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United States Constitution

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States Constitution is the highest law of the United States of America. It was written on September 17, 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and later approved, or ratified, by representatives of the people of the first 13 states.[1] When nine of the states ratified the document, they formed a union of sovereign states, and a federal government for that union. That government started on March 4, 1789, replacing the Articles of Confederation.

The Constitution of the United States is the oldest federal constitution now in use.[2]

Since 1787, the United States Constitution has been changed 27 times by amendments.

Contents

[edit] Articles of the Constitution

When it was written in 1787, the Constitution had a preamble and seven main parts, called articles.

[edit] Preamble

The Preamble says:

We the People of the 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.

The Preamble is not a law. It gives the reasons for writing the Constitution. The Preamble is one of the best known parts of the Constitution. The first three words, "We the people," are used very often.

[edit] Legislative power

Article One says that the U.S. Congress (the legislative branch) will make the laws for the United States. Congress has two parts, called "Houses," the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Article says who can be elected to each part of Congress, and how they are elected.

The House of Representatives has members elected by the people in each state. The number of members from each state depends on how many people live there. Each member of the House of Representatives is elected for two years. The Senate has two members, called Senators, for each state, no matter how many people live there. Each Senator is elected for six years. The original Constitution says that Senators should be elected by the state legislatures, but this was changed later.

Article One also says how the Congress will do its business and what kinds of laws it can make. It lists some kinds of laws the Congress and the states cannot make. Article One also makes rules for Congress to impeach and remove from office the President, Vice President, judges, and other government officers.

[edit] Executive power

Article Two says that the President (the executive branch) will carry out the laws made by Congress. This article says how the President and Vice President are elected, and who can be elected to these offices. The President and Vice President are elected by a special Electoral College chosen by the states, for four years. The Vice President takes over as President if the President dies, or resigns, or is unable to serve. Article Two also says that the President is in charge of the army and navy. He can make treaties with other countries, but these must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate. He appoints judges, ambassadors, and other officers, but the Senate also must approve these appointments.

[edit] Judicial power

Article Three says there will be a court system (the judicial branch), including the Supreme Court. The article says that Congress can decide which courts, besides the Supreme Court, are needed. It says what kinds of "cases and controversies" these courts can decide. Article Three also requires trial by jury in all criminal cases, and defines the crime of treason.

[edit] States' powers and limits

Article Four is about the states. It says that all states must give "full faith and credit" to the laws of the other states. It also says that state governments must treat citizens of other states as fairly as they treat their own citizens, and must send arrested people back to another state if they have been charged with a crime.

Article Four also says that Congress can make new states. There were only 13 states in 1787. Now there are 50 states in the United States. It says Congress can make rules for Federal property and can govern territories that have not yet been made into states. Article Four says the United States must make sure that each state has a republican form of government, and protect the states from invasion and violence.

[edit] Process of amendment

Article Five says how to amend, or change, the Constitution. Congress can write a change, if two-thirds of the members in each House agree. The state governments can call a convention to write changes, although this has not happened since 1787. Any change that is written by Congress or by a convention must be sent to the state legislatures or to state conventions for their approval. Congress decides whether to send a change to the legislatures or to conventions. Three-fourths of the states must approve a change for it to become part of the Constitution.

An amendment can change any part of the Constitution, except one — no amendment can change the rule that each state has the same number of seats in the Senate.

[edit] Federal power

Article Six says that the Constitution, and the laws and treaties of the United States, are higher than any other laws. It also says that all federal and state officers must swear to "support" the Constitution.

[edit] Ratification

Article Seven says that the new government under the Constitution would not start until conventions in at least nine states approved the Constitution.

[edit] Amendments

Since 1787, Congress has written 33 amendments to change the Constitution, but the states have ratified only 27 of them.

The first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights, and were made in 1791. All of these changes limited the power of the federal government. They were:

  • The First Amendment says that Congress must protect the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of petition, and freedom of religion.
  • The Second Amendment says:
"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
  • The Third Amendment says the government cannot send soldiers to live in private homes without the permission of the owners.
  • The Fourth Amendment says the government cannot get a warrant to arrest a person or search their property without unless there is "probable cause" to believe a crime has been committed.
  • The Fifth Amendment says that the government cannot put a person on trial for a crime until a grand jury has written an indictment; that a person cannot be put on trial twice for the same crime; says that the government must follow due process of law before punishing a person or taking their property; and says that an accused person does not have to testify against himself in court.
  • The Sixth Amendment says that any person who is accused of a crime should get a speedy trial by a jury, can have a lawyer during the trial, must be told what he is charged with, can question the witnesses against him, and can get his own witnesses to testify.
  • The Seventh Amendment says that a jury trial is required for civil cases.
  • The Eighth Amendment says the government cannot require excessive bail or fines, or any cruel and unusual punishment.
  • The Ninth Amendment says that the listing of individual rights in the Constitution and Bill of Rights does not include all of the rights of the people and the states.
  • The Tenth Amendment says that any powers that the Constitution does not give to the United States belong to the states and the people, except for powers that the Constitution says the states cannot have.

