Nature of the US Constitution

Question 1

What are the 3 key aspects of the nature of the US Constitution? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 1

The US constitution is codified, it is a blend of specificity and vagueness and it is entrenched.

Question 2

What does it mean for the US Constitution to be codified? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 2

The US Constitution’s codification results in it being written down in a single document, all at one time.

Question 3

What do Articles I and II ensure about the governance of the US? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 3

Article I granted legislative powers to a congress made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Article II set out that the US should be governed by an Executive in the form of a President.

Question 4

What do Articles III and VI set out for the governance of the US? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 4

Article III set out the supremacy of the Supreme Court on all legal matters. Article VI set out miscellaneous powers, including the ‘Supremacy Clause’ that made the constitution the Supreme law of the USA.

Question 5

What is the ‘Supremacy Clause’? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 5

The ‘Supremacy Clause’ set out that if any laws were to conflict, then the constitution would act as the supreme law of the USA. This applies to treaties, state and federal laws.

Question 6

What are enumerated powers? What are implied powers? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 6

Enumerated powers are powers specifically delegated to the federal government as part of the constitution. Implied powers are powers that are possessed by the federal government as a result of inferences from powers delegated by the constitution.

Question 7

What are reserved powers? What are concurrent powers? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 7

Reserved powers are powers which are reserved to the states and not delegated to the federal government. Concurrent powers are powers allowed to both the state and the federal government.

Question 8

What is the elastic clause? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 8

The elastic clause of Article I of the constitution sets out that the federal government is permitted to extend its enumerated powers to include implied powers.

Question 9

What is the ‘necessary and proper’ clause? What is this also known as? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 9

The ‘necessary and proper’ clause outlines that Congress has the power to make all laws ‘necessary and proper’ to carry out the duties of the federal government beyond its enumerated powers. This is also known as the ELASTIC CLAUSE.

Question 10

How does the supremacy clause impact the relationship between federal and state law? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 10

The supremacy clause asserts that on any area either delegated or implied to the federal government, national (federal) law will supersede the state equivalent in the event of any conflict over this.

Question 11

Give an example of delegated powers reserved to the federal government. Explain how certain implied powers may develop from this - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 11

Congress has a delegated power to raise an army and navy, resulting in it being implied that Congress has the power to draft people into the armed forces. Furthermore, Congress has the delegated power to ‘provide for the common defence and general welfare of the US.’ From this comes the implied power that Congress can levy taxes to provide defences.

Question 12

Why is the constitution described as being a ‘mixture of specificity and vagueness?’ - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 12

The constitution is described as being a ‘mixture of specificity and vagueness’ due to it having a mix of directly delegated powers that are delegated to aspects of government and powers which are implied or stretched beyond the enumerated powers of government.

Question 13

What examples are there of concurrent powers? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 13

Concurrent powers include the right to levy taxes, building roads and maintaining courts.

Question 14

What does it mean that the US Constitution is entrenched? What are the consequences of this? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 14

The US constitution is entrenched, hence meaning that it requires specific measures to be used in order to amend it. This protects its provisions from being easily altered.

Question 15

Why is the US Constitution entrenched? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 15

The US Constitution is entrenched in order to allow reasonable and necessary change to provisions to govern the country, yet to prevent tyrannical governments from altering the principles upon which the country is founded too easily.

Question 16

In what circumstances can constitutional amendments be tabled? (2) - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 16

Amendments can either be proposed by Congress or by a national constitutional convention called by Congress or by 2/3 of state legislatures.

Question 17

What proportion of the House and Senate OR state legislatures calling a national constitutional convention must agree to an amendment being proposed for it to progress to ratification? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 17

2/3 of the House and Senate OR of state legislatures calling for a national constitutional convention must agree to a proposal for it to progress to ratification.

Question 18

What is a super-majority? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 18

A super-majority is the process by which a majority of more than 50% is required in order to approve a certain decision.

Question 19

What proportion of state legislatures or state constitutional conventions must approve of an amendment in order to ratify an amendment? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 19

3/4 of state legislatures or constitutional conventions must approve an amendment in order to ratify it.

Question 20

How many amendments to the constitution was proposed during the presidency of Bill Clinton? How many of these were successful? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 20

17 constitutional amendments were proposed during the presidency of Bill Clinton. None of these were successful.

Question 21

How many amendments were proposed during the presidency of George W Bush? How many were successful?

Answer 21

6 amendments were proposed to the constitution during George W Bush’s presidency, although none were successful.

Question 22

How many amendments to the constitution have been ratified since 1788? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 22

Since 1788, 27 amendments to the constitution have been ratified.

Question 23

What examples of amendments were agreed to by the House during Clinton’s presidency but rejected by the Senate? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 23

During Clinton’s presidency, the House agreed to amendments which would ban the desecration of the American flag, as well as amendments which would require a balanced budget.

Question 24

What advantages exist of the constitutional amendment process? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 24

Super-majorities prevent a small majority from acting against a large minority, ensures state and federal government approval for measures, gives a magnified voice to smaller states through 3/4 of states threshold for change, lengthy process means only long-term options will be considered.

Question 25

What disadvantages exist of the constitutional amendment process? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 25

Makes it incredibly difficult for amendment, allows outdated provision to continue (electoral college), can thwart will of majority by a minority, over-represents smaller states, difficulty of amendment process enhances Supreme Court power to make interpretative amendments.

Question 26

How many amendments have been approved by Congress in history? How many of these were later rejected by states and constitutional conventions? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 26

33 amendments have been approved by Congress in history, with only 6 of these later rejected by states and conventions.

Question 27

What is the Bill of Rights? When was it passed? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 27

The Bill of Rights is the collection of the first 10 constitutional amendments, designed to protect the citizens of the US against actions by an overly powerful government. This was passed in 1789.

Question 28

What do the 1st and 2nd amendments to the constitution outline? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 28

1st amendment: freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly.
2nd amendment: right to bear arms

Question 29

What do the 5th and 10th amendments achieve? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 29

5th amendment: outlines the rights of accused persons.

10th amendment: un-delegated powers were reserved to the states or to the people.

Question 30

What do the 16th and 22nd amendments achieve? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 30

16th amendment: grants power for the federal government to levy an income tax.
22nd amendment: created 2 term limit on the presidency.

Question 31

What did the 14th amendment achieve? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 31

The 14th amendment outlined that ex-slaves could be come citizens and that ‘equal protection’ and ‘due process’ clauses were created.

Question 32

Why has the constitution’s difficult amendment process resulted in so few amendments? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 32

The difficult process for amendment has made it so that any constitutional amendment requires a broad consensus across both houses of Congress and between federal and state governments. This has resulted in few successful changes as it is difficult to achieve.

Question 33

Why is the constitution’s vague nature a factor in reducing the number of amendments? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 33

The (at times) vague nature of the constitution means that powers can be implied from the delegated powers of the constitution, thus meaning that the powers of the federal government can evolve without a formal amendment.

Question 34

How has the power of the Supreme Court and of judicial review resulted in a reduction in amendments to the constitution? - Nature of the US Constitution

Answer 34

The Supreme Court can be prompted to make politically charged interpretative amendments, meaning that the constitution can be informally altered without going through a full and formal amendment process.