American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

THE POLITICS OF COMPROMISE AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION Although the delegates to the Constitutional Convention generally ag ...

32 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING and therefore less able to dominate. This insight provides the basis for modern ...

THE POLITICS OF COMPROMISE AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION | 33 the veto could be overridden by a simple majority vote in Cong ...

34 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING created a serious technical error in the Constitution: the provision that gave ...

THE POLITICS OF COMPROMISE AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION | 35 states opposed the practice, they were not willing to scuttle ...

36 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING purposes of taxation. Now the arguments over the issue of representation were e ...

RATIFICATION| 37 as its central failure. In fairness to the delegates, it is not clear that they could have done much better if ...

38 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING better to list none at all. Federalists such as Roger Sherman argued that state ...

AN EXAMPLE During the war on terror, concerns arose that President Bush and the executive branch had assumed too much power—espe ...

Exclusive Powers The framers viewed Congress as the “fi rst branch” of government and granted it signifi cant exclusive powers. ...

SONIA SOTOMAYOR IS SWORN in before the Senate Judiciary Committee at her confi rmation hearings to become a justice of the Supre ...

42 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING CONGRESSIONAL CHECKS Congress has two important negative checks on the other tw ...

IS THE CONSTITUTION A “LIVING” DOCUMENT?| 43 Is the Constitution a “Living” Document? How has the Constitution remained relevan ...

44 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING Article V describes the two steps necessary to change the Constitution: pro- po ...

AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION In a typical Congress there are between 50 and 100 proposals to amend the Constitution. Some of the pr ...

46 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING Many proposed constitutional amendments have almost no chance of passing. Indee ...

IS THE CONSTITUTION A “LIVING” DOCUMENT?| 47 contexts. This ambiguity was a political necessity: not only were the framers awar ...

48 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING death penalty) and freedom of speech. When the Constitution was written, capita ...

CONCLUSION| 49 Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court all must interpret the Constitu- tion in the normal course of pla ...

50 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE CONSTITUTION E Describe the historical circumstan ...