2. INTRODUCTION
• Recognition of the United States constitution has been based on core tenets
• Federalism, popular sovereignty, and separation of powers are the fundamental
tenets
• Since they entail the freedoms, rights, and roles of the citizens in the implementation
process
• The judicial review, limited government, checks and balances are also key tenets of
the constitution
• Since they create boundaries or limits upon which federal and state government
should comply
• This presentation looks into the importance of each of the principles as core tenets
with consideration of grade level 9 students as the audience
3. FEDERALISM
• Federalism serves various purposes, like protection from tyranny, increased
citizen participation, and dispersion of power
• It also increases the effectiveness of overall leadership and governance
• It dictates how power should be shared between the state government and the
federal states
• It guides the world on how states should be run and what it takes to share
power
• Delegates responsibility to the states and the federal governments
4. LIMITATIONS OF FEDERALISM
• It has supposedly protected slavery
• It is too general on how power should be shared to prioritize human rights and
freedoms
• Promotes inequalities between different countries
• Federalism has contributed highly to the continuity of social disparities
• It has threatened enforcement of certain national and federal laws
5. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
• Popular sovereignty looks into the significance of the consent of people
• Consent of the people guarantees legitimacy in the central powers of the
governments
• Also, the viewpoints of the majority and the minority are usually taken into
consideration
• Conformity to popular sovereignty creates an ideal state
• A state that is governed by the need to prioritize citizen’s rights, freedoms, and
interests.
6. SEPARATION OF POWERS
• Separation of powers dictates how the branches of government should exercise
their powers
• This creates some levels of independence in carrying out independence in
functional roles
• Thus enhancing the ability of the individual organs to control each other
• It serves to control the conflicts that arise when there are uncertainties on who
should perform tasks
• Creating boundaries for the powers helps in assuring smoothness in governance
7. LIMITED GOVERNMENT
• Through this principle, the constitution restricts the powers of the government
• As a restriction, the government cannot deny its citizens any of the rights
whatsoever
• The government must respect the freedom of speech, protest, and association
• As the constitution can hold the government accountable through this tenet
• Delegation of powers attached to this principle is usually meant to neutralize the
influence of government to a certain extent
8. CONS OF LIMITED GOVERNMENT
• The limited government makes it difficult to handle certain circumstances
• Tracking down criminals becomes hard due to complex procedures of acquiring
arrest warrants
• Delegation of powers to various organs may lead to a conflict of interests in case
of unequal power allocation
• Applicability of circumstances under which an individual can be deprived of his
or her rights may be difficult
9. JUDICIAL REVIEW
• This process is essential in assessing the actions or activities of the legislature and
the executive
• Aimed at determining whether the activities associated with the branches of the
government conform to the dictates of the constitution
• The review process looks into various aspects such as quality of service delivery and
efficiency in the systems
• The judicial review ensures constitutional conflicts are avoided to boost performance
• Through developing new policies to boost the performance of the executive and
legislature
10. THE KEY PRINCIPLES OF THE JUDICIAL REVIEW
• The judicial review process operates within three major principles:
• First, the supreme law of the country is the constitution
• Second, the Supreme court is considered the ultimate decision-maker in
constitutionally-related matters
• Third, rulings made by the judiciary must be against laws that contradict or
conflict the constitution.
• Ensuring that all laws under implementation adhere to the mandates of the
constitution helps in solving conflicts in the review process
11. CHECKS AND BALANCES
• Checks and balances tenet empower separate branches of government
• Through checks and balances, the executive, legislature, and judiciary can limit
the powers of each other
• The main aim is to ensure the core functions are equally distributed to avoid
over-concentrating power in one branch
• This helps in upholding accountability in the overall governance.
• Constitutional democracy can be easily achieved through the tenet
12. THE MAIN PURPOSE FOR CHECKS AND
BALANCES
• The primary reason is the need to uphold accountability
• Monitoring and engaging members of the subsidiary branch help in
guaranteeing accountability in operations.
