Unit 1 · U.S. Government and Civics
The U.S. Constitution
Four handwritten pages, signed in 1787, still running a country.
In the summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates shut the windows of a Philadelphia hall and argued for nearly four months. They had been sent to fix a weak government. Instead, they wrote a new one. Their plan had to survive a nationwide debate before it took effect, and it has been amended only 27 times since.
On this page you'll see why the Constitution was written, the deals that made it possible, what each part does, how it spreads power around, and how it can change. Then test yourself with a game and a quiz.
Why a New Constitution?
The first national government was set up by the Articles of Confederation, a plan written during the Revolution and fully ratified on March 1, 1781. A confederation is a loose alliance in which the member states keep most of the power.
After years under a king, Americans were wary of a strong central government. So the Articles created only a one-house Congress, with no president and no national courts. That caution came at a cost.
No power to tax
Congress could ask the states for money but could not make them pay. It struggled to pay war debts and soldiers.
No control of trade
States taxed each other's goods and made their own trade deals, and Congress couldn't stop it.
Hard to act, harder to change
Major laws needed 9 of 13 states. Changing the Articles needed all 13.
Shays' Rebellion
In 1786–1787, indebted farmers in western Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays shut down courts and marched on a federal arsenal. The national government could do little, and many leaders were alarmed.
The Philadelphia Convention, 1787
Congress called for a meeting "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." Twelve states sent delegates; Rhode Island refused. They met in the Pennsylvania State House, today called Independence Hall, and kept their debates secret so members could change their minds freely.
- · Quorum reached
Enough states are present to begin. George Washington is chosen to preside.
- · The Virginia Plan
Edmund Randolph presents a plan, largely drafted by James Madison, for a strong national government with three branches and a two-house legislature based on population. Rather than revise the Articles, the delegates are now debating a new system.
- · The New Jersey Plan
William Paterson offers a smaller-state alternative: keep a one-house Congress with one vote per state, but give it more power.
- · The Great Compromise
By a narrow vote, the delegates agree to a House based on population and a Senate with equal votes for each state.
- · Signing
Thirty-nine delegates sign. A few who stayed to the end, including George Mason and Edmund Randolph, refuse, partly because there is no bill of rights.
Spotlight: James Madison
Madison, a 36-year-old Virginian, arrived early with research on ancient and modern confederacies. He shaped the Virginia Plan, kept the most detailed notes of the debates, co-wrote the Federalist Papers, and later, as a member of the first Congress, drafted the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. That is why he is often called the "Father of the Constitution," a title he himself waved off, saying the document was the work of "many heads & many hands" (letter to William Cogswell, March 10, 1834).
Key Compromises
The Constitution exists because delegates with very different interests each gave something up. Three deals mattered most.
Big states vs. small states
The Great (Connecticut) Compromise
Proposed by Connecticut's Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth. The House of Representatives is based on population; the Senate gives every state two senators. Bills must pass both.
Slavery and representation
The Three-Fifths Compromise
Southern delegates wanted enslaved people counted for representation; Northern delegates objected. The deal counted three of every five enslaved people for seats in the House and for direct taxes. It increased the political power of slaveholding states. The Constitution also barred Congress from banning the importation of enslaved people before 1808. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments later ended slavery and replaced the three-fifths rule.
Who picks the President?
The Electoral College
Delegates rejected both election by Congress and a direct national vote. Each state chooses electors equal to its number of senators and representatives, and the electors choose the President.
Ratification and the Great Debate
Article VII said the Constitution would take effect once nine of the thirteen states ratified (approved) it in special state conventions. That launched one of the biggest public debates in American history.
| Federalists | Anti-Federalists | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | Supported ratification | Opposed ratification as written |
| Main argument | A stronger national government was needed to keep the union together, pay debts, and defend the country. Checks and balances would prevent abuse. | A distant, powerful national government could threaten the states and individual liberty, and the Constitution lacked a bill of rights. |
| Well-known voices | Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay | Patrick Henry, George Mason, writers using pen names such as "Brutus" and "Federal Farmer" |
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote 85 newspaper essays under the shared pen name "Publius," later collected as The Federalist. They remain one of the best guides to what the framers intended.
"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."
Why it matters: Madison argues that because people are not perfect, government needs power over citizens, and also limits on itself.
Several states ratified only after Federalists promised to add a bill of rights. That promise was one of the Anti-Federalists' lasting victories.
- · Delaware ratifies first
- · New Hampshire becomes the ninth state
The Constitution is now ratified. Virginia and New York, large and essential, follow within weeks.
- · George Washington inaugurated
The new government has begun its work in New York City.
- · Rhode Island ratifies last
The 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."
Spelling as in the original, including "defence." Text: National Archives transcription.
- We the People
- Power comes from the people, not from the states or a ruler.
- a more perfect Union
- A stronger bond among the states than the Articles provided.
- establish Justice
- Fair laws and courts.
- insure domestic Tranquility
- Keep peace at home (remember Shays' Rebellion).
- provide for the common defence
- Protect the nation from outside threats.
- promote the general Welfare
- Support the well-being of the people as a whole.
- secure the Blessings of Liberty
- Protect freedom, now and for future generations ("our Posterity").
The Preamble states goals; it does not itself grant powers. Those come in the Articles.
