What defines a Constitution? Constitutions should set down rules which provide a legal basis for determining how a Country should be governed. They ought not only to define the Institutions of the State in question but also should place restrictions on them and act as a restraint on Governmental power in order to protect the rights of the State’s citizens. S. E. Finer, V. Bogdanor and B. Rudden describe Constitutions as: ‘codes of norms which aspire to regulate the allocation of powers, functions, and duties among the various agencies and officers of government, and to define the relationship between these and the public.’ The aim of this essay is to understand whether or not the ‘codes of norms’ in the UK make up a clear Constitution. Generally, most countries have a Codified Constitution where the rules of government are written down in one key document, although the extent of how much of the Constitution is actually included in this document varies.
Federalist No. 51 OVERVIEW The framework of the American government today--a representative government with a strong federal government--was laid out in a series of essays or treatises collectively called the Federalist Papers. The author of Federalist Paper 51 is not known. The author argues that the Constitution's federal system and separation of powers will protect the rights of the people. GUIDED READING As you read, consider the following questions: • Why is the author so concerned with the distribution of power between the parts of government?
Ferderalism divides the power of government based on territory. It is important to our government because it allows people living in different states with different needs and interests to set policies to their state, and they still can all come together as a nation with other states. States has different resources, population, interests, needs, etc. They also set up different kinds of laws in each state. So this means that states are governing themselves in one nation.
John Locke: State of Nature, Social Contract, government protects life, liberty & property Harold Lasswell: “Who gets when, where and what?” $$$ David Easton: authoritative allocation of values. Symbolism Magna Carta- taxation with consent Representative Institutions: British Parliament, colonial legislatures Religious toleration: idea that we can agree to disagree on very important things. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Types of government: Unitary, Confederation, Federal. What is federal supremacy?
Constitution limits power by handing it down to states. The states in return tell the federal government what they want. However, probably the most important aspect of our constitution is that fact that the Supreme Court ensures the appropriate division of power. Tocqueville further explains that through the Constitution, the power is handed down to the states. However, the federal Supreme Court ensures the appropriate division of power.
The constitution guarded against tyranny in several ways such as federalism, separation of powers, check and balances, and the big states vs. small states. The first guard against tyranny was federalism, which meant a system of government in which power is divided between a federal government and state government. The guard of federalism is shown two ways, one of them is the government will each control each other and at the same time each would be controlled. The second way is when some responsibilities are given to the state government so that they can share the power equally. Federalism protects against tyranny because powers that are given to central and state are shared, it also ensures that the federal government doesn’t have much to say in what happens in the country so they wont become powerful and create tyranny.
GOD BLESS AMERICA By, STEFAN RADUNOVIC Unit 1 Unit 1 was all about the Consistitutional Underpinnings. We first learned what political power was and why we need politics in the first place. We then went on to the idea of Democracy and John Locke’s social contract theory, that “The view that the consent of the people is the only true basis of any sovereign’s right to rule”. Unit 1 taught us that there are two types of democracies, direct and indirect representation democracy also know as a republic, and the pros and cons for both types. One of the main questions reguarding democracy was, who really has control in a democracy?
A. Students will analyze historical documents to determine principles that served as precedents for the United States Constitution. • define individual and group values o What is a value? Ideas which groups/individual believe strongly and guide their behavior. o List and define the values and principles of democracy Limited government-the govt is limited in their power Change or abolish government-if the govt is not doing their job we can change it Individual right and freedom-everyone has their rights and freedom Consent of government-the power comes from the people Majority/Minority Rule-majority makes decision Equality-everyone is equal o Why are the values
Some of these aspects will be discussed and explained over the course of this essay. One of the important aspects of the United States Constitution is federalism. Federalism is a form of government that features a single, ruling government that is granted authority over multiple smaller,
Every political organization, club or other group has a constitution. A constitution is simply a set of rules by which the power in a state is distributed amongst its members. These rules have come to be accepted over time and they may be either be formally written down or informally understood by the members of the political organization. The Constitution of the United States is an example of a constitution that has been formally written down, and it lists the basic ways in which the government is to deal with its affairs. Although the U.S. Constitution lays out the basic structure for politics, there is more to the “constitution with a small c” of the United States.