Transcript Law and Government From 1790-1820

Law and Government
From 1790-1820
By: B.J.
Overview
In this
presentation I will talk
about how the
government we have
today came into
power, along with the
Constitution and what
the Constitution is
based on.
Government Organization
The Beginning
The delegates who were putting
together the new plan of Government
reviewed all the civilizations that had an
accurate account of government. They
started with the ancient Greeks to see
what worked and what needed to be
changed. This way they could avoid
problems in our government that other
governments had.
Federalism
This type of government was used
because that would mean there would be
a government that had charge over the
nation’s matters and state governments
that had power over their state. The
Federal government had power over some
areas but had to leave others to the
states.
Rules between Governments
There were some rules about what the
states could do. The states could not do
anything that went against the Constitution.
Any problems between the states and the
Federal government was settled by an overall
court, the Supreme Court.
The Branches
There are three
branches that make
up the Federal
Government, the
Legislative Branch,
the Executive Branch,
and the Judicial
Branch. All these
work together in a
system called checks
and balances.
Checks and Balances
All three of the branches work together
in the system of checks and balances. The
Framers of the constitution put this in on
purpose to make sure that no one branch
had more power than the others. If a law
wants to be passed it has to be passed by
all three branches to be passed.
Legislative Branch
This is the law-making branch, also
known as Congress. In this branch there
are two parts, the Senate and the House
of Representatives. To please the large
and small states the smaller part, House
of Representatives is regulated by
population and the Senate has only two
delegates from each state.
Legislative Branch cont…
The powers of Congress is regulating
trade, declaring war, making more money, and
raise and support armies. Any decision that
they make has to agree with the constitution.
Executive Branch
This branch is headed by the President
with the Vice-President just behind him.
The President is in charge of carrying out
laws and policies. He also conducts
relations with foreign countries. Both the
President and Vice-President are elected
into four-year terms by a special group.
Executive Branch cont…
The special group that
elects the President and VicePresident is called the Electoral
College. These are people who
cast votes for their state. Each
state has as many electors as
they have in Congress, Senate
and House of Representatives.
Judicial Branch
This branch is the court system of the
Federal Government. There is one
Supreme Court which handles cases
involving the Constitution, laws passed by
Congress, or cases between states.
Besides the Supreme Court there are a
few more lesser courts selected by
Congress.
The Constitution
Why it was formed and the parts
included.
Why develop the Constitution?
Our first form of government, the
Articles of Confederation, did not
completely fulfill our newly formed
country’s needs. The states didn’t work
together on important matters such as
finances and defense so the Framers got
together to create another document to
complete our needs.
Goals of the Constitution
The Framers of the Constitution wanted to
form a sense of unity between the states and
the Federal government, establish justice,
promote safety, and to secure the liberties of
the people.
Principles of the Constitution
The Constitution rests on seven major
principles to help solve the problems of
the representative government that has
been formed. They were popular
sovereignty, republicanism, limited
government, federalism, separation of
powers, checks and balances, and
individual rights.
Popular Sovereignty
This was added because in the
Declaration of Independence it says that
the government gets its power from the
governed. This is used in a similar way in
the opening of the Constitution, “We the
people.” It is used to reinforce the idea of
the authority of the people.
Republicanism
This supports the popular sovereignty of
the people by letting the people elect the
people that they want to be represented by.
This gives the people the power to choose
who they want in government.
Limited Government
This part of the Constitution says that
the states have some power but has to
give the Federal government some power
too. This was to create unity among the
states. Before the states had their own
government and didn’t agree or
communicate so the Federal government
was to break that singularity of states.
Federalism
This type of government was needed
because the states didn’t want to give up
their power. Before the Constitution the
states had their own government and
were not united. This was dangerous so
the Framers let each state have its
government but had the Federal
government in charge of some issues
letting the states be in charge of others.
Separation of Power
To prevent all the power to go to one
branch the Framers created three
branches to have power so that one
branch didn’t have all the power and
misuse it and have the US weaken and fall
back into the hands of the British.
Checks and Balances
This further protects the possible
problem of the power of the government
being misused. In this system all three
branches have to agree on something for
it to be passed. That way no one branch
could pass a bad law that could ruin our
economy or damage our country in some
way.
Individual Rights
The first ten amendments are the Bill of
Rights. The Bill of Rights are laws that
protect the rights and liberties of the people.
The other 17 amendments expand on other
freedoms and rights like no slavery, the right
to vote, or setting a two term limit on the
President.
Overview of Constitution
The Constitution was based on other
governments in the past. The Framers
that put the Constitution together did such
a good job of it that it has lasted for over
200 years.
THE END