AP EXAM REVIEW

US Constitution

• Written by James Madison

  • Written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 

  • Convention was led by George Washington, with Alexander Hamilton and members of the “Grand Committee” making important contributions to the document

• Adopted 1789

What are the sections of the constitution

Article I - Congress

Article II - Presidency

Article III - Judiciary

Article IV - Relationship between the States

Article V - Amendment Process

Article VI - Supremacy Clause

Article VII - How to Ratify the Constitution

Informal powers/checks

Bully Pulpit: President’s prestige and visibility guide opinion 

Executive Privilege: president can keep communications with advisors private and confidential 

Signing Statement: document the president writes upon signing a law which say how it’ll be enforced 

US v. Nixon: presidential claims of executive privilege aren’t valid during a criminal investigation 

Budget Reform Act of 1974: president must spend all funds Congress appropriates (can’t impound funds) 

War Powers Resolution (1974): restricts president’s ability to wage war

Federal Government

• Enumerated powers

• Elastic clause (implied powers)

• Commerce clause

• Supremacy clause

State Government

• 10th Amendment (reserved powers)

• Devolution

• Police powers

• Ratifies Amendments 

The People

• Vote

• Sue

• Civil Rights + Liberties

  • Bill of Rights

Democracy in Our System (government over people)

• Senators originally selected by state governments (A1, S3, C1)

• Longer terms for Senators + staggered reelections (A1, S3, C1 + 2)

• Can suspend Habeas Corpus during a rebellion (A1, S9, C2)

• Electoral College (A2, S1, C2 – 4)

• Appointment process (A2, S2, C2 + 3)

• Independent Judiciary (A3, S1)

• Life tenure for Supreme Court Justices (A3, S1)

• Sovereign Immunity 

• Representative Democracy (trustee model of governance) 

Democracy in Our System (people over government)

• Direct election in House of Reps. (A1, S2, C1)

• No ex post facto laws, no bills of attainder, habeas corpus (A1, S9, C2 + 3;  A1, S10, C1)

• Full Faith and Credit (states honor laws of other states) (A4, S1)

• Privileges and Immunities (states honor residents of other states)  (A4, S2, C1)

• Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly, Petition, Guns, Criminal Justice Rights, etc. (Bill of Rights)

• Enumerating rights doesn’t limit them (9^th amendment)

• Rights not listed are reserved for states or people (10^th Amendment)

• Enfranchisement (15^th [race], 19^th [women], 23^rd [DC], 24^th [Poll Tax] + 26^th [18 Year Olds] amendments) 

• Direct election of Senators (17^th Amendment)

• Limits president to 2 terms (22^nd Amendment) 

• Initiative, Referendum, Recall 

• Run for office, sue, etc. 

• Opinion polls (informal)

• Clinton v. Jones (President can be sued for crimes committed before they got into office)

Major Philosophies in Constitution

• Social Contract

  • Establishes a system where all people give up some freedoms to maintain social order 

• Limited Government

  • Creates limits on the government’s power and authority

Federalism Major Clauses

Supremacy Clause

• Gives national government and its laws precedence over states’ laws 

Necessary and Proper Clause 

• Gives Congress the power to make laws related to carrying out its enumerated powers (implied powers)

Commerce Clause

• Gives national government power to regulate interstate commerce

Bill of Rights (first ammendment)

PAPeRS

Press

Assembly

Petition

Religion (Establishment + Free Exercise Clauses)

Speech

Freedom of Religion

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

Free Exercise Clause - Congress can’t pass laws preventing you from practicing your religion, as long as it does not cause serious harm to others (Wisconsin v. Yoder)

Establishment Clause - There is a “wall of separation” between Church and State. This means the government cannot establish a state religion or even be involved with any religion (e.g. by hosting prayer or displaying religious symbols) (Engel v. Vitale)

Bill of Rights: Criminal Justice 

4th Amendment - no unreasonable searches and seizures 

5th Amendment - due process clause; no double jeopardy; can’t be forced to testify against yourself 

6th Amendment - right to a trial and a lawyer

7th Amendment - common law suits (least important)

8th Amendment - no cruel and unusual punishment or excessive bail

Rest of the Bill of Rights

2nd Amendment - Right to bear arms (see DC v. Heller, 2008; McDonald v. Chicago, 2010)

3rd Amendment - no quartering soldiers in homes

9th Amendment - Listing rights in the Constitution does not mean that people don’t have more rights not mentioned here 

10th Amendment - Powers not in Constitution are given to the states or people (see: federalism + devolution)

Reconstruction Amendments

13th Amendment - Ended slavery

14th Amendment - Granted former slaves citizenship

15th Amendment - Granted all male persons the right to vote regardless of race

14th Amendment

Due Process Clause

• In 14th and 5th Amendments - 14th applies to states and 5th applies to federal government

• Give the national government the power to enforce protections for any person against the states

Equal Protection Clause

• Same as the Due Process Clause (more powerful)

• Does not apply to states - only in 14th Amendment 

Amendments: Expanding the Franchise

14^th Amendment (1868) - grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the USA

15^th Amendment (1870) - grants right to vote for all races

17^th Amendment (1913) - Senators now elected by direct vote of the people (not state legislatures)

19^th Amendment (1920) - grants right to vote for women

23^rd Amendment (1961) - grants right to vote for residents of Washington, D.C.

