1. U.S. Constitution – Major
Principles
As the supreme law of the land, you might
expect the Constitution to be long.
When the founders drafted the Constitution
in 1787, it was only around 7000 words &
could be read in about ½ hour.
They purposefully didn’t include many
details about how the new government
would work
The new Constitution was built on 6 major
principles
2. Popular Sovereignty
“We the People” are the opening words
of the Constitution
All political power in the U.S. resides in
the people
People are the source of government
power
Government can only govern with the
consent of the governed
3. Limited Government
Government is not all powerful
Government may only do the things that
the people have given it the power to do
In the Bill of Rights the founders
strengthened the concept of limited
government power over the people with
the words, “Congress shall make no
law”
4. Separation of Power
The Constitution distributes the powers
of government among 3 equal branches
Legislative – Tasked with creation of
laws (Article 1)
Executive – Tasked with enforcement of
the laws (Article 2)
Judicial – Tasked with interpretation of
the laws (Article 3)
6. Judicial Review
The power of judicial review is the
power of courts to determine
whether what government does is
in accord with what the constitution
provides.
That means that any laws that the
government creates cannot break
any of our constitutional rights such
as freedom of speech.
7. Federalism
The principle of federalism is the
division of power among a central
government and several regional
governments.
By spreading the powers throughout
the different states the Framers of
the constitution built a
stronger, more effective national
government while preserving the
existing states and the concept of
local self government.