After the Bill of Rights, there are 17 more changes to the Constitution that were made at different times.

  • Eleventh Amendment (1795): Says that citizens cannot sue states in federal courts, but there are some exceptions.
  • Twelfth Amendment (1804): Changed the way the President and Vice President are elected.
  • Thirteenth Amendment (1865): Said there will be no more slavery in the United States.
  • Fourteenth Amendment (1868): Said that every person born in the United States is a citizen, and that states must follow due process of law before taking away any citizen's rights or property.
  • Fifteenth Amendment (1870): Says that a citizen's right to vote cannot be taken away because of race or color.
  • Sixteenth Amendment (1913): Says that Congress can put a tax on income.
  • Seventeenth Amendment (1913): Says that the people will elect Senators; before this, they were elected by state legislatures.
  • Eighteenth Amendment (1919): Made a law against drinking alcohol, called Prohibition.
  • Nineteenth Amendment (1920): Says that women must have the same right to vote as men.
  • Twentieth Amendment (1933): Changes the days for meetings of Congress and for the start of the President's term of office.
  • Twenty-first Amendment (1933): Took away (repealed) the Prohibition law of the Eighteenth Amendment, but said that states can make laws about how alcohol is used in each state.
  • Twenty-second Amendment (1951): Says the President can not serve more than two terms.
  • Twenty-third Amendment (1961): Says the people in the District of Columbia can vote for President.
  • Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964): Says that no person can be made to pay a tax to have the right to vote.
  • Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967): Changes what happens if a President dies, resigns, or is not able to do the job; and says what happens if a Vice President dies or resigns.
  • Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971): Says that every person who is 18 years old must have the same right to vote as people who are older.
  • Twenty-seventh Amendment (1992): Limits how Congress can increase how much its members are paid.

[edit] See also

[edit] Related documents

  • The 1620 Mayflower Compact
  • The 1639 Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
  • The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties
  • The 1689 English Bill of Rights

[edit] Related Authors

[edit] References

  • Amar, Akhil Reed (2005). “In the Beginning” America's Constitution: A Biography, New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6262-4.
  • Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part One: September 1787 to February 1788 (The Library of America, 1993) ISBN 0-940450-42-9
  • Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part Two: January to August 1788 (The Library of America, 1993) ISBN 0-940450-64-X
  • Edling, Max M. (2003). A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514870-3.
  • Ellis, Joseph (2002). Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Vintage. ISBN 0-375-70524-4.
  • Fallon, Richard H. (2004). The Dynamic Constitution: An Introduction to American Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84094-5.
  • Farris, Michael P. (July/August 2005). "Through the Founders' Eyes: Was the Constitution Illegally Adopted?". The Home School Court Report 21: 6-10. excerpt from (to be published) Constitutional Law for Enlightened Citizens.
  • Finkelman, Paul "Affirmative Action for the Master Class: The Creation of the Proslavery Constitution," University of Akron Law Review 32 (No. 3, 1999): 423-70.
  • Finkelman, Paul Slavery and the Founders: Race and Slavery in the Age of Jefferson (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1996);
  • Finkelman, Paul "Slavery and the Constitution: Making a Covenant with Death," in Richard R. Beeman, Stephen Botein, and Edward C., Carter, II, eds., Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987);
  • Hall, Kermit L. (1984). A Comprehensive Bibliography of American Constitutional and Legal History, 1896-1979, Millwood, N. Y.: Kraus International. ISBN 0-527-37408-3.
  • Kammen, Michael (1986). A Machine that Would Go of Itself: The Constitution in American Culture, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52905-7.
  • Kelly, Alfred Hinsey; Harbison, Winfred Audif; Belz, Herman (1991). The American Constitution: its origins and development, 7th edition, New York: Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-96119-2.
  • Levy, Leonard W., ed. (2000). Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2nd Edition, New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-864880-3.
  • Marshall, Thurgood, "The Constitution: A Living Document," Howard Law Journal 1987: 623-28.
  • Mazzone, Jason (2005). "The Creation of a Constitutional Culture". Tulsa Law Review 40: 671.
  • Smith, Jean Edward; Levine, Herbert M. (1988). Civil Liberties & Civil Rights Debated, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
  • Smith, Jean Edward (1996). John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation, New York: Henry Holt & Company.
  • Smith, Jean Edward (1989). The Constitution And American Foreign Policy, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.
  • Wiecek, William M., "The Witch at the Christening: Slavery and the Constitution's Origins," Leonard W. Levy and Dennis J. Mahoney, eds., The Framing and Ratification of the Constitution (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 178-84.
  • Wiecek, William M., "'The Blessings of Liberty': Slavery in the American Constitutional Order," in Robert A. Goldman and Art Kaufman, eds., Slavery and Its Consequences: The Constitution, Equality, and Race (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1988), 23-34.

[edit] External links

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[edit] Official U.S. government sources

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