Download Creating the Constitution

Creating the Constitution
The Principles and the
Compromises
The Principles of Government

The following are the principles of
government we have learned about.
Your job is going to be to find out where
the principles are inserted into the
Constitution.
The Guiding Principles…
The Guiding Principles…
The Guiding Principles…
The Guiding Principles…
The Guiding Principles…
The Guiding Principles…
Card 1
Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1: Privileges
and Immunities
“The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to
all privileges and immunities of Citizens in
the several states”
Card 2
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2: The Senate
checks and balances the president’s power to
make treaties and appointments to office.
“He [the president] shall have Power, by and
with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to
make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the
Senators present concur; and he shall
nominate, and by and with the Advice and
Consent of the Senate, shall appoint
Ambassadors…Judges of the Supreme
Court…”
Card 3
Article I, Section 7, Clause 2: The veto.
“Every Bill which shall have passed the
House of Representatives and the
Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law,
be presented to the President of the
United States; If he approve, he shall
sign it, but if not he shall return it.”
Card 4
Tenth Amendment: Powers reserved to
the States.
“The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution… are
reserved to the States, respectively, or to
the people.”
Card 5
Article I, Section 2, Clause 1: Direct
election of the House of
Representatives.
“The House of Representatives shall be
composed of Members chosen every
second Year by the People of the
several states…”
Card 6
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3; Interstate
Commerce Clause.
“Congress has the power to regulate
Commerce with foreign Nations, and
among the several States, and with the
Indian Tribes.”
Card 7
Preamble.
“We the People of the United States, in Order
to form a more perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide
for the common defence, 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.”
Card 8
Article IV, Section 2: Supremacy Clause.
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the
United States which shall be made in
Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties
made, or which shall be made, under the
Authority of the United States, shall be
the supreme Law of the Land…”
Card 9
Article IV, Section 4: Republican form of
government and protection against invasion.
“The United States shall guarantee to every
State in the Union a Republican form of
government, and shall protect each of them
against invasion… and against domestic
violence.”
Card 10
Article III, Section 1: Supreme Court, lower
courts, judges serve for life or good behavior.
“The judicial Power of the United States, shall
be vested in one supreme Court, and in such
inferior Courts as the Congress may from time
to time ordain…The Judges … shall hold their
offices during good Behavior…”
Before you leave for lunch…

Answer the following question in your
notebook:
How do these six principles
illustrate the framers’ concerns
about a government with too
much power?
The Compromises…
There were several compromises that
the framers of the Constitution had to
make before the Constitution was
finished.
 The main issues were about

Representation in Congress
 Slavery
 Individual Rights

The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise
Disagreement between large states
(Virginia Plan) and small states (NJ
Plan)
 Virginia Plan said representation would
be based on population of a state. More
people in a state = more representatives.
 NJ Plan said representation would be
equal for all states. 2 representatives per
state, regardless of size.

The Great (Connecticut)
Compromise
Resulted in a BICAMERAL (two
chamber) Congress.
 Senate – representation based on 2
reps/state
 House of Representativesrepresentation based on population.
Each state gets at least one.

Three Fifths Compromise

Small states did not want the large states
(which were almost all slave states, too) to get
more representation based on their slaves,
because the slaves were not considered
citizens.
 Small states were almost all against slavery
anyway.
 Large states wanted representation for the
slaves because they were a large part of the
economy.
Three Fifths Compromise
The large states and small states came
to an agreement.
 Each group of five slaves would count as
three “people.”
 Therefore, each slave counted as 3/5 of
a “person.”
 Clear evidence of the prejudice and
inequality of the time.

The Slavery Question
Non-slave states wanted to end slavery
with the Constitution. They wanted to
make slavery illegal.
 Slave states refused that because their
economies were based in slavery.
 They compromised by saying that they
would set the issue aside for 20 years,
and no law about slavery would be made
by Congress during that time.

The next set of compromises…
Came when it was time to ratify the
Constitution….
 Birth of the Bill of Rights
