What Are The Two Primary Functions Of The U.s. Constitution? Essay

The Constitution and the Amendments are two very important documents that are needed in order to keep the people of America in order. The purpose of the Constitution is to, “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” (Constitution Preamble). The purpose of the Bill of Rights and the 17 Amendments, bringing the total to 27, are to protect the rights of the people of America and to prevent the government from having full control over the people.

The Judicial branch is the court system that interprets the laws in route to being passed. In the United States, the judicial branch of government incorporates the Supreme Court and the lower courts which are made up by members of Congress. Article 3 describes the Judicial Branch and how the Judicial system includes one supreme court. When there is a case that is really important and they cannot agree upon a single decision, then the case is passed on to the supreme court.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Our Tenth Amendment, as it was originally written does not specify or restrict the spectrum of powers which are entitled to the federal government, the state government, and or the people. Since this amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not provide an accurate measure of the powers granted to each group, it is a very open concept and its extent can be given an infinite number of interpretations. The lack of specific distinction between the powers can cause altercations regarding the rights and authority that the state and the national government have over certain issues. To

“The powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The purpose of the tenth Amendment is to define the division of power between the federal government and state governments.

The main purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to provide the basic rights of all citizens and provide direction how the government should work.The Constitution also provides the structure for law. and it has three branches; federal judiciary branch, legislative branch and executive branch.

Article VI, Clause 2 (National Supremacy Clause) – The Federal Government, in expressing any of the powers

Judicial Review – the power of the Supreme Court to say whether the federal, state, or local law or government action goes against the Constitution.

After outlining that, the document begins to outline the basic civil liberties and rights that the average citizen receives. These are called the amendments. They are the foundation on what the freedom of America is built with. The amendments spell out the freedoms that Americans had, everything from the right of religious freedoms to the right to bear arms both of which are regularly debated subjects today. They made America what America was, the freest country in the world

The American concept of democracy provides that no branch of government shall be more powerful and uncontrolled than the other branches (Lutzenberger, 2012). Judicial review is the power of the courts to oversee and prevent the legislative and executive branches from becoming abusive. Through this power, the courts interpret the meaning of laws and their application. They can invalidate a law, which they deem inconsistent with the US Constitution. They can also change the application of the law when interpreting it. Although the Constitution does not explicitly mention this power, the courts infer it from the provisions on the judicial branch in the Constitution. This inference was first made in 1803 in the Marbury v Madison case. The court declared the existence of the power and that it was for the exclusive use of the courts. They use it to interpret the intents of the Constitution on legal issues submitted to them for decision (Lutzenberger).

the founding document of our nation’s laws and government. Within its texts, the Constitution outlines the operations and existence of all three branches of government, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, as well as their functions and interdependence. The constitution also includes the Bill of Rights, and all other amendments that serve as a basis for any law created in our country at either the federal or state level. While semi-extensive, the main rights we share are those from the bill of rights, which

Primarily, judicial review consists of four main components.5 The first dynamic of judicial review is that the Supreme Court can reject any federal, presidential or congressional, act or law which is deemed to be unconstitutional centred upon the judiciary’s interpretation of the United States Constitution.6 For instance, the Supreme Court can void a presidential-line item veto, i.e. the President’s ability to erase part of a bill passed by the legislature involving taxation or spending.7 In addition, the second factor of judicial review is the authority of the Supreme Court to strike down any state act (gubernatorial) or law (state legislature), which is judged as unconstitutional based, again, upon the Court’s interpretation of the United States Constitution.8 One such example of this power being exercised is when the Supreme Court annulled California’s attempt to enforce congressional term limits.9

1. However, a bill of rights was required since the Constitution couldn't be ratified without one

On July 4, 1776, the United States of America declared independence from England because England’s king, King George III, was a tyrant who was abusing his power. Tyranny is brutal and repressive power by one person or few people in charge such as a king or queen. The Articles of Confederation represented the first written constitution for the United States of America. A new constitution was needed because with the Articles of Confederation, each state was independent and not united. The states ruled like individual countries instead of one united country. In Philadelphia 1787, a gathering called the Constitutional Convention was held where 55 delegates from 12 out of the 13 states (Rhode Island was not there) met discussed and wrote our constitution that we know and love today. The constitution guarded against tyranny through federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and The Great Compromise.

In 1791, the tenth amendment was added to the Constitution. The tenth amendment states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." (Bailey 16) This

Judicial Review is the power of the courts to review the acts of the other branches of government and states to declare whether or not their acts are unconstitutional. The roots of judicial review lie in the separation of powers principle which was institutionalized in the 17th century, however, it wasn’t until a century later that the concept of judicial review arose from it. Through his writing of the 78th Federalist Paper, Alexander Hamilton was the first individual to propose the idea that the Constitution should in fact be enforced amongst the legislatures. Unfortunately, the concept of judicial review was not written into the Constitution, despite the underlying support behind the concept Hamilton provided. Alternately, the paradigm