POLS 2311 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I. U.S. Constitution PurposeII. Why we need government? Outline of Current Lecture I. Liberty II. U.S. Constitution PrinciplesIII. Constitution PrinciplesCurrent LectureI. Liberty - Liberty to e a basic value- Madison wanted to create a Constitution that would build a national government best to protect and maximize liberty. - Constitution’s preamble: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a moreperfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselvesand our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” - The preamble is the head of the body. - The People at first were male white men who owned property. - “We the People” today means everyone because of the amendments that we’ve added to expand people’s rights. - The preamble is stating this reasons in order to form a more perfect union. It gives us justices that Great Britain did not. II. U.S. Constitution Principles- Government’s role should be to referee natural conflicts that develop among “factions” in society. - You will never see the word democracy in the constitution because it scared and worried the authors. - Authors imbedded principles as obstacles in the constitution to blunt wishes of majority. This helps to control conflicts that are part of human nature created by “factions”. They are:These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.III. Constitution Principles - 1. The Constitution created a “republic” form of government. o A republic is a representative democracy. All the people in the country aren’t making binding decisions, those who wee elected are making the day-to-day decisions. - 2. The Constitution created “separation of powers”o They had three branches of government; executive, legislative and judicial.o We have a congress in the House that represent the states based on there population. Those states that have a greater population have more representatives. For example California has 54 representatives. o NO bill shall pass unless it goes through the house and Senate. o In the Senate the states have equal representatives. o There are always conflicts between the big states and the small states. o The Senate is tended to be the cooling off period. This is where those who werein the House of Representatives go after they have served their term. They have a six-year term. o The House of Representatives only have a two-year term. o The Constitution is the highest law in the land. Then you have laws passed by the House and Senate that are intended to help us. o The Presidents job is to execute the laws passed by the Senate and House, they cannot and should not pick and choose. They must enforce them all.o Congress gives the President agents, officers, and assistants in order to help him execute these laws. o The U.S. Constitution is Supreme.o The authors of the Constitution decided that they would let the president decide who would become a federal judge. You must kiss the ass of the president to become nominated but that doesn’t mean you will become one. The Senate had the ultimate decision if you will become a federal judge for life. The judges don’t have reelection or reappointment because the authors of the Constitution thought that the judges would slant there decisions and not enforce the laws properly, or would fall to the majorities ideas and base there decision off of what the majority wanted in order to get reelected or reappointed and keep their position. o The Supreme Court has a final say on what the Constitution says and what it does not. - 3. The Constitution created “checks and balances.” o By creating three branches of government, the delegates built a checks and balance system into the Constitution. o This system was put into place to ensure that no one branch of government became too powerful.o Each branch is restrained by the other in several ways. The President can veto alaw passed by Congress. Congress can override that veto with a two-thirds of both houses. The Supreme Court may check Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. o The power is balanced by the fact that the President appoints members of the Supreme Court. Congress must approve those appointed. o The whites don’t like the decision on the Brown vs. Board of Education case, which says all people have rights not just the whites, so they want to change the law. o A Federal judge can be impeached if the commits a federal crime. The presidentmaking a more careful decision next time he appoints someone can also change them. o War powers act says that only congress can declare war. I also says that the president can declare war if he gets congresses permission. - 4. The Constitution created “federalism” o Federalism is a sharing of power. Its not just one king it’s a whole lot of kings at the national and state levels. Power is