The Constitutional Day Presentation

Introduction

Before legitimizing the Constitution, constitutional-making bodies are required to investigate every aspect of society (Wheatley & Mendez, 2016). Any constitution, including the American one, is created and built upon a certain set of precepts (Wheatley & Mendez, 2016). Therefore, designers require some direction regarding the principles from which they can derive their laws. Since most of the concerns needed to be changed by the government, the majority of these values are based on reflections on the past and expectations for the future. In doing so, the people remain top of the propriety list, as the document seeks to protect them. In the given circumstances, parents need to understand the principles with which the American constitution was formed. It enables them to educate their policies on the right values and requirements for the constitution. When teaching their children, they need to understand the different principles and explain their importance. This paper, therefore, lists the core values of the Constitution, explains each value and highlights the importance of the principles of the American constitution for parents.

Popular Sovereignty

Popular sovereignty establishes that the power is with the people and that the government is under the mandate to serve them. Tushnet, Graber, and Levinson (2015) argued that citizens must come in to check the services provided by the government and add to the behavior and morals. A bedrock argument is that citizens give out their power to leaders when voting (Tushnet et al., 2015). Hence, the representatives of the Congress, senates, states and the President must obey the Constitution and serve the public. For this aim, a monitoring system exists to keep the leaders in line every time they flop.

John Lopp is said to be the primary advocate of this principle, meaning that the government signs a social contract and must do the will of the people. In the proposal, there was a provision to overthrow, by using the recommended mechanisms, any government that failed to obey the rule. Because of the principle, people receive much power to subject the state to do what they desire. Consequently, the constitution exists to guide the country in satisfying the demands of the people. It explains why almost all the activities the government or any of its branches must aim to benefit the citizens.

Federalism

Most of the functions of the state are delegated to the different levels. Major branches are the regional, state, and the national governments. Almost all the departments of the state, like security and health, have sub-branches on all these different levels (Cogan, 2009). Their predefined roles deliver the necessary services to people. The reason for this separation of powers is establishing a simple government, whose functions do not oppress the people. Specifically, an advantage of the delegating powers gives the states an easy role to check on the national government (Cogan, 2009). As the federal government rolls out its duties, state governments ensure these rules meet the requirements of the people and do not take a form of monarchy.

Limited Governments

Individuals serving the public must have a limit to which they can work. Without them, servants can go overboard. Hence, people need to understand these roles specifically to prevent the previous situations when rulers worked excessively and oppressed their citizens so that people felt inferior and unsafe in their country (Cogan, 2009). To establish proper checks on the government, different mechanisms exist to oversee the work as defined by the constitution. There are bodies, like the judiciary, which have a supervisory role. When the people feel oppressed in some manner, they seek the guidance from these bodies to reverse their actions or reduce the harm (Amar, 2012). Additionally, the state can limit the regional governments on the roles they can take on at any time.

Judicial Review

The judiciary is the governing body that interprets laws. Without their existence, most governments will act beyond their limits and oppress the people. Moreover, tussles exist between the different levels of the governments over roles they can take and the ones they cannot handle (Amar, 2012). As a result, the people need to understand these different roles, from each level of government, as defined by the constitution. When the government works beyond their mandate, the courts tame them to follow a line, to promote a ratified system of governance (Cogan, 2009). Otherwise, laws passed by the legislative and implemented by the executive branches become oppressive to the people. To resist this, anyone can run to the courts for protection against them. A court can reverse a law by considering the implications on the rights of the citizens (Tushnet et al., 2015). Reviews by the judiciary are constantly needed with every new rule published. Once reversed, no level government or individual has authority to use the laws in their duties.

Separation of Powers

Serving the public is an immense task with different roles that one branch of the government cannot take alone. As a result, it becomes easy if work is subdivided to different wings. In subdivisions, various governmental departments focus on the specific roles given to them by the constitution. Examples of departments in government include the executive, the judiciary, and the legislative branches. Amar (2012) and Cohan (2009) agree that the legislation makes laws, the executive power enforces the laws made, and the judiciary interprets them. Each of these branches has heads: the chief justice heads the judiciary; the speaker and the executive by the president majorly head the legislation. From the top, the lower branches have roles defined to them, which are under the supervision of the top officers (Amar, 2012). Dividing these roles amongst the government branches makes the work easier as they focus on one job alone.

Checks and Balances

When each branch of the levels of government performs their roles, the chances are high that they can misuse their powers. Most branches of government must ensure others do not work excessively. An example is a parliament that legislates on the roles of the executive or the judiciary limiting the legislators from passing a law (Amar, 2012). However, the checks and balances concentrate within one branch having several groups. An example is a state court operating under the watch of the court of appeal and Supreme Court (Amar, 2012). These branches of the government work to change the concept of power sharing and ensure the government delivers only the necessary duties to the people.

Conclusion

From the different roles and principles discussed, the Constitution established the ground from which the government works to realize their correct roles. In the establishments, the state needs to work on these characters and understand the right duties to the people. The principles ensure the people are served and have the good service to the public. With this kind of duty, the public finds their needs met by the constitution. Therefore, parents should realize that it is needed to understand the laws and the principles that guide the service to humanity.

References

Amar, A. R. (2012). America’s constitution: A biography. New York, NY: Random House Publishing Group.

Cogan, N. (2009). Contexts of the constitution: A documentary collection on principles of American constitutional law. St Paul, MN: Foundation Press.

Tushnet, M., Graber, M., & Levinson, S. (2015). The Oxford handbook of the U.S. constitution. Oxford, U. K: Oxford University Press.

Wheatley, J., & Mendez, F. (2016). Patterns of constitutional design: The role of citizens and elites in constitution making. New York, NY: Routledge.