US Government - The US constitution and Amendments

Question 1

What is a codified constitution?

Answer 1

• The US constitution is codified
• Laws are entrenched and hard to change
• Codified constitutions are largely written, centered around a single document incorporating key constitutional provisions that are on binding on all political institutions
• They are usually ‘entrenched’, allowing the protection of rights and the allowance of a higher or Supreme Court, and can only be repealed or amended by major legislative action, securing rights from temporary power

Question 2

What is an uncodified constitution?

Answer 2

• An informal set of rules not recorded in a single document but found in a number of sources; written and unwritten conventions
• It has the status of ordinary law
• It is not entrenched and can be changed easily; courts find it difficult to determine if something is unconstitutional
• The UK constitution is uncodified

Question 3

The advantages of a codified constitution (US)

Answer 3

• Limited government - the rules for government are established so it becomes clear when the government oversteps
• Protection of rights - basic rights are enshrined sin the constitution such as freedom of speech, meaning legislation cannot trample these rights
• Clear rules for political procedure - unlike the UK, a codified constitution allows for removal of precedent as a form of procedure, making a political instruction list for powers and systems, making it more clear-cut
• Checks and balances prevent dictatorship
• Amendments happen but basic rights are protected
• Safeguards against tyrannical governments
• Public can access and understand easier

Question 4

The advantages of an uncodified constitution

Answer 4

• Flexible and easy to change; laws can be easily amended and repealed, allowing it to stay updated with modern issues - dynamic for constitutional reform
• Creates a ‘living constitution’ because it evolves and adapts to reflect changing social attitudes
• New problems = new laws introduced
• The laws that stay or are improved are the best option; trial and error of laws is available
• Direct democracy

Question 5

The disadvantages of a codified constitution

Answer 5

• Rigidity - codified constitutions are notoriously difficult to change and amend - only 27 amendments in 200 years
• Judicial tyranny - interpreted by judiciary and so it can be the case that judges ‘legislate from the bench’ as it is not clear and therefore becomes subjective punishment
• It is outdated
• Hard to agree on - hard to change when needed
• Too much power to judges

Question 6

The disadvantages of an uncodified constitution

Answer 6

• Absence of a written constitution means the UK does not have a single, written document that has a higher legal status than other laws and rules, which compromises a number of sources making it less accessible, transparent, understandable or intelligible
• Powers of executive, legislative and judicial branches are not clearly defined - creates ambiguity, uncertainty and conflict between the three governmental pillars
• Flexible nature means it is subject to interpretation
• Dangerous governments could exploit it
• Hard for public to understand
• Allow civil liberties to be overridden

Question 7

The origins of the Constitution - The Articles of Confederation

Answer 7

• The first US government system was the Articles of Confederation, which had good intention but was executed poorly; the Articles government had not judicial or executive branch and effectively couldn’t govern without the means to settle disputes; it was essentially only a congress that had a state representative from each colony and had a veto power to sink legislation and all decisions had to be unanimous (decisions are hard to reach) and had no power to levy taxes / gain money

Question 8

What was the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 8

• Delegates of the 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to revise the Articles, but they ended up creating a whole new constitution
• Each delegate had their own agendas at the Constitutional Convention, making it difficult for them to agree on a new government system, causing them to have to compromise
• The issue of competing interest would make coming up with a new government system even more difficult - larger population states had different issues to smaller states, and would benefit more from government spending, and so had different needs

Question 9

What was the Northwest Ordinance?

Answer 9

• The Northwest Ordinance 1787 - set up a system for eventual statehood for the colonies in the West which were yet to become states and forbade slavery in these territories

Question 10

What was the Virginia Plan?

Answer 10

Formed by the delegates from Virginia.
The Virginia Plan - Larger states therefore wanted the number of representatives to in the Congress proportional to the population of the states (large states have more representatives than smaller ones)

Question 11

What was the New Jersey Plan?

Answer 11

The New Jersey Plan - the delegates from this colony proposed an idea where each state would send an equal number of representatives to Congress to prevent larger states dominating and also allocate themselves a bigger share of government spending

Question 12

What was the Great Compromise?