• The perception that one branch is superior to the other can be justified through
this principle
• This principle makes it easier for the organs of the government to interrelate to
achieve common goals and interests
• Checks and balances are important aspects since they create a framework for
watchdogs
13. CONCLUSION
• The tenets of the constitution are the framework that drives the constitutional
powers
• Aspects attached to each tenet are essential in guiding the procedures of the
executive, legislature, and the judiciary
• The interrelation between the tenets explains how the constitution relies on the
well-being of the branches of government to achieve its purpose
• The constitution acts as a guideline factor that dictates what should be done
• Checks and balance depends on separation of powers and the judicial review
processes
Editor's Notes
Recognition of the United States constitution has been based on specific aspects or core tenets. Over the years, these parameters have been considered as the framework that dictates the functionality of public laws and policies. To be specific, federalism, popular sovereignty and separation of powers are the fundamental tenets since they entail the freedoms, rights, and roles of the citizens in the implementation process. Federalism is essential in understanding the interplay between state or national government and that of the federal states. It accounts for the relationship between the overall state government and that of the federal states. Popular sovereignty focuses on how the consent of the people influences the governance and authority of the states. Separation of powers set a pathway upon which representatives can be elected to exercise political power. Besides, the judicial review, limited government, checks and balances are also key tenets of the constitution since they create boundaries or limits upon which federal and state government should comply. This presentation looks into the importance of each of the principles as core tenets of the constitution with consideration of grade level 9 students as the audience.
As a core tenet, federalism serves various purposes, such as protection from tyranny, increased citizen participation, and dispersion of power. Besides, it increases the effectiveness of overall leadership and governance. Federalism, as a critical concept in the US constitution, dictates how power should be shared between the state government and that of the federal states. The framers believed that the tenet would help in solving issues of power struggles due to uncertainties. Developing this principle is therefore essential in creating an outline under which the federal and state government must follow. As aforementioned, understanding the interplay of the functional roles of both governments is significant in identifying areas of improvement for the country and the federal governments. Federalism in the United States is substantial because it guides the world on how states should be run and what it takes to share power. Also, the aspect of effectiveness is usually aligned to the fact that the principle delegates responsibility to the states and the federal governments making it easier to uphold accountability.
Other than the illustrated pros, this principle has various disadvantages. For instance, it has supposedly protected slavery since it does not cater to the criteria upon which the federal governments can control human slavery. It is too general on how power should be shared to prioritize human rights and freedoms. Since slavery is considered a state issue that needs to be tackled at national and regional levels, the principle restricts the role to state or national government hence protecting slavery. Also, the tenet promotes inequalities between different countries as allocation of resources varies from one state to another. Some states pay more taxes than others and incur relatively higher costs in running welfare programs. Federalism has therefore contributed highly to the continuity of social disparities instead of working towards their control. Also, the blocking of various national policies has been made possible through the principle. This has threatened enforcement of certain national and federal laws by deliberately challenging them in court.
Unlike federalism, which majorly focuses on how power should be shared between the state and the federal governments, popular sovereignty looks into the significance of the consent of people. Constitutional powers in the United States are vested in the people. As a mandate, the crucial role of the legal provisions should be to serve the interest of the citizens. Citizens, therefore, have direct say or control over how they feel they should be governed. Consent of the people guarantees legitimacy in the central powers of the governments. Through popular sovereignty, the viewpoints of the majority and the minority are usually taken into consideration before carrying out various civic processes. As captured in the tenth amendment of the constitution, the powers delegated to the United States, constitution, or federal states rests on the people. Conformity to popular sovereignty creates an ideal state governed by the need to prioritize citizen’s rights, freedoms, and interests.
As a model of state governance, separation of powers dictates how the branches of government should exercise their powers. Separating the powers of the judiciary, executive, and legislature create some levels of independence in carrying out independence in functional roles. Specifying areas of responsibility for each branch enhances transparency and accountability. The tenet serves to control the conflicts that generally arise when there are uncertainties and confusion on who should perform particular tasks. Besides, clarifying roles to be carried out in each branch of government is significant in understanding the role of federal states in the overall state operations. Creating boundaries for the powers of the state government and those of the federal governments helps in assuring smoothness in governance. Also, instances of abuse of power r office can be checked appropriately. The aspect of independence in operations of the branches of the government enhances the ability of the individual organs to control each other.
Through this principle, the constitution restricts the powers of the government. Despite the presence of a powerful government, the constitution sets limits that cannot be surpassed by the government in exercising its functions. For instance, the bill of rights exhibits many restrictions to the government in that it dictates the extent by which freedoms and rights cannot be deprived. The government must respect the freedom of speech, protest, and association. As a restriction, the government cannot deny its citizens any of the rights whatsoever. Also, the government must acquire an arrest warrant before doing any search at private premises or houses. However, the limitations may be lifted in certain circumstances by the constitution. Such events may include engagement in criminal offenses, among other considerations. Delegation of powers attached to this principle is usually meant to neutralize the influence of government to a certain extent. The constitution can, therefore, hold the government accountable through this tenet. Setting limits upon which the government must comply boosts the efforts of achieving democracy and transparency in the overall governance.
