7 Principles of the Constitution

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  today we're going to be talking about the seven principles

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  of the Constitution.

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  We're going to understand and describe these seven basic principles

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  of the Constitution.

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  When we talk about principle, we're talking about a fundamental

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  truth or rule that serves as the foundation for a

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  system of belief.

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  So in this case, the system of belief we're talking

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  about is the Constitution itself.

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  So the Constitution sets out the basic principles upon which

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  the government in the United States was built and still

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  operates. Today it sets the limits within which the government

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  must conduct itself, and it lays out the basic rules

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  of American politics.

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  It's built around these seven principles.

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  The first concept is popular sovereignty.

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  If you look at the word popular sovereignty, you should

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  know that popular means people in sovereignty means power.

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  So the people have the power.

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  If we look at this cartoon weaken, see, this man

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  right here represents the government, and this represents us.

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  And this person who's stepping off the plank is showing

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  that if the people all step off, the government falls,

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  the government would fail.

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  So its upto us to determine the success or the

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  failure of the government.

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  The power is with us.

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  So popular sovereignty is all political power resides in the

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  people. We see this concept, um, most notably in the

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  opening words of the preamble where it says we, the

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  people of the United States, do ordain and establish this

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  Constitution for the United States of America.

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  It's saying that we, the people, are establishing this Constitution.

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  The next principle is a limited government, and we've talked

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  about a limited government throughout the first two chapters.

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  Um, if you think back to King George and Great

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  Britain, it was not a limited government.

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  King George had all of the power and it was

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  very restrictive.

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  So when we set out to create our own, um,

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  government, we wanted the government to be limited.

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  We didn't want another government like King George, so we

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  wanted a limited government.

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  And this was a big issue that anti federalists had

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  with the Constitution is that it fear that the government

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  would become too powerful, like the president would become a

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  king. So the idea of a limited government is that

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  no government is all powerful.

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  That government on Lee has the power to do those

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  things that the people have given it the power to

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  dio. The government must obey the law.

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  So if you look just at the word limited government,

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  it's saying that the government is limited in what it

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  may dio limited.

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  Government is also is often connected to constitutionalism.

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  And if you look at the word constitutionalism, you see

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  the word constitution in it.

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  Constitutional constitutionalism is the concept that the government must be

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  conducted according to constitutional principles thes seven principles that we're

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  discussing. It also states that government and its officers are

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  always subject to the law, the rule of law.

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  Nobody is above the law itself.

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  The Constitution itself is a statement of limited government, as

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  it reads mostly as a list of prohibitions of power

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  to the government.

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  And these prohibitions are enshrined throughout the Bill of Rights

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  and throughout the Constitution.

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  Most specifically, um, in the First Amendment, where it says

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  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.

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  It's saying that Congress is prohibited for making a law,

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  um, establishing a national religion, Um or, um, freedom of

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  religion itself.

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  The next principle is separation of powers.

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  Um, this is the idea and the basic principle of

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  American government, where the legislative, executive and judicial powers are

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  divided or separated among three independent and co equal branches

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  of government.

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  And we know these three branches of government are the

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  legislative, executive and judicial branches.

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  So this one is very similar to checks and balances

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  they both have to do with these three branches.

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  But the key to remember with separation of powers it's

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  just the idea that there are three different branches, that

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  there's three separate branches that each have power.

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  Um, it's just the establishment of those three branches we

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  see here.

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  Legislative is made up of Congress.

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  When we talk about Congress, we're talking about Senate and

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  the House of Representatives.

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  The executive branch is made up of the president, the

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  vice president, the Cabinet and the judicial branch is made

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  up of the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

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  So the establishment of these three branches is what we're

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  talking about when we talk about separation of powers, the

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  powers, all of these powers are separated equally into these

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  three branches.

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  The next one we're going to talk about is checks

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  and balances, and this also has to do with the

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  three branches.

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  But this is talking specifically about how each branch is

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  subject to a number of constitutional checks or restraints by

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  the other branches.

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  Each branch has certain powers with which it can check

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  the operations of the other two to ensure a balance

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  of power.

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  So whereas separation of Powers is talking about about the

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  establishment of the three branches, checks and Balances is talking

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  about the jobs of those three branches.

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  What do those three branches dio?

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  We going to hear about how it works?

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  We can see an example where the executive branch can

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  receive a bill and they can veto the bill so

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  they can say that.

