Our Constitution Summary

Article Two of the United States Constitution formed the Electoral College. It is an indirect election that elects the President and Vice President of the United States of America. The electors

Article II, section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution spells out the process of selecting electors for the selection of President and Vice President. The Constitution

Many people hail the Electoral College as democratic, but the 2016 Presidential Election was anything except democratic. The highly scrutinized leader, Donald J. Trump, won a majority of the Electoral College, sealing his place as the Forty-Fifth President of the United States, but did not receive the majority of votes, as the popular vote went to Hillary Clinton. The results of previous elections have not reflected the people’s opinions, and it disenfranchised millions of Americans. Although the Electoral College is outlined in the United States Constitution, it reflects the needs of an eighteenth century society (Amar, 2016). Because the Electoral College does not meet the needs of a twenty-first century society, it should be replaced by a national popular vote where voter registration is based on a test regarding basic knowledge of the United States government.

As election day rises, so does significant questions surrounding the Electoral College system. Mainly the subject of whether or not to disband the system will again be a hot topic amongst voters and legislatures. The question that remains in the minds of the everyday voter is if their vote actually counts toward appointing a President when a system such as the Electoral College is in place. Nevertheless, before forming an opinion on the matter it is important that one consider what the Electoral College actually is and how it functions, furthermore understanding why the framers of the Constitution thought it necessary to create this system. To properly form an opinion, avenues of critics and supporters must both be explored. Only through this considerable amount of information gathered can you take a stance on the topic.

Article II, section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution spells out the process of selecting electors for the selection of President and Vice

The 2016 presidential election left many voters feeling bitter and hostile. President-elect Donald Trump is a minority president, meaning that he won the electoral vote yet lost the popular vote (“2016 Election Results”). There have only been four minority presidents preceding Trump: John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush (Stepman). However, recently some voters and politicians began calling for eliminating the electoral college in favor of a popular vote. At first glance, this seems necessary; however, once one considers all factors, the system’s advantages unquestionably outweigh the disadvantages. In order to keep our nation running efficiently, the United States must keep the electoral process instituted by our Founding Fathers. The preeminent argument for its continuation is the efficiency it has provided for 200 years. The balance and stability it provides also justify its continuation.

Analyze criticism of the "Electoral College" system and the alleged advantages and disadvantages of various reform proposals.

Provide the class with the details of the project (location, acres restored, methods used, species benefited if available, etc.). Be sure to integrate what you find with what you are learning in your text and other readings and supplement it with additional research.

The Virginia Plan was the proposal to create a strong national government and which had a bicameral legislature. The New Jersey Plan was a proposal to create a weak national government and had a unicameral legislature. The Great Compromise was a plan to have a house elected based on state population and a state selected Senate with new members for each state.

The United States Constitution is filled to the brim with ambiguous language that people continue to debate the meaning of. There is one thing, however, the document makes very clear: the legislature legislates and the executive executes. Claims that President Obama has abused his power by passing DACA and DAPA completely ignore this fact. In reality, the president, as head of the executive branch, absolutely has the power to use prosecutorial discretion in how he or she executes the laws.

The United States of America has previously experienced failure every now and then. With trial and error, the country has learned to correct its ways and move toward(s) perfecting itself. Realizing the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation is a prime example of the U.S. learning how to better itself. Subsequent to the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States was set as our new and improved framework of government. Possessing knowledge on how America, although strong, is still progressing, the U.S. Constitution holds certain ways allowing the United States government to adapt to changes over time. Judicial review and the Elastic Clause are crucial principles of the document that permit America to do so.

Jack Rakove wrote the article “Creating a Constitution” to explain the process of the adoption of the Constitution and to explain how the Constitution was approved. Along with those two topics, Rakove wrote the article to explain how the appeals and demands of the initial drafts of the Constitution are challenging and difficult yet vital. In addition, Rakove desired the article to compel readers to understand how the Constitution was framed and the boundaries of the document along with alerting the reader to James Madison’s importance in framing and elucidating the fundamental, primary principles of the Constitution.

The Framers of the Constitution of the United States carefully considered every word written while composing a new document guiding the formation of the new land. While trying account for the long standing traditions of law from former homelands, they needed to take into account the practices they were familiar with paying respect to tradition of law excepting those they saw as oppressive by rule of Kings and Queens. Clearly expecting to effect change on our new soil while weighing and balancing power and authority. For the sake of debate, the framers could not have known the arguments so many years later but they did their very best to take into account the impact of the laws, restrictions, and parameters of the document. The Second

If the United States was a house, the Constitution would act as its framework. It was built by the trusting Founding Fathers who were given the task of ensuring that the structure was sturdy enough to withstand anything from attacks to overpopulation. Little did they know, America would grow expediently in size, population and diversity impacting the house they created. But as that home has changed, the framework has remained a building block for prosperity welcoming amendments and expanding in interpretation. The Founding Fathers were afforded with the luxury of planting the seeds of a system which would develop overtime into superior governmental authority greatly contrasting the feudal order which they fought against. The Constitution

“The founders learned about government from reading history and philosophy and their own experience of self-government as colonists within the British Empire.”