Magruder's American Government Chapter 3
Amendment 4
-Protection against arbitrary searches and seizures without proper warrant or probably cause
Amendment 8
-Protection from excessive bail or fines -Protection from cruel and unusual punishment
Amendment 3
-Protection from having to quarter soldiers in time of peace without consent of the owner, nor in time of war except as provided by law
Amendment 5
-Protection from prosecution without an indictment -Protection form being tried for the same crime twice -Protection from having to testify against oneself -Protection from the loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law -Protection from loss of property without just compensation
Amendment 9
-The fact that the Constitution spells out a number of civil rights does not mean that there are not other, unwritten, rights held by the people
Amendment 10
-The powers not delegated to the federal govt. may be exercised by the States, as long as they are not prohibited by the Constitution
Amendment 6
-The right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury -The right to be informed of charges, to cross-examine witnesses, and to present favorable witnesses -The right to an attorney
Amendment 7
-The right to a trial by jury in any civil case where the amount of money involved is $20 or more
Amendment 2
-The right to maintain a militia -The right to bear arms
Amendment 1
-freedom of religion, speech, and the press -Freedom to peaceably assemble and to petition the govt.
Treaty
A formal agreement between two or more sovereign states.
Executive Agreement
A pact made by the President directly with the head of a foreign state.
Amendment 13
Abolished slavery
Amendment 24
Abolished the poll tax for all federal elections
Amendment 14
Addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws
Federalist 78
Alexander Hamilton wrote: "The interpretation of the laws is proper and peculiar province of the courts."
Popular Sovereignty
All political power resides in the people.
Amendment 16
Allows the federal (United States) government to levy (collect) an income tax from all Americans. Income tax allows for the federal government to keep an army, build roads and bridges, enforce laws and carry out other important duties.
Article 5
Amending the Constitution
Cabinet
An advisory board to the President.
Amendment
Changes in the constitution's written words.
Formal Amendment
Changes or additions that become part of the written language of the Constitution itself.
Dillon V. Gloss 1921
Congress has set a similar limit on the ratification period for each of the amendments (except 19th) that it has proposed since then,
Veto
Congress has the power to make laws, but the President may veto (reject) any act of Congress. I its turn, Congress can override a presidential veto by a two-thirds vote in each house.
Article 2
Creates the Executive Branch
Article 3
Creates the Judiciary Branch
Article 1
Creates the Legislative Branch
Amendment 25
Deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities
Amendment 17
Established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states
Amendment 23
Extends the right to vote in the presidential election to citizens residing in the District of Columbia by granting the District electors in the Electoral College, as if it were a state
Bill of Rights
First ten amendment
Ratification
First, an amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress and ratified by three fourths of the State legislatures.
Amendment 27
Forbids the members of Congress from using their own pay during that term
Amendment 19
Gave women the right to vote in 1920.
Constitutionalism
Government must be conducted according to the constitutional principles.
Separation of Powers
In a presidential system, these basic powers are distributed - separated - among three distinct and independent branches of govt.
Federalist 51
James Madison described the judicial power as one of the "auxiliary precautions" against the possible domination of one branch of government over the other.
Federalist 47
James Madison. The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
Amendment 26
Lowered the voting age to 18 in all elections
Article 6
National debts, supremacy of national law, oaths of office
Amendment 11
No State may be sued in the federal courts by a citizen of another State or by a citizen of any foreign state.
Limited Government
No government is all-powerful. That govt. may do only those things that the people have given it the power to do.
Amendment 18
Prohibition of alcohol
Amendment 15
Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Amendment 12
Providing for election of the president and vice president by the electoral college: should there be no majority vote for one person, the House of Representatives (one vote per state) chooses the president and the Senate the vice president.
Article 7
Ratifying the Constitution
Article 4
Relations among States
Amendment 21
Repeal of Prohibition
Senatorial Courtesy
Senate will prove only those presidential appointees, such as a federal judge or a United States marshal, who are acceptable the senator or senators of the President's party from the State involved.
Amendment 20
Sets the dates at which federal (United States) government elected offices end. In also defines who succeeds the president if the president dies.
Preamble
States the purpose of the Constitution
Hawk v. Smith 1920
The Supreme Court has held that a State cannot require an amendment proposed by Congress t be approved by a vote of the people of the state before it can be ratified by that State's legislature.
Kimble v. Swackhamer 1978
The Supreme Court has held that a State cannot require an amendment proposed by Congress t be approved by a vote of the people of the state before it can be ratified by that State's legislature. However, a State legislature can call for an advisory vote by the people before it acts.
Electoral College
The body that makes the formal selection of the nation's President.
Rule of Law
The concept of limited govt. is also frequently described as rule of law, which holds that govt. and its officers, in all they do, are always subject to - never above - the law.
Federalism
The division of power among a central govt. and several regional govts.
Judicial Review
The power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a govt. action.
Marbury v. Madison
The supreme court established the power of judicial review.
Checks and Balances
This means that each branch is subject to a number of constitutional checks, or restraints, by the other branches.
Amendment 22
limiting the number of terms in which a President ay serve to two
Unconstitutional
to declare illegal, null and void, of no force and effect