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  Decide that that bill, they don't want that bill.

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  They can say no to that bill, and that bill

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  would go back to the legislative branch.

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  But in response, the legislative branch can override that presidential

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  veto with a vote of two thirds of the House

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  and the Congress, the House and the Senate.

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  So that's the legislative branch, acting as a check on

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  the executive branch and the executive branch acting as a

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  check on the legislative branch.

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  We also see this idea of checks and balances currently

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  um, and that President Trump has nominated a Supreme Court

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  justice. So that's a check on the judicial system there

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  nominated by the executive branch.

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  But the legislative branch has to approve that nomination.

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  So that's where we are right now with Amy Coney.

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  Barrett is the legislative branch is approving that nomination.

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  So all three branches are included in this situation, and

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  they're all checking each other to ensure that the power

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  is balanced.

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  The fifth principle is judicial review, and this has to

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  do with the judicial branch and, more specifically, the courts.

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  Judicial review is the power of the courts to determine

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  the constitutionality of a governmental action so the courts have

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  the power to declare an action unconstitutional or constitutional.

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  Eso un Constitution would be stating that the act violated

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  the Constitution, and this idea of judicial review came about

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  during this case.

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  Marbury versus Madison in 18 03 in this case, determined

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  the Constitution to be actual law.

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  It wasn't just a set of political ideals and principles

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  that we loosely followed.

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  It was actually the rule of law.

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  It was the supreme Law thief.

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  Sixth principle is federalism on dhe.

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  We've talked a lot about federal that waas Um a

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  word of the day we know that federal means central

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  or national government.

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  So federalism is the division of power among a central

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  federal, a national government and several regional governments.

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  And when we talk about regional governments were talking about

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  state governments.

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  So there's certain powers that the national government holds.

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  There's certain powers that the state governments hold, and then

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  there's also powers that are shared between between them.

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  So if we see here, the national is our federal

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  government. The blue is our federal government in D.

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  C. That those are the powers that, um, the three

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  branches hold.

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  And then the green circle over here is the state

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  government. So, like R, Missouri State government has the power

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  to do those things in the green circle and then

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  the overlapping area.

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  The darker green area are the powers that are shared

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  between both the national and the state governments.

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  And this concept is called federalism.

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  In the last principle is Republicanism, and this is the

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  power The people exercise their power by voting for their

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  political representatives.

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  Um, and this one is closely connected to popular sovereignty

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  because it has to do with the people holding the

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  power. But the key with Republicanism is that the people

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  are exercising their power.

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  And here's the key by voting for their political representatives.

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  If you see that Republicanism starts with R E P

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  and representatives also starts with our EP, that will help

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  you determine um, what this principle entails.

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  So we elect representatives, um, to represent us in our

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  government. Um, it would be really inefficient if every time

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  an issue came up or a law needed to be

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  passed that every person in the United States had to

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  go and vote for that.

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  Um, so instead, we vote for specific people who then

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  represent our needs, um, in in our government.

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  So if we look at all of these seven principles,

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  you guys will be taking a quiz in canvas over

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  these seven principles.

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  I want you guys to take your time, read through

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  the questions and really think about the words themselves when

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  you're thinking about the definitions.

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  Popular sovereignty popular means people.

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  Sovereignty means power.

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  So the people have the power.

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  So anytime it talks about the people um, having the

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  power, the people making the decisions um, you wanna thank

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  popular sovereignty when you think about limited government?

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  Think about how the government is limited in what it

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  may dio.

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  It can't just do anything at once.

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  It's limited.

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  It's powers are limited.

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  When you think about separation of powers, this is just

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  how our government is separated into three branches.

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  The legislative, executive and judicial.

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  When you think about checks and balances, you want to

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  think about the jobs of those three branches so each

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  branch checks on the other two branches to ensure a

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  balance of power.

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  It's the jobs of those branches to check each other.

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  When you think about judicial review, I want you to

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  think about the judicial branch, the courts, the judges.

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  They're determining whether an act is constitutional or unconstitutional.

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  When you think about federalism, I want you to think

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  about the word federal and think about how the federal

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  government has certain powers and how the state government has

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  certain powers and how the federal and state government share

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  powers as well.

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  And when you think about Republicanism, I want you to

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  think about that.

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  Our e p, the R, E, P and Republicanism and

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  the R, E P and representatives Republicanism is about how

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  the people elect representatives to serve them in their government