Constitutional-Literacy-1

=**Section 1: Introduction to the Constitution**=

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In Martin Luther King's last speech he said "Somewhere I read" and listed various freedoms. That "somewhere" is the U.S. Constitution, specifically, the Bill of Rights. Our allegiance in America is to be to the Constitution.

**Presidential oath:**
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Loyalty isn't allegiance to a ruler or the homeland. Loyalty to the United States means loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. Many citizens often feel obligated to be strictly loyal to an elected official, especially one they voted for and/or be loyal completely to a party even when that party isn't completely aligned with the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers set up a framework to ensure limited self-government to protect the rights of the people in the Constitution. Loyalty in America is meant to be loyalty to the Constitution.

When the presidents take the oath of office they promise to "//preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution//." When an alien is becoming a citizen of the United States through the naturalization process, the new citizen has to also take an oath, which reads: //"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and// //abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or// //sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that// //__I will support and defend the Constitution__ and laws of the United States of// //America __against all enemies, foreign and domestic__; that I will bear true faith// //and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States// //when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed// //forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work// //of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and// //that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of// //evasion; so help me God."//

We all should remember our loyalty is to the Constitution. Our leaders should also remember at all times their loyalty is to be to the Constitution. We need to ask several questions knowing that our loyalty is to the Constitution. Has our government done this? Have our leaders done this? Our members of Congress and other elected officials may say they like the Constitution and do follow it. Most Americans say they think the Constitution is good (Progressives want to move beyond the Constitution). However, many are not aware of what the Constitution really says, including most elected officials.

We learned already about the Federalists and Anti-Federalists (those opposed to the new Constitution). Two Anti-Federalists included George Mason and Patrick Henry who feared that officials would have too much opportunity to abuse the powers being granted. The Federalists contended that the new Constitution did not give power for officials to increase their power. George Nicholas said "An enlightened people will never suffer what was established for their security to be perverted to an act of tyranny."
 * Discussion Question: What do you think George Nicholas meant by the above quote?**

Simply put, the people would never allow officials to abuse the powers granted by the Constitution. However, the key words are ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE. Effective citizenship starts with knowledge of the Constitution. Many of our elected officials don't know the true meanings and intentions of the Constitution let alone the public. If the people are not enlightened, or knowledgeable about the Constitution, then it's possible for government officials to abuse the powers granted to them in the Constitution.

To see how the government has grown, we need to understand, or be enlightened, in two areas: (1) we need constitutional knowledge, which means to (a) to know the Constitution - what it says, (b) what the Founding Fathers meant and intended, and (c) how the Supreme Court has ruled in the past (it's important to understand when we look at numerous Supreme Court decisions that the Supreme Court has very often conflicted with the original intentions of our Founders conflicting with their original intent - this is a major way the government has been able to grow in the scope of its powers beyond what the Constitution intended) and (2) we need to know what our current government is doing. Nicholas was right as long as the people - us - stay enlightened. Unfortunately, we the people have not maintained our enlightenment to hold our elected officials accountable.
 * Comprehension Question: What are the three areas of constitutional knowledge that we need to know?**
 * Comprehension Question: What are the two kinds of knowledge we need to become "enlightened citizens?" Will you be able to stay enlightened?**

The Preamble is the start of the Constitution and lists of the goals of the new nation: 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. As you've learned, the Constitution formed a republic. In a constitutional republic, a constitution grants power to the government, limits that power, and protects the freedoms of the people. A constitution is a binding set of rules that controls the government.
 * Comprehension Question: What is the purpose of //any// constitution for the government of a constitutional republic?**

The U.S. Constitution is this type of constitution. So, if this is the case how can the Constitution be violated? One way is when any part of the government acts without constitutional authority. It's important to understand that governments don't have rights, only authority. Often times government will pass legislation and you'll hear pundits, reporters, or the politicians say government has the right to do what they did. Remember though, governments don't have rights, only authority. When government acts beyond the Constitution it is acting beyond its authority. A second way the Constitution can be violated is by invading the rights of the people. Really, private people can't violate the Constitution. The Constitution can only be violated by those with government authority.
 * Comprehension Question: What are the two basic ways in which the government can violate the Constitution?**

