Download Colonial and government vocabulary

TOPIC # 5 – LESSON 4
WHAT IS A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
Rap: Without looking back in your notebook:
What is a constitution?
Lesson Goal: Students will be able to explain the
ideas of a constitution, constitutional government, and
higher law.
Students will be able to explain some of the important
differences between constitutional governments and
autocratic and dictatorial governments.
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
• Every nation has a constitution
• Most are written, but some have written and unwritten
parts.
• Having a constitution does not mean it has a
constitutional government
• Limits power
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
1. Lists the basic rights of citizens to life, liberty, and property
2. Establishes the responsibility of government to protect the rights
3. Places limits on how powers are used
• Citizen’s rights
• How resources are distributed
• How conflicts are handled
4. Establishes the principle of private domain
5. Can only be changed
• widespread consent of citizens
• According to set of procedures
HIGHER LAW IN A CONSTITUTIONAL
GOVERNMENT
• Set of laws that establish and limit the power of government
• All the people, INCLUDING government leaders, must obey the
higher law of the land
• Constitution describes ways to limit power
• The constitution is the higher law
CONSTITUTION WITHOUT LIMITS
• A nation is NOT a constitutional government
• It may provide unlimited use of power
• It might say that the power is limited, but not say how
the limits are enforced
• A government with unlimited power is a autocratic or
dictatorial government
WIO
Draw a cartoon that illustrates the difference
between a constitutional government and a
dictatorial government.
YOU REPRESENT A GROUP OF PEOPLE. YOU
ARE MEETING TO DISCUSS THE CREATION OF A
NEW GOVERNMENT. BEFORE YOU CAN GO INTO
TOO MUCH DEPTH, SOME BASIC QUESTIONS
MUST BE ANSWERED. YOUR JOB IS TO ANSWER
THE QUESTIONS BY COMING TO A CONSENSUS
IN YOUR GROUP. EACH MEMBER OF YOUR
GROUP MUST PARTICIPATE IF EVERYONE IS TO
BE REPRESENTED.
QUESTIONS ABOUT GOVERNMENT:
• What are the purposes of government?
• What is the organization of government? What parts
does it have? What does each part do?
• How is government supposed to go about doing its
business? For example, how does the government
make its laws?
QUESTIONS ABOUT CITIZENS
• Who is a citizen?
• Are citizens supposed to have control over their
government? If so, how is this control supposed to
work?
• What rights and responsibilities if any, are the citizens
supposed to have?