The Constitution Study Questions

#1

Executive Powers

· Approves or vetoes federal bills

· Carries out federal laws

· Appoints judges and other high officials

· Makes foreign treaties

· Can grant pardons and reprieves to federal offenders

· Acts as commander-in-chief of armed forces

Legislative Powers

· Passes federal laws

· Establishes lower federal courts and the number of federal judges

· Can override the president’s veto with two-thirds vote

Judicial Powers

· Interprets and applies the law by trying federal cases

· Can declare laws passed by congress and executive actions unconstitutional.

#2

Checks on Executive Powers

· Congress can override vetoes by two-thirds vote

· Senate can refuse to confirm appointments or ratify treaties

· Congress can impeach and remove the President

· Congress can declare war

· Supreme court can declare executive acts unconstitutional

Checks on Legislative Powers

· Presidential veto of federal bills

· Supreme court can rule laws unconstitutional

· Both houses of congress must vote to pass laws checking power with legislature

Checks on Judicial Powers

· Congress can propose constitutional amendments to overturn judicial decisions

· Congress can impeach and remove federal judges

· President appoints judges

#3

· Two house legislature

· Three-fifths compromise – a slave counted as three-fifths of a person

· Slave trade – they band the slave trade and the northerners agreed that they the congress could not interfere with the southern slave trade until 1808

· George Mason proposed the bill of rights to be included in the constitution.

#4

· James Madison

· Alexander Hamilton

· John Jay

#5

· Protection of individuals’ rights, people were worried the government would get to much power and their rights would be taken away.

#6

· Their worry was that their new constitution would take away the liberties Americans had fought to win from Great Britain. The constitution would create a strong central government and would ignore states and favor the wealthy.

Zinn Chapter 5 Summery

The chapter describes pre-Revolutionary War. They were having a hard time getting white men to fight and Indians and southern blacks weren’t allowed to fight. So they ended up getting a lot of men who are basically poor. Except for a few rich men that became generals there really aren’t any rich men in the war. The rich are trying to keep the poor people at a disadvantage by having them fight. Whereas the poor men are thinking by joining the war they will get respect, but they don’t. Instead after the war when they get home they find out that they were in debt and would loose everything. Luckily, the Blacks started fighting for freedom and rights in the North. And as the slavery in the north decreased the slavery in the south increased. Other then the slave change the social ladder stays the same after the war. The Indians continued to loose land and the poor white people stayed poor.

Then Zinn talks about making the constitution and how those who wrote it were rich men. Also how some laws and amendments were as good as they could have been and that some of them should have been worked on a little more.