C) What is the Constitution?

The Constitution is the basic and supreme law of the United States. It prescribes the structure of the U.S. Government, provides the legal foundation on which all its actions must rest, and enumerates and guarantees the rights due all citizens.

The Constitution is a document prepared by a convention of delegates from 12 of the 13 States that met in Philadelphia in 1787. The original charter, which replaced the Articles of Confederation and which became operative in 1789, established the United States as a federal union of States, a representative democracy within a republic. The framers provided a Government of three independent branches. The first is the legislature, which comprises a two-house or bicameral Congress consisting of a Senate, whose members are apportioned equally among the States, and a House of Representatives, whose members are apportioned among the States according to population. The second, the executive branch, includes the President and Vice President and all subordinate officials of the executive departments and executive agencies. The third branch, the judiciary, consists of the Supreme Court and various subordinate Federal courts created by public law.

The 27 amendments approved since 1791 are also considered an integral part of the Constitution.

Task 2. a) What were the basic principles on which the Constitution was framed?

The framers of the Constitution debated and agreed to the following six principles:

1. That all States would be equal. The National Government cannot give special privileges to one State.

2. That there should be three branches of Government - one to make the laws, another to execute them, and a third to interpret them.

3. That the Government is a government of laws, not of men. No one is above the law. No officer of the Government can use authority unless and except as the Constitution or public law permits.

4. That all men are created equal before the law and that anyone, rich or poor, can demand the protection of the law.

5. That the people can change the authority of the Government by changing (amending) the Constitution. (One such change provided for the election of Senators by direct popular vote instead of by State legislatures).

6. That the Constitution, the Acts of Congress, and the treaties of the United States are the highest law in the land.