Thomas Paine wrote " //A constitution is not a thing in name only, but in fact. It has not an ideal, but a real existence; and wherever it cannot be produced in a visible form, there is none. A constitution is a thing antecedent to a government, and a government is only the creature of a constitution. The constitution of a country is not the act of its government, but of the people constituting its government. It is the body of elements, to which you can refer, and quote article by article; and which contains the principles on which the government shall be established, the manner in which it shall be organized, the powers it shall have, the mode of elections, the duration of Parliaments, or by what other name such bodies may be called; the powers which the executive part of the government shall have; and in fine, everything that relates to the complete organization of a civil government, and the principles on which it shall act, and by which it shall be bound. A constitution, therefore, is to a government what the laws made afterwards by that government are to a court of judicature. The court of judicature does not make the laws, neither can it alter them; it only acts in conformity to the laws made: and the government is in like manner governed by the constitution." //
 * Comprehension Question: What did we learn from Thomas Paine about the nature of a constitution? **

Thinking constitutionally in terms of government actions requires us to ask two questions. Did the government have the authority to take the action in question? Did the government use its power in a way that violates the reserved rights of the people? After learning and understanding Constitutional literacy, you will be better equipped to ask and even answer these questions when the government takes an action on a matter.

The Founding Fathers knew that the limitations on the power of government were essential to the preservation of our liberty (freedom). The Anti-Federalists didn't believe the Constitution limited government enough so they pushed for a Bill of Rights. Alexander Hamilton, one of the Federalists who wrote the //Federalist Papers//, said a Bill of Rights wasn't necessary since the Constitution limited the power of government - no need to say freedom of the press because the government under the Constitution wasn't give the power to deal with the press. Private concerns weren't in the scope of governmental authority under the Constitution (keep this in mind - original intentions). Below is a quote from Hamilton's //Federalist #84//: "//I go further and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and, on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed? I will not contend that such a provision would confer a regulating power; but it is evident that it would furnish, to men disposed to usurp, a plausible pretense for claiming that power. They might urge with a semblance of reason that the Constitution ought not to be charged with the absurdity of providing against the abuse of an authority which was not given, and that the provision against restraining the liberty of the press afforded a clear implication that a power to prescribe proper regulations concerning it was intended to be vested in the national government//."
 * Discussion Question: What did Alexander Hamilton mean when he said that the Constitution does not give government the power to "regulate every species of personal and private concern?"**

Every time the federal government acts outside its constitutional authority, our liberty is violated. The clip below shows you Representative Phil Hare from Illinois during a 2010 town hall when asked by one of his constituents where in the Constitution the federal government has the authority to mandate that a person purchase health care. In reality (as you'll learn through this study) health care is a matter that is meant to be a state by state issue. Unfortunately, the response is one that most (not all) Progressives believe. The video may not play on all servers/laptops. Debate over the health care law in 2010 dealt not only with positives and negatives of the law but whether or not the individual mandate (forcing people to buy) was Constitutional or not. Rep. Hare made the statement that he didn't care about the Constitution since the law was good for the nation. This is something that has grown in America that regardless of the Constitution if I like it then it's good. If this were allowed, then the Founders merely would've just needed a line that said do what you think is right. Keep in mind, the original intent of the U.S. Constitution was to do what the states were not competent enough to do on their own. If our Founders were around today, they likely would point out that health care is something the states are competent enough to handle on their own (example - Massachusetts has their own state run system) and therefore should not be a federal issue. media type="youtube" key="lgh-q4t0kzM" width="560" height="315"


 * Discussion Question: Why is this former Congressman's attitude toward the Constitution a negative?**

On February 15, 1791 Thomas Jefferson gave his opinion on the formation of a national bank and in this opinion he gave an excellent of the necessity of staying within the enumerated powers. "It has been urged that a bank will give great facility or convenience in the collection of taxes, Suppose this were true: yet the Constitution allows only the means which are //"necessary,//" not those which are merely "convenient" for effecting the enumerated powers. If such a latitude of construction be allowed to this phrase as to give any non-enumerated power, it will go to everyone, for there is not one which ingenuity may not torture into a //convenience// in some instance //or other//, to //some one// of so long a list of enumerated powers. It would swallow up all the delegated powers, and reduce the whole to one power, as before observed. Therefore it was that the Constitution restrained them to the //necessary// means, that is to say, to those means without which the grant of power would be nugatory."

If America wants to protect its liberty, it must know the Constitution and hold the government accountable when it is violated.
 * Discussion Question: Why is the previous statement important and how can we the people hold our government accountable?**


 * Overall: Summarize the main idea of this section and why it's important.**

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