NOTES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
Name:
The Preamble: Goals of the Constitution
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Article I: The Legislative Branch
Section 1: Congress is made up of two houses.
A.
B.
Section 2: Members of the House of Representatives
Clause 1: Chosen every ________ years by the people of their state.
Clause 2: Qualifications:
A. Must be ________ years old.
B. Must be a U.S. citizen for ________ years.
C. Must be living in ____________________________________.
Clause 3: How many does each state get?
A. __________________________________ were not counted in a
state’s population when the Constitution was written.
B. “All other persons” counted as three-fifths of a person meant
________________.
C. An enumeration, or counting, of people, called a
____________________ is still held every ____________ years.
D. Each state gets at least _____________ Representative.
E. In 1788, ____________________ was the state with the most
Representatives because it had the largest
_________________________.
F. The House of Representatives started with ______ members and
today has _____.
Clause 5: Stuff only the House has
A. Chooses a leader called the ______________________ who finishes
the President’s term if both the President and Vice-President die or
can no longer serve.
B. Is the only group that can _____________________ Executive
officials including the President.
Section 3: Members of the Senate
Clause 1: How many and how long?
A. Each state has _______ Senators in the U.S. Senate; they are now
chosen by the voters
B. Senators are chosen (elected) every ______ years by their state
Clause 3: Qualifications:
A. Must be _________ years old
B. Must be a U.S. citizen for ________ years
C. Must be living in ____________________________________
Clause 4: President of the Senate
A. The President of the Senate is the ________________________
B. He or she votes only if there is a ____________________
Clause 5: President Pro Tempore
A. Leads if Vice President does not
B. Fourth in line for President behind Speaker of the House
Clause 6: Trying officials the House impeached
A. Only the Senate gets to hold trials for somebody who gets
___________________
B. The ____________________________ presides, or runs, these trials
Section 4: Congress meets at least _________ a year
Section 5:
Clause 1: To do any business a _________________ of Representatives or
Senators has to be there; this is called a quorum.
Clause 2: Senators or Representatives can be _______________ with a 2/3
vote
Section 6: Congressional Privilege
No Congressperson can be arrested while Congress is in session except for:
A.
B.
C.
Section 7: Making laws – they all start as bills
Clause 1: All bills for ___________________________ must start in the
House of Reps.
Clause 2: How a bill becomes a law
A. First a _________ must pass both the __________________ and
_____________________ saying exactly the same thing!
B. Next the _____________________ signs, vetoes, or pocket vetoes
the bill
C. Pocket veto means not making a decision on a bill for _______ days,
which makes it a law.
D. If the bill was vetoed _______ (fraction) of both houses of Congress
can agree to override the veto and make the bill a law.
Section 8: Powers of Congress – name 7 things the Constitution says they
can do.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Section 9: Things Congress can’t do
Clause 1: Importation of such persons means the ___________ trade and it
couldn’t be prohibited (made illegal) by Congress until at least
____________________.
Clauses 2-8: Name three other things Congress was not allowed to do in
1788.
A.
B.
C.
Section 10: Congress has power over the states in some areas listed here.
Article II: Executive Branch
Section 1: The President
Clause 1: Both President and Vice-President are elected for _______ years.
Today there is a limit of ________ total terms for a President.
Clause 2: A state’s number of Electors in the Electoral College to officially
choose the President is equal to the number of
___________________________ and ___________________________ a
state has in Congress.
Clause 4: Qualifications:
A. Must be a U.S. citizen for _______________ (a natural born citizen)
to be President.
B. Must be at least _________ years old.
C. Must have lived in the U.S. (been a resident) for ________ years.
Clause 7: The Oath of Office ends with the seven words
________________________.
Section 2-3: Powers and Responsibilities of the President – name three from
this section.
A.
B.
C.
Section 4: Executive officials including the President can be impeached for:
A.
B.
C.
Article III: Judicial Branch
Section 1: The judicial power of the United States is held by
______________________.
Section 2: Jurisdiction
Cases that start with the Supreme Court (where it has original jurisdiction)
are
A.
B.
C.
In all other cases, the Supreme Court has _________________ jurisdiction,
which means the decisions of lower courts can be appealed to the Supreme
Court. The Supreme Court’s decision overrides all other decisions and sets
precedents for future cases.
Section 3: Treason
To convict someone of treason either ______________________ or
___________________ must happen.
Article IV: States
Sections 1-2: Rights and Privileges
Citizens of one state have the same rights and privileges as citizens of other
states: T or F
In 1788, fugitive (runaway) slaves had to be ____________________ by
other states.
Section 3: Adding states and dealing with territories
New states can be admitted as long as they are not made:
A.
B.
Rules about territories are made by __________________________
The United States will protect the states from
A.
B.
Article V: Process for Amending the Constitution
Amendments to the Constitution are proposed when ________ (fraction) of
both Houses of Congress or ________ (fraction) of the state legislatures
agree.
A proposed amendment actually becomes part of the Constitution when
_______ (fraction) of the states ratify it.
Before 1808, no amendment could do anything about
___________________________.
No amendment can take away equal suffrage (voting) in the
______________________.
Article VI: Supreme Law of the Land
The United States promised to still pay its ________________ even though
the Articles of Confederation were being replaced.
The Constitution is the _____________________ law of the land, overruling
the laws or constitutions of the states where they are different.
All members of the _________________________,
_______________________, and ___________________________
branches take an oath to support the Constitution, but no
__________________________ test can ever be required to hold any public
office.
Article VII: Ratification
____________ of the 13 state conventions ratifying the Constitution will
make it official because that number of states would make over _______
(fraction) saying yes. This changed the requirement of the Articles of
Confederation for unanimous agreement.