Constitution Worksheet PDF

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Course Completion Express Workshop (Cohort) Worksheet #1: The Development of the U.S. Constitution and the current American political system

This ‘Course Completion Express Workshop” worksheet provides a roadmap of many key concepts from the course sections discussing the history and structure of the U.S. Constitution. The worksheet SHOULD NOT be treated as a comprehensive guide to what you need to know to successfully demonstrate competency over the material. Rather, this worksheet is designed to help you focus on many core concepts as PART of your educational journey in the course. If you plan to print this checklist and hand-write your answers, first add more white space after each question.

THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AS THE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

1.

The Constitution is divided into ___ sections called “Articles” and also includes a Preamble (opening paragraph) and currently _____ Amendments (changes / updates) to the original Constitution.

2.

The 1st Article of the U.S. Constitution establishes the structure of the __________ and the __________, which together form the __________ what we call the Legislative Branch of the U.S. federal government.

3.

Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution includes the Supremacy Clause, a short paragraph that is key to understanding our FEDERAL political system. The Supremacy Clause establishes that the ______________ and the _______________ government are the highest level of political authority in the U.S. over the U.S. states.

4.

The following short clip from the Declaration of Independence (1776) reflects the British philosopher john Locke’s emphasis on natural rights and the importance of creating a new social contract defining the relationship of a government and its people. What phrase in the Declaration excerpt suggests that to you?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence (1776):

1

5.

The following all are reasons why the Articles of Confederation (1781-1787) came to be seen as a failure by the time of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (choose all that apply): a)

The national Confederation Congress did not have the power to directly raise taxes to pay off U.S. debt and run the government

b) The national Confederation Congress did not have the power to conduct international relations with foreign countries c)

The national Confederation Congress had no power to regulate economic commerce among the states as a single “national” economy

d) The national Confederation Congress had little power to provide domestic peace and prevent rebellion within the States.

6.

The Virginia Plan (aka “big states plan”) to replace the Articles of Confederation with a new U.S. Constitution proposed the following government structure: a)

The Legislative Branch would have ___ different chambers. The # of representatives from each State would be based on the _______________ of the state.

b) The Executive Branch would create a SINGLE _______________ to implement the laws passed by Congress c)

The Judicial Branch would include both a _______________ to be the highest-level court in the country to hear legal disputes between states and a more general federal _______________ system to hear cases involving alleged violations of federal law.

7.

The New Jersey Plan (aka “small states plan”) called for revision to the ____________________ instead of their replacement. In particular, the New Jersey Plan would have maintained a Legislature (Congress) with _____ chambers where the # of votes per state was _______________.

8.

The Great Compromise (aka the Connecticut Compromise) agreed to create a Congress with ____ chambers called the _______________ and the _______________. In the _______________, each State would have a # of representatives based on _______________ and in the ______________, each State would have an _______________ number of representatives, _____ per State.

9.

From October 1787-April 1788, leading Federalists James Madison (future President), Alexander Hamilton (future Secretary of the Treasury), and John Jay (future Supreme Court Chief Justice) wrote and published a series of 85 short essays collectively called ____________________ in New York newspapers in an effort to convince the citizens of New York to ___________________ the proposed Constitution that had been passed by the Confederation Congress in September 1787.

10. _______________ Paper #_____ discussed how a large and powerful federal government would limit the ability of ______________ to gain power and dominate over the smaller states and the people.

11. _______________ Paper _____ discussed how a large Federal government would be unable to dominate over the people in an unwanted way by dividing political power into three separate and co-equal branches so that

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no one branch of government could dominate over the people. This system is today referred to as ____________________.

Answer Key: 1.

7, 27

2.

House of Representatives, Senate, Congress

3.

Constitution, Federal

4.

n/a

5.

a, c, d

6.

2, population; President, Supreme Court, courts

7.

Articles of Confederation, one vote per state

8.

2, Senate, House of Representatives; House of Representatives, Population; Senate, Equal, 2.

9.

The Federalist (aka Federalist Papers), ratify

10. Federalist, #10, factions 11. Federalist, #51, checks and balances

3...