The History of the American

Constitution
Constitution is the body of fundamental
principles according to which a nation
or state is constituted and governed.

The Constitution of the

United States: the source of
government authority and
the fundamental law of
the land
 The Articles of Confederation
• the agreement that set up the plan for
the states to cooperate with one another
in a national Congress
• began to operate in 1781
 Under the Articles of Confederation the
central government was weak
certain rights no power to make them effective

• votes to set up an army and • only obtains soldiers and

navy sailors by asking the states
for them
• votes to spend money • has no power to collect
taxes

serious problems
e.g., some states refused to pay
debts owed to France
After the War of Independence individual
states begin to behave more and more
like independent nations

• set up tax barriers against others

• fight one another to decide the
ownership of land
 The Constitutional Convention
• began on May I787
• 55 Founding Fathers attended
• George Washington as the presiding officer

the Constitution of the United States

the plan for a completely new system of
government for the United States
 The Constitution of the United States
1. A federal system of government
• a wide range of powers of the individual state
governments:
o education,
o taxes and finances,
o internal communications, etc.
• much stronger federal government given the power to:
o collect taxes
o organize armed forces
o make treaties with foreign countries
o control trade
 The Constitution of the United States
2. The three branches of the national government
• executive branch: the
President
• legislative branch: the
Congress (the
Senate + the House of "balance of
Representatives) power"
• judicial branch:
the Supreme Court
The Constitution went into effect
in March 1789
 The original Constitution said nothing
about the rights and freedoms of
individual citizens

The Bill of Rights

The 1st 10 amendments (additions) made
to the Constitution in 1791
 The 5th Amendment:
• retains its significance in the fight of the
Americans for their civil rights
• ‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or
property, without due process of law’
• no person ‘shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself’
 James Madison
an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, philosopher, and Founding Father who
served as the 4th president of the US

• wrote the amendments listed specific

prohibitions on governmental power
• The 1st Amendment: prohibits Congress from
making any law respecting an establishment of
religion, impeding the free exercise of religion,
abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on
the freedom of the press, interfering with the
right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the
right to petition the government
• The 4th Amendment: prohibits unreasonable
searches and seizures and sets out
requirements for search warrants based on
probable cause
 The precursors the Bill of Rights:
• Virginia Declaration of Rights (George
Mason)
• Some English documents:
o Magna Carta
o the Petition of Right
o the English Bill of Rights
• Massachusetts Body of Liberties.
 A Point of Contention
Anti-Federalists
Federalists
wanted power to remain
advocated a strong national
with state and local
government
governments

the Constitution did not a bill of rights was necessary

need a bill of rights, because to safeguard individual
the people and the states liberty.
kept any powers not given to
the federal government
• Madison altered the Constitution’s text and his
changes were presented as a list of
amendments that would follow Article VII.
• The House of Representatives approved 17
amendments
• The Senate approved 12 of them, which were
sent to the states for approval
• 10 amendments were approved (ratified).
Virginia’s legislature was the final state
legislature to ratify the amendments:
December 15, 1791.
• The 2nd Amendment protects the right to keep and
bear arms
• The 3rd Amendment places restrictions on the
quartering of soldiers in private homes
• The 6th Amendment protects the right to a fair and
speedy public trial by jury, including the rights to
be notified of the accusations, to confront the
accuser, to obtain witnesses and to retain counsel
• The 7th Amendment provides for the right to trial
by jury in certain civil cases, according to common
law
• The 8th Amendment prohibits excessive fines
and excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual
punishment
• The 9th Amendment protects rights not
enumerated in the Constitution
‘The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the people.’

• The 10th Amendment reinforces the principle of

federalism by stating that the federal
government possesses only those powers
delegated to it by the states or the people
through the Constitution
 The Most Significant Amendments Adopted
after the Ratification of the Bill of Rights:
• The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary
servitude (1865)
• The 14th Amendment defined citizenship (1868)
• The 15th Amendment gave the vote to all male citizens
regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
(1870)
• The 19th Amendment gave the vote to women (1920)
• The 22th Amendment made it impossible for any President to
hold office for more than 2 terms (1951)
• The 24th Amendment prohibited a poll tax for voting (1964)
• The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18 years
(1971)
• 200 amendments are proposed during each
two-year term of Congress
• most never get out of the Congressional
committees
• 6 amendments approved by Congress and
proposed to the states for consideration have
not been ratified
• 4 amendments are technically still pending
• 2 amendments are no longer pending
Thank you for you attention!