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Learn
About the
Constitution
The basic document by which the United
States is governed, the Constitution was drafted at the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and ratified the following year. The
Constitution divides governmental powers between the national and state
governments in a system known as federalism. It also divides the national
government into three independent branches-executive, legislative, and
judicial-which can serve as checks and balances upon one another.
In addition to listing the powers of the national government-which include
the power to collect taxes, regulate trade, and declare war-the Constitution
enumerates the powers forbidden to the states and to Congress; and the
procedures for electing and appointing government officials as well as
procedures for amending the document. The Bill of Rights, the first ten
amendments to the Constitution, was ratified in 1791. These amendments,
which were originally intended to protect individual liberties from the
power of the central government, guarantee freedom of speech, the press,
religion, petition, and assembly; and specify the rights of the accused
in criminal and civil cases.
Only
about 7,000 words long, the U.S. Constitution is one of the shortest
constitutions in the world. It is also the oldest written constitution
still in effect.
Learn more about the history and meaning of the Constitution http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/subtitles.cfm?titleID=55
"The
only step of moment taken by Cong[res]s…has been a recommendation of
the proposed meeting…for revising the federal articles." James Madison
to Edmund Pendleton, February 24, 1787
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/searchdisplay.cfm?ID=303
To
learn more
Maps:
Coming soon
Images:
Click
for more images.
Timelines:
Chronology
of the 18th Century
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/chron18.cfm
Fact sheets and lesson plans:
Fact sheetmaybe
an s2:
Conflict
over Ratifying the Constitution http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us8.cfm
Recommended
lesson plan:
The
Preamble to the Constitution:
How Do You Make a More Perfect Union?
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lessonplans/preamble.html
Fact checks:
Test
Your Knowledge About the U.S. Constitution
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/quizzes/constitution_test.cfm
Recommended readings:
Gordon
S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic
This classic work describes in rich detail the evolution of American
political thought from the Declaration of Independence to the ratification
of the Constitution.
Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making
of the Constitution
This volume shows that the framers had serious disagreements
about many elements of the Constitution, including slavery, the federal
system, judicial review, and the "necessary and proper" clause, and
that the document was a product of many compromises. The author also
shows that the Constitution's meaning was disputed by the 1,500 delegates
who attended state ratifying conventions as well as by the members of
the first Congress.
 Recommended
film{maybe an s} :
A
More Perfect Union, a 1990 recreation of the Constitutional Convention
shown on PBS.
To learn more about this film:
http://www.libertymall.com/Products/Video/A-More_Perfect_Union.htm
Learn
more:
learn
more film
 Recommended
Web site:
The
Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/
charters/constitution.html
This National Archives website contains a copy of the U.S. Constitution
and biographies of the document's fifty-five framers
To
learn more
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