Day 4: U.S. Constitution
Note: This is slightly longer than other emails due to squeezing in elections of both Representatives and Senators. You can skim for the bold parts below and avoid less relevant material if you’re in a rush.
Drafted in the Summer of 1787 and signed on September 17, 1787, there are 7 articles in the Constitution and then amendments which follow.
Outline:
Article 1 – Legislative Branch
Article 2 – Executive Branch
Article 3 – Judicial Branch
Article 4 – The States
Article 5 – Amendment
Article 6 – Debts, Supremacy, Oaths
Article 7 – Ratification
Thereafter follows 27 amendments, the first 10 of which are called the Bill of Rights.
Preamble of the U.S. Constitution
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.
Article. I. (the Legislative Branch)
Section. 1. (Two Chambers)
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.
Section. 2. (Representatives)
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section. 3. (Senators)
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
(This paragraph just divides the senators into 3 groups so each 2 years there is an election for 1/3rd the senate. Skip to the next paragraph if you want.) Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
Questions:
1) Can you name 3 purposes of the constitution?
2) Why can representatives run for office at age 25, but senators must be 30?
3) Why are representatives elected for 2 years and senators for 6?
4) Why were slaves counted as only 3/5ths a person?
Answers:
1) See the Preamble
2 & 3) It was the belief that senators would be chosen by the legislature for their greater experience and stability and so they would serve longer, but be held in check by the representatives of the people who would be elected every 2 years. There was some debate as to whether representatives should be elected every year to ensure they could be recalled quickly if they weren’t representing their constituents well, but the other side won out viewing that as too frequent to properly learn the role and do a decent job. The seventeenth amendment negated the appointment of senators by the state legislatures and thus overturned an important check and balance built into the Constitution by the Framers.
4) The Southern states that supported slavery wanted to count slaves as a full person to increase their representation in the government. The Northern non-slave states said they shouldn’t count slaves at all since the South regarded them as property instead of people. The dispute was settled by counting slaves at 3/5ths a person in order to somewhat diminish pro-slavery representation in the House of Representatives. This was actually a successful anti-slavery move by the North to reduce slave-state power in the congress.
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