could add amendments, or changes to the Constitution.
 Lesson 3: The Bill of Rights

 Anti-Federalists wanted to limit the power of the federal government before they would
ratify, or approve, the Constitution.
 The ten amendments were added to the Constitution to protect the basic rights of the
people.
 The freedom of speech, religion, press, and right of people to assemble are all protected
under the first amendment.
 The Fifth through Eighth Amendments deal with the due process of law.
 All authority not listed in the constitution is called reserved powers and they belong to
the states.

Lesson 4: A Constitutional Democracy

 The constitution gave each branch of the government certain powers.

 The three branches of government must often work together to exercise their powers.
 The federal government takes care of issues that affect the entire community.
 Checks and balances were added to the Constitution to prevent any one branch from
controlling the government.
 Checks and balances were developed to help form a “more perfect union.
o A union is an alliance that work to reach common goals.
 Checks and balances are important because they keep any one branch from becoming
too powerful. They allow each branch to check the other branches decisions. This
prevents any branch from misusing their authority.
 State governments build and maintain state highways and state parks, oversee public
schools and state colleges, and help people that do not have enough money for basic
needs.
 Local governments have an executive, called a mayor.
 People can be citizens if they are born in the United States or go through a process
called naturalization.

Powers of the Branches

 Legislative branch – has the power to approve the appointments of Supreme Court
justices.
 Legislative branch – has the power to impeach the President.
 Legislative branch – makes all of the national laws.
 Judicial branch – decides whether the laws follow the Constitution or not.
 Executive branch – has the power to veto bills.