Transcript Terms – Chapter VI – Articles V – VII

Terms – Chapter VI –
Articles V – VII
Module VI
Terms – Articles V – VII
Chapter VI
Module VI
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Amendment: A formal change to the Constitution.
Ratification: Formal approval. The Constitution
requires that treaties be ratified by two-thirds of the
Senate and constitutional amendments by three-fourths
of the state legislatures or conventions.
Rescission: The process of withdrawing approval. The
Constitution is silent as to whether states can rescind
proposed amendments that have not yet been approved
by the necessary three-fourths majority of the states.
Terms – Articles V – VII
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Supremacy Clause: The provision in
Article VI of the Constitution (originating
in the New Jersey Plan) that provides that
the Constitution, U.S. laws, and treaties
are the supreme law of the land.
Unamendable Provision: Parts of the
Constitution that can not be amended.
The only one today is equal state
representation in the Senate.
Cases
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The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873): In
rejecting the pleas of New Orleans’
butchers who were required under state
law to pursue their calling in specified
abattoirs, the Court gave a very narrow
reading to the privileges and immunities
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
United States Constitution
Key Principles of American Government
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Bicameralism: Provides for the division of the legislative branch
into two houses or chambers.
Civilian Control of the Military: Designating the president
Commander and Chief over the U.S. armed forces, assures civilian
control over the military. Declaration of War by the Congress only
assures checks and balances between branches of the civilian
government.
Federalism: A governmental system in which power is divided
between state and national authorities. In such systems, powers are
almost always delineated by a written constitution, and both state
and national governments have powers—as, for example, through
taxation—to operate directly upon individual citizens
Key Principles of American
Government
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Religious Tolerance: Principle from the
Enlightenment found in Article VI and the 1st
amendment.
Separation of Powers: The principle of
dividing government authority among different
branches of government, in the United States,
the legislative, executive, and judicial.