The Three Fish Explain The Constitution By Fishy, Tiffany, and Sarah
Introduction The Constitution is an important document because it is the highest law of our land and we still use it to this day. American freedoms are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The preamble (beginning) of the Constitution is very famous. It goes like this:
"We the people of United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
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Federalism Federalism is an idea that power is split between national, state and local government. National has the most power out of the three. National is in charge of the postal services. National is also in charge of printing money and this is a very important job because if they print to much, a dollar bill could end up being worth only fifty cents. Next in power is state. State is in charge of reserved powers. They are also in charge of establishing the police. Even though national has more power than state they intertwine when it comes to concurrent powers. Last in power is local and they really have no power other than the recycling programs. In the end all of them collect taxes from the people.
This cake represents the level of power. Going from top with the most power. To the bottom with the least power.
Separation of Powers The Separation of Powers is the government. The Separation of Powers does not want all the powers in one branch. The Separation of Powers does not want one brach to abuse their power so they make sure the branches don't abuse their power. No branch has power over the other.
Branches- Citation
The Government is made up of three branches; the Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Legislative Branch.
Checks and Balances Checks and Balances balance the powers between the Executive, Legislative and the Judicial Branches. Each branch can check the power of the other two branches to create a balance of power. Each branch can influence or limit powers of the other two branches. For example, the Executive Branch can appoint federal judges. The Judicial Branch can appoint judges for life and the judges are free from the Executive Branches control. The Legislative Branch can impeach and remove federal judges.
The Government is made up of three branches that all check on each other.
The Legislative Branch The Legislative Branch is also known as Congress. It is made up of two groups; the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 435 seats in the House of Representatives and the people in the seats get elected every two years. The number of representatives depends on a state's population; larger states get more representatives. To be elected, you must be 25 and have lived in the United States for at least seven years.
The Legislative Branch is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, who vote on laws and deal with taxes.
The Executive Branch The Executive Branch is made up of the President, Vice President, and Secretaries. Secretaries give the President information on different topics (i.e. The Secretary of Education). The Vice President is the right hand man of the President. If the President ever got impeached or died, the Vice President would take over. The President has to be 35 or older to run and had to be born in the United States. They can be President for up to eight years, depending on how many times they get elected (they are allowed to run twice, four years each term).
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Obama is the current President of the United States.
The President, Vice President, and Secretaries all work in the White House, located in Washington D.C.
Three people are part of the Executive Branch, the President, the Vice President, and the Secritaries.
The Judicial Branch The Judicial branch is the branch of the government that controls all the courts. This includes the Supreme Court and all other federal courts. The Supreme Court is the highest court there is in the United States. The Supreme Court is in charge of making sure laws that congress try to pass are constitutional and if they feel like they go against the constitution they can declare them unconstitutional. The judicial branch also have something called judicial review. Judicial review means that the court has the last say. Judicial review started in 1803. A justice is appointed for life or retirement. There are nine justices in the court. The president is who chooses the justices.
The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, that deal with making laws and deciding the final say in court cases.
The Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments of the Constitution. The first amendment in the Bill of Rights is the right to worship any religion and the freedom of speech. The second amendment is the right to bear arms (have weapons).The third amendment is that the government can't make you house soldiers during a war. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments talk about trial rights. The ninth and tenth amendments are non-rights amendments, which means that the states retain the rights that aren't listed in the Bill of Rights.
The second amendment is the right to bear arms.
The Amendments 1st- Religious and Political Freedom(1791) 2nd- Right to Bear Arms(1791) 3rd- Quartering Troops(1791) 4th- Search and Seizure(1791) 5th- Rights of Accused Persons(1791) 6th- Right to a Speedy, Public Trial(1791) 7th- Trial by Jury in Civil Cases(1791) 8th- Limits of Fines and Punishments(1791) 9th- Rights of People(1791) 10th- Powers of States and People(1791) 11th- Lawsuits Against States(1798) 12th- Election of Executives(1804) 13th- Freedom of Slaves(1865) 14th- Citizenship and Equal Rights to African Americans and Slaves(1868) 15th- African American Voting Rights(1870) 16th- Income Tax(1913) 17th- Direct Election of Senitors(1913) 18th- Prohibiting Manufacture, Transportation, and Sale in Intoxicating Liquors(1919) 19th- Woman's Rights to Vote(1920) 20th- "Lame Duck" Sessions(1933) 21st- Repealed Prohibition(18th)(1933) 22nd- Limit on Presidential Terms(1951) 23rd- Voting in District of Colombia(1961) 24th- Abolition of Poll Taxes(1964) 25th- Presidential Disability, Succession(1967) 26th- 18-year-old Vote(1971) 27th- Congressional Pay(1992)
Amendment 19 - Woman's Rights The 19th Amendment, the right for woman to vote, was ratified on August 18th,1920. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were suffragettes. They protested for woman's right to vote and they succeeded.
Woman called Suffragettes, protested for woman's rights.
Student's Rights Students rights are the rights you have in school. These rights apply to all kids in school. You have freedom of speech to a certain extent and freedom of expression as long as it doesn't go against school policy (clothing wise). The school can't tell you what to wear just because they don't like it. Also, school staff can't look through your locker, bag, or phone without proper reason.
Student's rights are rights that you have in school.
Glossary amendments-
changes to the constitution
establishing-
to create
impeached-
to question or challenge the President
representatives- a person chosen to speak for their state Suffragettes-
women who fought for women's rights
term-
the amount of time a President can be in office
unconstitutional- goes against the Constitution