Boyer: Seven principles of the U.S. Constitution
Letter to the editor
It is vital to a free United States society to understand the 7 Principles within our U.S. Constitution:
1. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
“We the People…” Our Constitution begins with the idea of popular sovereignty. The Founding Fathers began the U.S. Constitution with this important principle, which means that power begins with the people. This principle is best reflected in the Preamble, in Article I, and in Amendment 9. Popular sovereignty is the idea that the average citizen can be trusted to make important decisions that affect his or her life and the lives of other Americans. Throughout American history, more and more citizens were permitted to participate in the democratic process. The idea that power can begin from the ground up and that a group of people can exercise that power and change their society for the better is an exciting idea in human history.
2. FEDERALISM
The Founders looked to their local state governments to best govern over their own local needs. At the same time, they recognized the need for a strong national government that would protect them and help regulate their commerce. The solution was found in the balance of federalism. Federalism is the sharing of powers between the state governments and the national government. When the Founding Fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution, one of their challenges was creating a strong national government that at the same time respected the rights of the state governments. How did they ensure that one did not trample on the other? The Constitution states that the federal government has specific powers such as coining money or defending the country. At the same time, the state governments also have powers that are reserved to them, such as creating schools. Finally, there are powers they share, such as the power to tax.
3. REPUBLICANISM
Another principle that the Framers of the Constitution agreed upon was the idea that citizens should be able to elect their leaders. In a republic, the citizens vote for a representative who they think will be best for the general public good. To help you remember what republicanism means, take the first three letters of the word, R-E-P, and use it to remind yourself of the word REPRESENTATIVE. Voters choose representatives to exercise the power that they give to them through the U.S. Constitution. Republicanism is primarily found in the Preamble and in Article I of the Constitution.
4. SEPARATION OF POWERS
This principle of the U.S. Constitution divides powers into three separate groups or branches of government. The reason the Framers chose this was because they wanted to ensure that no one person or group of people had too much power. Their idea originated from the way the English government had developed into three separate groups: the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. Instead, the U.S. Constitution divides power into the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. Each branch has its own unique responsibilities and powers, including powers over the other branches. These branches are described in Articles I, II, and III.
5. CHECKS & BALANCES
This principle of the Constitution is closely connected with Separation of Powers. The Founding Fathers wanted to make sure that the three different branches of government–the legislative, executive, and judicial–would be able to limit each others’ powers. In this way, they control certain powers and share other powers. For example, the President can appoint ambassadors or federal judges,
but only with the approval of the Senate, the upper house of Congress. You will find the principle of Checks & Balances throughout Articles I, II, and III. This is a very important way to protect the citizens’ liberties and ensure that no one group of people becomes too powerful. Each branch always has the other two branches looking over their shoulder.
6. LIMITED GOVERNMENT
The principle of Limited Government can be traced in English history back to the Magna Carta, when the nobles first restricted the power of the king in 1215. When the Founding Fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution, they recognized the need to state that the government’s powers were limited. Government leaders could not abuse their powers; they were not above the law. This was an important step in ensuring that the citizens’ liberties were protected. The principle of Limited Government can be found in Articles I, II, and III.
7. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
The Preamble of the Constitution states, “…to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” This principle guarantees that citizens possess basic rights and liberties. This idea can be traced back to Thomas Jefferson’s quote on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…” in the Declaration of Independence, borrowed from the philosopher John Locke. Locke argued that all human beings were born with three natural rights–life, liberty, and property–and the purpose of government was to protect those rights. The Founders debated the best way to do that, but in the end, the Constitution was amended to include the protection of certain rights, which can be found in the Bill of Rights.
Walt Boyer, Newberry
The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. Letters may be submitted to info@alachuachronicle.com and are published at the discretion of the editor.
Unfortunately, these lofty ideals have been corrupted by both political parties, the media and corporate lobbyists. The left is currently on a rampage to turn the US into a Socialist failure, just like what happened to Venezuela in recent history.
Alachua Chronicle, you need to update your rules for refusing posts. Do these people at Thrive Comments even share with you what they are refusing? Some communication is needed here.