The Seven Articles
The original Constitution is short: a preamble and seven articles. Notice the order. Congress comes first.
| Article | Topic | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| I | Legislative branch | Creates Congress (House and Senate), sets qualifications, and lists powers such as taxing, borrowing, regulating trade, coining money, and declaring war. Section 8 ends with the "necessary and proper" clause. |
| II | Executive branch | Creates the President and Vice President, the Electoral College, and powers such as commanding the military, making treaties, and nominating judges. |
| III | Judicial branch | Creates the Supreme Court and lets Congress create lower courts. Judges serve "during good Behaviour." Defines treason. |
| IV | The states | States must respect each other's laws and court rulings ("full faith and credit"); rules for adding new states. |
| V | Amendments | How the Constitution can be changed. |
| VI | Supremacy | The Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are "the supreme Law of the Land"; officials swear to support it; no religious test for office. |
| VII | Ratification | Nine states needed to put the Constitution into effect. |
Read the opening words of the first three Articles side by side:
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."
"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."
"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 and establish."
Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
Separation of powers means the work of government is divided among three branches. Checks and balances means each branch can limit the others. The framers borrowed the idea partly from the French writer Montesquieu.
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
Congress checks…
the President by overriding vetoes (two-thirds of both houses), controlling spending, approving appointments and treaties (Senate), and impeachment.
the courts by confirming judges, setting up lower courts, and impeachment.
The President checks…
Congress by vetoing bills.
the courts by nominating judges and granting pardons for federal crimes.
The courts check…
Congress and the President through judicial review: the power to rule a law or action unconstitutional. It isn't spelled out in the text; the Supreme Court asserted it in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Federalism: Shared Power
Federalism divides power between the national (federal) government and the state governments.
Delegated (national)
Listed powers
Coin money, declare war, regulate trade between states and with other nations, run the post office.
Concurrent (shared)
Both levels
Collect taxes, borrow money, make and enforce laws, set up courts.
Reserved (states)
Left to the states
Run elections, set up local governments, run public schools, issue most licenses.
Two clauses pull in different directions, and Americans have debated the balance since 1787. The Supremacy Clause (Article VI) makes federal law win in a real conflict. The Tenth Amendment keeps the rest with the states or the people:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Amending the Constitution
The framers made change possible but hard. Article V offers two steps, each with two routes.
Step 1: Propose
A two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress (used every time so far), or a national convention called at the request of two-thirds of state legislatures (never used).
Step 2: Ratify
Approval by three-fourths of the states (38 of 50 today), through state legislatures or state conventions. Conventions have been used once, for the Twenty-first Amendment.
The President has no formal role in the process. Thousands of amendments have been proposed in Congress; only 27 have been ratified.
The Bill of Rights and Later Amendments
Madison introduced proposed amendments in the House on June 8, 1789. On September 25, 1789, Congress sent twelve amendments to the states, and ten were ratified on December 15, 1791. These first ten are the Bill of Rights. At first they limited only the federal government; after the Fourteenth Amendment, courts applied most of them to the states too.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The Bill of Rights in brief (Amendments 1–10)
- Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition
- Right to keep and bear arms
- No forced housing of soldiers in peacetime
- No unreasonable searches and seizures; warrants need probable cause
- Grand jury, no double jeopardy, no forced self-incrimination, due process, compensation for taken property
- Speedy and public trial, jury, lawyer, and the right to confront witnesses
- Jury trial in many civil cases
- No excessive bail or fines; no cruel and unusual punishment
- Listing some rights does not deny others the people keep
- Powers not delegated are reserved to the states or the people
Selected later amendments
| Amendment | Ratified | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 13th | 1865 | Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime |
| 14th | 1868 | Citizenship for all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.; equal protection and due process from the states |
| 15th | 1870 | Voting can't be denied because of race, color, or previous servitude |
| 17th | 1913 | Senators elected directly by voters, not state legislatures |
| 19th | 1920 | Voting can't be denied because of sex |
| 22nd | 1951 | Limits the President to two elected terms |
| 24th | 1964 | Bans poll taxes in federal elections |
| 26th | 1971 | Voting age of 18 |
| 27th | 1992 | Congressional pay raises can't take effect until after the next House election. Proposed by Madison in 1789! |
Game: Whose Power Is It?
Sort each constitutional power into the branch that holds it. Twelve powers, in random order. Your best score is saved only in this browser. About 2 minutes.
Quiz
Talk About It
- The Constitution was written by 55 delegates and has been amended only 27 times. Is it too hard to change, about right, or too easy? Back your view with an example.
- The Three-Fifths Compromise helped get the Constitution approved and protected slavery. How should we weigh a compromise that achieved one goal by accepting a deep injustice?
- Were the Anti-Federalists right to fear a strong national government? Use the Bill of Rights or a later amendment in your answer.
- Which check on power do you think matters most today, and why?
Sources
- National Archives, The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription (all Constitution quotations).
- National Archives, The Bill of Rights: A Transcription (First and Tenth Amendments).
- National Archives, A More Perfect Union: The Creation of the U.S. Constitution.
- National Archives, Constitution of the United States: amendments and ratification dates.
- Avalon Project, Yale Law School, The Federalist No. 51 and No. 47; Articles of Confederation.
- Library of Congress, Federalist Papers: Primary Documents in American History; To Form a More Perfect Union.
- Founders Online, National Archives, James Madison to William Cogswell, 10 March 1834.
- U.S. Senate, The Senate and the Constitution.
Credits: all illustrations and diagrams are original SVG drawings made for Jugami. Primary-source quotations are public domain.