National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/
Constitution Day, Inc.
http://www.constitutionday.com/
From the Bill of Rights Institute
http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/Instructional/Resources/ConstitutionDay/index.htm
About.com: Constitution Day
http://usgovinfo.about.com/blconstday.htm
On the Constitution:
National Archives Experience the Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html
The Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Constitution.html
National Constitution Center
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/
Interactive Constitution at the National Constitution Center
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/
The Supreme Court held in 1905 (in Jacobson v. Massachusetts)
that the preamble is not itself a source of federal power or individual
rights. It merely sets forth general goals.
Senatorial elections are held on a staggered basis.
House of Representatives bring[s] charges of impeachment to remove
a president, vice president, or other civil officer, such as a federal
judge, ... Senate ...is responsible for conducting the trial and deciding
whether the individual is to be removed from office. The Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court presides over an impeachment trial of the president.
The members of the Senate act as the jury and the vote of two-thirds [is
needed to remove.]
Section 4:
[States determine voting rights.]
First Fed law passed after the Civil War as a means of enforcing the
prohibition against racial discrimination in voting contained in Amendment
XV. With the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964 and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, Congress enacted greater protections for the
right to vote in federal, state, and local elections.
Section 5:
House and Senate can establish their own rules, punish members for
disorderly behavior and, if two-thirds agree, expel a member.
Section 6:
Legislators can only raise their pay for the next Congress.
Legislators are granted immunity from criminal prosecution and civil
lawsuit for the things they say and the work they do as legislators.
Prohibits a senator or representative from holding any other federal
office during his or her service in Congress.
Section 7:
House of Representatives must begin the process when it comes to raising
and spending money.
[Both chambers and president are needed to pass a bill.]
If the president does nothing for ten days, not including Sundays,
the bill automatically becomes law, except in the last ten days of the
legislative term. In that time, the president can use a “pocket veto”—by
doing nothing, the legislation is automatically vetoed.
If the president vetoes a bill, the bill must be passed again with the
votes of two-thirds of the House and the Senate for it to become law.
Section 8:
Enumerated powers of Congress plus those ... “necessary and
proper” to carry them out.
-- set taxes, tariffs, and other means of raising federal revenue,
and to authorize the expenditure of all federal funds. In addition to the
tax powers in Article I, Amendment XVI authorized Congress to establish
a national income tax.
-- Congress to regulate business activities “among the states.” [Commerce
clause]
Broadly construed until recent Sup Ct decisions -- found unconstitutional
federal laws aimed at protecting battered women or protecting schools from
gun violence on the ground that these types of police matters are properly
managed by the states.
-- coin money, create the postal service, army, navy and lower federal
courts and to declare war. Determining naturalization.
Similarly, the Constitution specifically prohibits bills of attainder—laws that are directed against a specific person or group of persons, making them automatically guilty of serious crimes, such as treason, without a normal court proceeding. ...
In addition, the Constitution prohibits “ex post facto” laws—criminal laws that make an action illegal after someone has already taken it. ...
The provision in the fourth clause prohibiting states from imposing direct taxes was changed by Amendment XVI, which gives Congress the power to impose a federal income tax. In order to ensure equality among the states, the Constitution prohibits states from imposing taxes on goods coming into their state from another state and from favoring the ports of one state over the ports of others.
Article I, Section 9 also requires that Congress produce a regular accounting of the monies the federal government spends. Rejecting the monarchy of England, the Constitution also specifically prohibits Congress from granting a title of nobility...
president: one must be a natural born citizen of the United States; must have lived in the United States for at least fourteen years, and must be at least thirty-five years old.
Amendment XXV, added in 1967, modified the line of succession.
Section 2: Powers: executive, commander in chief, pardon,
with two-thirds of the Senators present, make treaties, With a majority
of senators, the president makes key appointments. “recess appointments”
end at the end of the next Senate session.
Section 3: Since 1913, President Wilson resumed “State of the
Union” speech.
Section 4: impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate
of treason, bribery, or other serious crimes. Used against Andrew Johnson,
Richard Nixon (although he resigned before Congress could formally act),
and William Clinton.
In 1803, in the case of Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court,
in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Marshall, interpreted Article
III and Article VI to give the federal courts final say over the meaning
of the federal Constitution and federal laws and the power to order state
and federal officials to comply with its rulings.
Supreme Court accepts only a small number of cases for review, typically
around eighty cases each year.
Section 3: treason if one goes to war against the United States
or gives “aid or comfort” to an enemy. [limited].
section 3: admitting new states, congress regulates territories.
section 4; guarantee clause that sttates will be republics,
is attributed to James Madison. It has not been widely interpreted, but
scholars think it ensures that each state be run as a representative democracy
Congress the power (and obligation) to protect the states from an invasion
by a foreign country, or from significant violent uprisings within each
state.
Also -- forbids three specific amendments: that would deny a state its
votes in the Senate, that before 1808 would enable Congress to prohibit
the importation of slaves and that before 1808 would allow direct
taxation except as based on the system of enumeration set out in Article
I, Section 2. As a result, the three-fifths compromise contained in Article
I, Section 9 remained in place until 1808 when Congress banned the international
slave trade.
Both federal and state officials must obey the U.S. Constitution.
To ensure freedom of religion, this article ensures that no
public official be required to practice or pledge allegiance to any particular
religion.