Answer 12

This created a bicameral congress, a two-house legislative branch of government with the representatives in the House being dictated by state population

Question 13

What was the 3/5’s compromise?

Answer 13

• The 3/5’s compromise - in order to prevent states with few slaves being underrepresented by those states with large slave populations (who wanted the slaves counted to get a larger population and therefore a higher percentage of seats), all slaves were counted as being 3/5 of a free white person
• However, this entrenched the idea that slaves, who were mostly black, were worth less embedding slavery and racism into the constitution

Question 14

Ratifying the Constitution

Answer 14

• Before the constitution could come into effect however, it had to be ratified by 9 of the 13 states, so each state held a convention where delegates could vote on whether or not to adopt the new constitution
• These conventions were open to the public which is why some say the Constitution is the will of the people

Question 15

Who were the Federalists?

Answer 15

• There was division over ratifying the constitution - those who wanted it, the Federalists (based on the Federalist Papers, a collection of articles written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay ,Ade to convince the New York delegates to ratify the document) - thought a strong central government would benefit the country, and mainly came from wealthy groups, feeling a national government would pay debts, and be good for business, and they wanted stronger ties with England, who was a good trading partner

Question 16

Who were the Anti-Federalists?

Answer 16

• The group who opposed the constitution were the Anti-Federalists - thought it was tyrannical, and worried about the trampling of their individual rights by a large central government that could over tax them and take their slaves, feeling the states were the best protectors of people’s rights and liberties by being able to be more responsive to people’s needs as they were smaller

Question 17

Why did the Federalists win?

Answer 17

• The Federalists won, and the Constitution was ratified - this was mainly due to a lack of organized opposition from the Anti-Federalists who did not have all their arguments gathered in a set of papers like the Federalists did

Question 18

What was introduced in 1791?

Answer 18

The Bill of Rights
- Eventually, the Federalists had to offer the Bill of Rights as a compromise (the first 10 amendments) in 1791, and isn’t considered a constitutional compromise as it happened outside the convention, but was an example of compromise needed to pass the constitution and establish the modern government system
- Compromise is the basis of the American government system - giving a little to get a lot
- Introduced in 1791, this contained the first 10 amendments to the US constitution. It outlined the rights of the people.

Question 19

What is an amendment?

Answer 19

A change to a constitutional law - can either repeal or add too the existing laws

Question 20

What were the first 10 amendments?

Answer 20

1. Right to freedom of religion, speech, assembly, press and right to petition the government.
2. Right to bear arms
3. Soldiers cannot take residence from citizens
4. Police must have a warrant for arrest (cannot enter property without probable cause)
5. The government must follow lawful processes before punishing a person
6. The right to a speedy and public trial
7. A person has the right to a jury trial for civil cases
8. The government cannot demand excessive bails and fines or any cruel and unusual punishment
9. The Constitution does not contain the rights of the people and the states
10. Any power not given to the federal government in the Constitution belongs to the states

Question 21

In what ways can an amendment to the Constitution occur?

Answer 21

There are 4 ways an amendment to the constitution can occur -
1. Amendment is proposed by a 2/3 vote in the houses of Congress, and the amendment is then ratified by 3/4 of the states
2. Amendment is proposed by a 2/3 vote in the houses of Congress, and the ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures
3. Amendment is proposed by a national convention called by Congress at the request of 2/3 of the state legislatures, and amendment is ratified by 3.4 of the states legislatures
4. Amendment is proposed by a national convention called by Congress at the request of 2/3 of the state legislatures, and the amendment is ratified by 3/4 of the state conventions.

Question 22

What is the process of amendment?

Answer 22

The Founding Fathers wished to make amending the constitution as difficult as possible, as mentioned in the 5th article of the constitution. There are two stages -
1. Proposal - Congress 2/3 majority in both houses OR national constitutional convention called by at least 2/3 of the states (never used)
2. Ratification - State legislatures; 3/4 of the state legislatures must vote to ratify OR state constitutional convention; 3/4 of the states must hold conventions and vote to ratify

Question 23

Key Facts

Answer 23

• All constitutional amendments have so far been proposed by Congress - no national constitutional conventions have ever been called (however, in 1992, 32 state legislatures had petitioned Congress for a convention to propose a balanced budget amendment, just 2 states short of the required 2/3)

Question 24

How many amendments have there been?