No, I only know they’re rejected when I go check Spam and Trash. I’m trying to do that at least once a day. I have no idea why so many comments are being rejected.
In my mind, the key principle that people should understand is that ultimate power resides in the collective hands of the people. The people are the government. It’s also important to note that the framers intended for national government to be limited. They even passed an amendment, the 10th, in support of that idea. It holds that the federal government can only exercise those powers specifically given to it by the Constitution. They fully intended for the federal government to be limited in its scope and power.
So what happened? How did the federal government become so powerful? Activist, leftist courts at different times through history expanded the government’s powers through commerce clause decisions and finding rights where none exist in the constitution itself. Thankfully, the court court has indicated an appetite to right at least some of those wrongs. They would really do a great thing if they would roll back some prior BS decisions to re-empower the states (and hence, the people). I won’t hold my breath though.
I wish they had included term limits. Now, politicians on both sides are willing to negotiate away what’s right for the people in order to preserve their own position. That incentive would be at least somewhat mitigated with term limits. Again, I won’t hold my breath. Thanks for writing this. We should always take the time to review our basic rights, privileges, and powers.
Progressivism/Marxism happened to our government and the federal was able to take control of the States with the passage of the 17th Amendment. I believe Term Limits is an emotional response to an issue that has a simple logical answer. Term Limits actually wont address the issue of constitutional principles and lack of adherence. While sounding like a great idea, term limits will simply allow turd House Reps to move to Senate quicker and considering these turds are elected from within turd believing districts, you simply get a revolving door of turds that ignore the constitution. Logically, the answer is to educate the populace in a way that exposes and wakes them up to their turd marxist beliefs. These believers in turd government still proclaim to believe in America but they are truly ignorant to what America actually is. Yes the logical non emotional answer is also the hardest to achieve, but as more of us are learning about and understanding our Constitution, we should not be afraid to share that knowledge with others. There was a time everyone spoke of the Bible and the Constitution while at the dinner table… now that has become taboo. God and our Liberty are two of the most important subjects you can talk about to family, friends and even strangers
I like the “turd” comments. And of course education of the people is ideal. But I have to hear your explanation of how changing our method of selecting senators allowed the federal government to take control. Not saying I don’t agree with you, just that I don’t follow you. Plus, as I stated originally, state power persisted until a series of Commerec Clause cases by the Court in the 40s,50s, 60s and beyond shifted much power away from the states and basically limited the 10th Amendment.
Term limits are not an emotional response. I don’t do emotional responses. I mentioned them because I believe they are a good way to disincentivize those who primarily seek the power of office and who will work to maintain that power for themselves at the expense of the people. I didn’t pose it as a panacea. I also don’t think it would have much of an effect at all on reps moving from the house to the senate as a) that’s already a possibility, and b) most reps don’t run for the senate historically.
But I do very much agree with you that there is a movement afoot to try and change the fundamental beliefs of the best country on earth, and that we ought to take every opportunity to disabuse those “turds” who believe in that nonsense of their ridiculous notions.
The effect of the 17th Amendment moved control of our Senators away from the states making Senators harder to control and effectively eradicating one of the designed checks and balances. . You would think that directly electing Senators would make them more accountable but just the opposite happened. Upon the ratification of the 16th and 17th Amendments, we moved from a Republic to almost a full fledged Democracy, while government debt exploded and never slowed down. All that was required was to have progressive SC justices in place to legitimize the governments growth and spending habits. Without any true control from the States, the federal was able to place itself as sovereign of the states. In a Democracy, once the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury the majority will always vote for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, at the expense of any constitutional limitation, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. Democracies produce Turds.. Turds ruin Liberty… Don’t let your friends elect Turds…. Always remember that a Turd is a Turd no matter how polished it may appear. I am sure we can agree that the #1 issue isn’t that Turds are enriching themselves, because a Turd does Turd things,. The biggest issue is that Turds ignore the Constitution. And Liberty suffers when the Constitution is ignored. Replacing a Turd with a Turd does not fix that.