Chapeter 3: The Constitution

  • Structure of the U.S. Constitiution

    The Constitutional Convention was convened in 1787.
  • Constitution

    The constitution was written in 1787
  • The National Government

    In 1787, the Constitution was drafted, but before it could become law it had to be ratified by nine of the thirteen states. (McGraw-Hill)
  • The Three Brances of Government

    The Constitution creates three branches of the national government: the legislative branch (Congress), the executive branch (the president and administrative departments and agencies), and the judicial branch (the federal courts).
  • Constitution

    The Constitution has met the needs of a changing society and, at the same time, preserved the basic institutions and principles of the government the Framers created in 1787. (McGraw-Hill)
  • Judical Review

    The Supreme Court first exercised judicial review in 1803. (McGraw-Hill)
  • Enumerated and Expressed Powers

    The meaning of “necessary and proper” quickly became the subject of dispute. The Supreme Court addressed this question in 1819 in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, which was about Congress’s power to create a national bank. (McGraw-Hill)
  • The Three Branches of Government

    In 1832 the Cherokee in Georgia were living on land that had been guaranteed to them by treaty. (McGraw-Hill)
  • American Government: Then and Now

    In 1891 the congress created the modern federal court system.