Answer 24

Out of the 27 amendments, 10 were made in the Bill of Rights, with many states were worried about signing up to a central government, but the Bill of Rights was created to protect the American people from the over-powerful federal government. 11,372 amendments have been proposed, with only 27 being ratified and approved by Congress.

Question 25

Why are amendments so rare?

Answer 25

The founding fathers of the US constitution made it purposefully difficult as they needed both Congress and the states to agree, super-majorities and makes the amendment process difficult. This was to prevent a group from easily being able to force change with a simple majority where many would still oppose the change.

Question 26

Rarity of amendments pt2

Answer 26

• The founding fathers created a deliberately unspecific document, allowing the document to evolve without the need for formal amendment
• Americans have become cautious of tampering with their constitution - in the 20th century, when alcohol was prohibited and then when the amendment was repealed, with the experience providing an important lesson for subsequent generations
• Finally, the Supreme Courts power of Judicial Review mean that the Supreme Court interprets the constitution and changes the meaning, allowing it to be amended without actually changing the amendment.

Question 27

The other amendments

Answer 27

11. Citizens cannot sue states in federal courts (1795)
12. The President and Vice President are elected on a party ticket (1804)
13. Slavery is illegal in the US (1865)
14. Every person born in the USA is a citizen, and an immigrant can become a naturalized citizen (1868)
15. All US male citizens have the right to vote (1870)
16. Congress can tax income (1913)
17. The people can elect US senators (1919)
18. Alcohol is illegal (prohibition) (1919)
19. All US female citizens have the right to vote (1920)
20. The President is inaugurated in January, the same month that Congress begins to meet (1933)
21. Alcohol is legal. Each state can make their own laws about making, selling and drinking alcohol (1933)
22. The President cannot serve for more than two terms (1951)
23. The US citizens in the District of Columbia have the right to vote for a President (1961)
24. It is illegal to make a citizen pay a voting fee or take a reading test to vote (1964)
25. If the P dies or cannot serve, the VP becomes P. If both die, the Speaker of the House replaces them (1967)
26. US citizens who are 18 years or older have the right to vote (1971)
27. Congress must limit when and how much its members are paid. (1992)

Question 28

The disadvantages of the formal amendment process

Answer 28

• Gives the Supreme Court executive power; 9 unelected judges have the final say on key issues
• Amendment process is undemocratic, going against majoritarian democracy (13/50 states are needed to oppose an amendment)
• Difficult to incorporate new ideas and needs of society due to entrenchment
• Difficult to remove outdated aspects - hard to get widespread supply even though it has been over 200 years and society as changed

Question 29

Advantages of the formal process of amendment

Answer 29

• Protects the principles of the political process by making it difficult to change
• Protects the states and upholds federalism - respects state rights, 10th amendment
• Prevents the abuse of power - entrenchment stops an individual from one party changing the constitution for their own rights
• Prevents ill thought through amendments - needs several institutions and cross-party agreement to ratify it, preventing irrationality
• it is good that it is difficult, as amendments are significant changes, ad should be fully analyzed and evaluated before ratification; if it affects everyone, it should be decided by everyone and be the right choice for the majority.

Question 30

Interpretative amendments

Answer 30

• Amendments can be interpreted, often called Judicial Review, referring to how Supreme Court judges freely interpret constitutional law and amendment; subjective amendments, and different viewpoints can create conflicted applications.
• Strict and loose constitution, originalism and founders intent can be lost as the Supreme Court makes their own choice on what the Constitution means.

Question 31

Formal and informal amendments

Answer 31

Formal - a written change to the actual constitution
Informal - change to the interpretation, not the actual constitution

Question 32

Ratification

Answer 32

To create an amendment is made difficult; 2/3 of each house has to agree, and the states must also agree

Question 33

Supermajority

Answer 33

• 2/3 in senate - 67
• 2/3 in House of Representatives - 240
• More than a 50% majority needed to pass constitutional changes.