The Handy Law Answer Book. David L Hudson

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СКАЧАТЬ Right to bear arms 3rd Amendment No quartering of troops in private homes 4th Amendment No unreasonable searches and seizures 5th Amendment Right to grand jury, no double jeopardy, freedom from self-incrimination, due process and just compensation 6th Amendment Speedy trial, public trial, notice of charges, compulsory process, confrontation clause and assistance of counsel 7th Amendment Right to jury trials in civil cases 8th Amendment No excessive bail, fines or cruel and unusual punishment 9th Amendment Asserts unenumerated (nonlisted) rights; that is, that the Bill of Rights provides individual rights beyond those listed in the first eight amendments (e.g., right to privacy) 10th Amendment Affirms a basic principle of federalism, that power is divided between federal and state governments; reserves powers to the states 11th Amendment Asserts state sovereign immunity, which shields states from many lawsuits 12th Amendment President and vice president must be from same political party 13th Amendment Outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude 14th Amendment Citizenship, rights of equal protection and due process 15th Amendment Right to vote 16th Amendment Income tax 17th Amendment Popular election of senators 18th Amendment Prohibition of alcohol 19th Amendment Right of women to vote 20th Amendment Date of presidential swearing-in; solves lame-duck problem 21st Amendment Repeals the Eighteenth Amendment; no Prohibition 22nd Amendment Limits presidents to two full terms (eight years) 23rd Amendment District of Columbia; voting for president 24th Amendment No poll tax 25th Amendment Line of succession upon president’s death 26th Amendment Voting age becomes 18 27th Amendment Congressional pay raises

      What does the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution say?

      The Supremacy Clause states: “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”

HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION

      What was the pressing need for the Constitution?

      The previous constitution in the United States was called the Articles of Confederation. This confederation system of government did not provide sufficient power to the central government and allowed state governments too much power. Many leaders in the country saw that there was a pressing need for a stronger central government to regulate interactions (such as matters of commerce) between the states. This led to a series of meetings culminating in a meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Representatives from every state except Rhode Island (a small, independently minded state) met in secret in Philadelphia to discuss how to improve and amend the Articles of Confederation. The Framers—as they came to be called—went far beyond their stated duty and formed an entirely new legal document called the U.S. Constitution.

      What were the problems with the Articles of Confederation?

      The primary problem with the Articles of Confederation was that the central government was too weak. It did not have the power to regulate different states’ behavior. The commerce interests of the various states often were not aligned and the central government could not resolve these disputes. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Confederation Congress could not force state governments to raise monies for the federal government but had to depend on them to supply it voluntarily. The Confederation Congress could declare war but it could not raise an army. The states had to do that.

      George Washington, who would later become the first president of the United States, was also one of the framers of the Constitution and a leader of the Philadelphia Convention (iStock).

      New York political leader Alexander Hamilton wrote to colleague James Duane in 1780 about the problem with the Confederation Congress, which he described: “The fundamental defect is a want of power in Congress.” Former United States Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger wrote, nearly two hundred years later, that the Articles “were barely more than a multinational treaty between thirteen independent, sovereign states.”

      Who were some of the leaders of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787?

      The Philadelphia Convention included future Presidents George Washington and James Madison; future Supreme Court Justices Oliver Ellsworth, William Paterson, John Rutledge, and James Wilson; the first U.S. Attorney General, Edmund Randolph; and Roger Sherman, a principal draftsman of the Declaration of Independence.

      Who were the 55 Founding Framers of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787

      The following table lists who the Framers were and the states from which they hailed.

      Founding Framers of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787

State	Framers
Connecticut	Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman
Delaware	Richard Bassett, Gunning Bedford, Jacob Broom, John Dickinson, George Read
Georgia	Abraham Baldwin, СКАЧАТЬ В начало < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 > В конец