Reading and Understanding the Constitution
Part A: The Constitution’s Basic Provisions
1. Read each article (I-VII) of the Constitution. Summarize the purpose of each article in one to two sentences.
2. In the Constitution of 1787 – the unamended document – how many times do the words slave and slavery
appear?
3. Define enumerated powers.
a. Identify one enumerated power of the president. (Article 2, Section 2)
b. Identify one enumerated power of the vice president. (Article 1, Section 3)
c. Identify one enumerated power of Congress. (Article 1, Section 8)
4. Election of senators
a. How were U.S. senators chosen before the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in 1913? (Article 1,
Section 3)
b. How have U.S. senators been chosen since? (17th Amendment)
5. Prohibited powers
a. Identify one power the Constitution prohibits to Congress. (Article 1, Section 9)
b. Identify one power the Constitution prohibits to the states. (Article 1, Section 10)
6. Checks and balances
a. Identify a power that the executive branch holds over the legislative branch. (Article 1, Section 7)
b. Identify a power that the executive branch holds over the judicial branch. (Article 2, Section 2)
c. Identify a power that the legislative branch holds over the executive branch. (Article 1, Section 3)
d. Identify a power that the legislative branch holds over the judicial branch. (Article 1, Section 8)
7. Amendment process
a. What are two ways that amendments to the Constitution can be proposed? (Article 5)
b. What are two ways that amendments to the Constitution can be ratified? (Article 5)
c. Article V of the Constitution of 1787 singles out two matters that are beyond the reach of the
amendment process. What are they? (Article 5)
8. Identify and state the purpose of amendments that:
a. extended individual rights.
b. extended civil rights (including voting rights).
c. prohibited certain practices by the states.
9. Elastic clause
a. Which article and section is known as the “elastic clause”?
b. What does this mean for the powers of Congress, and how is this related to the traditional debate
between strict constructionism and loose constructionism?
Part B: Majority actions by Congress
10. What margin is required to:
a. override a presidential veto?
b. ratify treaties?
c. impeach a president?
d. convict and remove a president?
e. approve a presidential nominee to the Supreme Court?
f. choose a president if neither candidate wins a simple majority of electoral votes?
From Critical Thinking & American Government, Kent M. Brudney and Mark E. Weber, 2007