Bruce G. Kauffmann
HISTORIAN
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
SPEAKER
AUTHOR
The Top Five Things Every Amerian Should Know About:
the U.S.Constitution
1. The Constitution created a federal system in which power was divided between a national government responsible
for national priorities, and 13 (now 50) state governments responsible for state and local priorities. As the
Founders envisioned it, the national government would be responsible for those things affecting the nation as a
whole — foreign policy, national defense, regulation of interstate trade, creating a national currency. The state and
local governments would be responsible for those things affecting the health, safety and welfare of their residents
— paving the roads, establishing police and fire departments, adjudicating local disputes among its residents,
assisting in the creation of charitable and civic organizations, and the like.
2. The Constitution created a government of checks and balances. Each branch of the national government has its
own power base, and is designed to check and balance the other branches so one branch can’t become dominant.
For example: to pass a law both branches of Congress must vote for it; Congress can pass a law, but the president
can veto it (and Congress can override the veto); the president can negotiate treaties but the Senate must approve
them; laws passed by Congress and signed by the president are subject to “judicial review” by the courts. Checks
and balances.
3. The Constitution did not establish a democracy. It established a republic. In a pure democracy, the people rule,
meaning the majority of the people rule, meaning that majorities — by virtue of their superior numbers — could,
and did before the Constitution supplanted the Articles of Confederation, run roughshod over the rights of
minorities. But in our republic, it is not the people but the people’s elected representatives who decide the issues,
and they have certain protections — six-year terms in the Senate, for example — allowing them to defy the
majority when they believe that majority is not acting in the best interest of the people as a whole.
4. The Constitution is not designed to keep government small. It is designed to keep government limited. The two
are very different. As to those responsibilities that the Constitution gives the national government — foreign
policy, for example — the Founders wanted the government to be big enough, to have enough power, to meet
those responsibilities, and as those responsibilities grew (today we are a global power), the power to meet those
responsibilities would also grow. But the Constitution limits the government’s responsibilities; it gives it a finite
number of enumerated powers and responsibilities, and the list is not long. All other powers belong to the states.
Also, the Constitution was created for one reason only: To preserve individual liberty and to ensure that every
U.S. citizen is equal under the law. Period.
5. The 17th Amendment radically changed the Constitution. As a check on the national government the Founders
wanted the states to be represented — to have a power source — in that government. That is why in the original
Constitution, U.S. Senators were appointed by their state legislatures, not popularly elected. That made them
beholden to their states, but with passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators were also popularly elected,
greatly reducing the influence of the states in the national government.
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