As aforementioned, the limited government makes it difficult to handle certain circumstances. For instance, the provision that the police and other administrative authorities must acquire arrest warrant before making any search complicates urgency to deal with emergency crimes. In most cases, the restriction complicates manhunt. Tracking down criminals and suspects becomes hard due to complex procedures of acquiring the arrest warrant. Also, the applicability of the circumstances under which an individual can be deprived of his or her rights and freedoms may be difficult. Delegation of powers to various organs and institutions may lead to a conflict of interests in case of unequal power allocation. Attempts to neutralize the powers of the overall government may fail to meet its purpose. In the United States, conflict of interests has been witnessed by the desire to achieve superiority by the organs of the government. Such problems can be controlled by setting a clear pathway through which limited government can acquire unified structures or organs.
As a vital tenet of the constitution, this process is essential in assessing the actions or activities of the legislature and the executive. The approach is usually aimed at determining whether the activities associated with the branches of the government conform to the dictates of the constitution. In most cases, the review process looks into various aspects such as quality of service delivery and efficiency in the systems to ascertain whether they are consistent with the provisions of existing laws. Also, evaluating the administrative functions attached to the arms of the government are enhance an understanding of improvement measures that should be adopted. The judicial review ensures constitutional conflicts are avoided to boost performance. In case of inconsistency, the actions may be declared invalid by the court of law. Through this tenet, courts are entitled the power to declare the entire organ unconstitutional if it does not conform to the provisions of the constitutions. In the United States, the review process is significant in developing new policies to boost the performance of the executive and legislature.
The judicial review process operates within three major principles. These principles include;
The supreme law of the country is the constitution
The Supreme court is considered the ultimate decision-maker in constitutionally-related matters.
Rulings made by the judiciary must be against laws that contradict or conflict the constitution.
As a vital step, recognizing the constitution as the supreme law of the country makes it easier to identify laws that contradict the provisions. When making laws, the constitution can hence be used as the reference to ensure the instances of conflicts are extensively minimized. Assessing the actions of the executive and legislature through the constitution becomes easier through such an approach. Referencing matters related to the constitution to the supreme court boosts the status of the supreme court as the ultimate decision-maker. As a primary role, ensuring that all laws under implementation adhere to the mandates of the constitution helps in solving conflicts in the review process. Evaluating the activities of the legislature and the executive becomes more manageable through the key principles.
Checks and balances tenet empower separate branches of government to prevent actions by subsidiary branches. To be specific, this principle induces various branches of the government to share power. Such a step is aimed at controlling conflict of interests that has been associated with the branches. Through checks and balances, the executive, legislature, and judiciary can limit the powers of each other. No branch can hence be assumed to be more powerful than the other since. Each branch of the government is usually charged with the responsibility of monitoring how other branches carry out their functions. The main intention of the tenet is to ensure the core functions are equally distributed to avoid over-concentrating power in one branch. Balancing the powers within the branches is essential in upholding accountability in the overall governance. Constitutional democracy can be easily achieved through the tenet since all branches are considered equal. Preventing any of the branches from becoming too powerful is significant in defining the separation of powers, functional evaluation and system balance.
The primary reason for upholding this tenet by the constitution the need to uphold accountability. Through giving one branch power to scrutinize the other, operations of the can be easily monitored to attain the desired results. Also, the perception that one branch is superior to the other can be justified through this principle. A consideration that all branches are equal in terms of powers is essential in creating a boundary for carrying out ideal functions. Monitoring and engaging members of the subsidiary branch help in guaranteeing accountability in operations. They can be made to cater to how they spend the amounts allocated to them and their extent of adhering to the constitutional mandates. Checks and balances are, therefore, important aspects of the constitution since they create a framework for watchdogs. Regular checks and power balance make it easier for the organs of the government to interrelate to achieve a common goal and interests.
As illustrated, the tenets of the constitution are the framework that drives the constitutional powers. The aspects attached to each of the principles are essential in guiding the procedures of the executive, legislature, and the judiciary. To be specific, the interrelation between the tenets explains how the constitution relies on the well-being of the branches of government to achieve its purpose. For instance, the interplay of federalism, separation of powers and popular sovereignty justify what it takes to achieve an ideal state. In this context, the constitution acts as a guideline factor that dictates what should be done to uphold the beliefs associated with these principles. However, checks and balances usually rely on the criteria of separation of powers and the judicial review processes. Such processes dictate how the national or state government should delegate duties to the federal states as well as the functions that should be attached to the responsibilities.
