Principles of the United States Constitution are vital to the success of this document and the success of the United States as a whole. There are six main principles for the United States Constitution: Popular Sovereignty, Limited Government, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, Federalism, and Judicial Review. Each principle is as important as the others. The importance of these principles to the constitution is so the United States government can never have too much power. Another way of thinking about it is a balance between the people of the United States and the government of the United States.
The principle of “popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People), who are the source of all political power.” An example of popular sovereignty: “With the American Revolution, Americans exchanged the rule of King George III with a rule composed of the people.
After that, American revolutionaries agreed with the idea that governments were only proper if they followed popular sovereignty.” A modern-day example is a presidential election coming up Tuesday, November third, 2020. The election is controlled by the people and the candidate that the people will vote for is who they want to be represented by. The principle of limited government is “where the government is empowered by law from a starting point of having no power, or where governmental power is restricted by law, usually in a written constitution. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.” An example of a Limited government: “American citizens have the right to free speech, to protest, and the government cannot come to your house and search without a warrant.”
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A modern-day example is in Iran the citizens are protesting against their government because they do not want war with the United States. Iran does not like protesting and uses brutal force carelessly, killing innocent people. President Trump says, “We support the people of Iran.” Iran government is not a limited government if this protest would be going on in the United States the protestors would be unharmed until proven harmful to others. The principle of Separation of powers is “a doctrine of constitutional law under which the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) are kept separate.”
An example of separation of powers: “at work, is that, while federal judges are appointed by the President (the executive branch), and confirmed by the Senate; they can be impeached by the legislative branch (Congress), which holds sole power to do that.” The principle Separation of powers is very closely related to the checks and balances principle. A modern-day example of separation of powers is when Nacy Pelosi says she wants Donald Trump out of the office and if it were up to her she would have her way, but the separation of powers limits her. She can not do everything by herself, she needs to get more people from the other branches of government to think how she thinks in order to get what she wants to be done.
Checks and balances, similar to the principle separation of powers, play a roll in the United States government and have shaped the government to how it is today. “The system of checks and balances is an important part of the Constitution. With checks and balances, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others. … Each branch “checks” the power 8 of the other branches to make sure that the power is balanced between them.” An example of the principle of checks and balances: “The legislative branch makes laws, but the President in the executive branch can veto those laws with a Presidential Veto. The legislative branch makes laws, but the judicial branch can declare those laws unconstitutional.”
The checks and balance 9 principle has played a big factor in the United States government and is keeping America out of the hands of just one, single, all-powerful branch. The impeachment trial that involves Donald Trump is a current-day example of checks and balances. The case can not just be solved by one part of the government. It must go through the house of representatives and the senate in order for it to pass. If one of the two political parties has more seats in the house of representatives and the senate the law will more than likely pass without a struggle. Federalism “is the system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units. It is based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments, creating a federation.”
An example of Federalism: “There is one simple example of federalism that has been overlooked. The power to tax rests with the Congress, specifically with the House of Representatives. States can tax within their borders, but only Congress can tax nationwide. And so, the power of the purse also rests with Congress, i.e., the House.” A modern-day example of federalism is in different states laws can be slightly different. In Ohio, drivers can turn right when the light is on red unless a sign is prohibiting them.
In other states, drivers do not have the option to turn right on red. Judicial review in the constitution “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. … The Constitution makes no mention of judicial review, the right of the Supreme Court to declare federal and state laws unconstitutional.” An example of judicial review: “in the 1821 case of Cohens v. Virginia, the Supreme Court expanded its power of constitutional review to include the decisions of state criminal courts.
In Cooper v.” A modern-day example of Judicial review is the supreme court can review an unfair impeachment trial. Specifically the Donald Trump impeachment trial. The six principles of the Constitution are very important to the United States government and how it functions. Each principle is a guideline for the people and the government of the United States. By following these guidelines the government stays balanced and the people remain in charge.
Bibliography
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