24^th Amendment (1964) - eliminates poll taxes

26^th Amendment (1971) - lowers voting age to 18

Amendments: Presidential Term/Succession

22^nd Amendment (1951) - no person can be elected president for more than two terms

25^th Amendment (1967) - (1) Vice President becomes President upon the death, removal, or resignation of the President; (2) the President nominates and Congress confirms appointment of a new Vice President, if necessary; (3) creates a system for the Vice President and Cabinet to remove President 

Declaration of Independence

• Written by Thomas Jefferson

  • John Adams + Ben Franklin also contributed 

• Signed July 4th, 1776

Things in Declaration of Independence

• Natural Rights

  • “All men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights… Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

• Popular Sovereignty

  • The idea that government is based on the will of the people (“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”)

  • Governments can be overthrown if they abuse the people (“it is their [the people’s] right to throw off such government” if there is “a long train of abuses and usurpations”) 

Articles of Confederation

• First government of America

  • In effect, 1781-1789

• Confederal System 

  • States are supreme 

• Enacted after Revolutionary War

  • People feared a strong central government due to their experience under the British monarch

• Undone by the Constitutional Convention

  • Shay’s Rebellion led people to believe that a stronger government was needed

Powers of Articles of Confederation

• Make treaties + alliances

• Declare war

• Coin money

• Appoint key army officers

• Run post office

• Borrow money

• Settle disputes between states

Problems w/ Articles of Confederation

• Can’t tax 

• Can’t enforce laws it passes or treaties 

• No permanent executive or judicial branch

• Lack of centralized military power

• Lack of power to regulate interstate commerce

• Couldn’t amend Articles without all 13 states agreeing

• Needed 9/13 states to approve to pass any law

Federalist 10

• Factions

  • Definition: “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion… adverse to the rights of other citizens

  • “The latent causes of faction are thus sown into the nature of man”

• Cures:

  • Large republic - controls effects of factions

  • Disperses power between states and national government (federalism)

  • Republicanism (representative democracy)

Brutus 1

• Adhered to popular democratic theory that emphasized the benefits of a small, decentralized republic 

• Warned of dangers to personal liberty from a large, centralized government

Federalist 51

• Checks and Balances + Separation of Powers

  • “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”

• People are evil

Federalist 70

• A single executive is good for the country

  • It provides energy, dispatch, security, secrecy

  • Security: Unitary executive is more accountable for their actions than a group

  • Energy (most important): Unitary executive acts more quickly and vigorously than a group

  • Public opinion more easily influences one executive than a group

• Most oppose single executive (b/c of Roman example of Dictator and British Monarch) but it’s actually good for the above reasons - esp. in wartime and foreign affairs, and to prevent corruption 

Fed 70 quote

A strong executive is “essential to the protection of the country against foreign attacks, to the steady administration of the laws, to the protection of property, and to the security of liberty.”

Federalist 78

• Judges hold lifetime appointments while in “GOOD BEHAVIOR”

  • Point of the judiciary is as a “barrier to the encroachments and oppressions of the representative body.”

  • Leads to “steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws”

• Judiciary is the “least dangerous” branch

• Despite not being in the text of the Constitution, the concept of judicial review is clearly intended to be a power of this branch from this document (Founders’ intended it)

Andrew Jackson on the Judicial Branch

Andrew Jackson - discussing a Supreme Court decision which he opposed, said: 

“John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” (1832)

Indeed - Jackson ignored the decision.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

• 4 key issues: 

  • Outside agitators - “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” 

  • Just v. Unjust Laws - it is good to break unjust laws (gives a definition)

  • What is civil disobedience? - must break laws openly to oppose injustice 

Moderation vs. Extremism - better to be an extremist; moderates are keeping civil rights back

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Facts: President Adams appointed court judges at midnight before leaving office. President Jefferson comes into office the next day, and refuses to give the appointments. 

Holding: Neither party is correct - the law upon which the case rests (the Judiciary Act of 1801) is unconstitutional. 

Reasoning: Established Judicial Review, which did not exist before this. This is the power of the judicial branch to determine whether laws are constitutional.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Facts: Congress established a National Bank. Maryland wanted to tax that bank, which created a conflict. 

Holding: The National Bank is allowed and non-taxable by states.

Reasoning: The Necessary and Proper Clause allowed Congress to have powers not specifically enumerated in the Constitution - we call these Implied Powers.

US v. Lopez (1995)

Facts: A student brought a gun to school. This violates the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990. 

Holding: The law in question is declared unconstitutional. 

Reasoning: Guns are not an economic activity. Therefore, Congress cannot regulate them through the Commerce Clause.

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Facts: Tennessee malapportioned their state districts. Some justices considered apportionment a political question.  

Holding: Malapportionment is illegal. Redistricting is not a political question. It outlines a new definition for political questions. 

Reasoning: The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees citizens equally apportioned representation in the legislature

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

Facts: North Carolina was ordered after the 1990 census (by federal gov., under the Voting Rights Act of 1965) to gerrymander their districts to create a second, black majority district. Some citizens sued. 

Holding: Gerrymandering along racial lines is illegal; however other gerrymanders are still legal.  

Reasoning: The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment protects citizens from racial gerrymandering.

Citizens United vs. FEC (2010)

Facts: A movie called Hillary: The Movie was released by a group called Citizens United. This violated the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which made certain “electioneering communication” illegal 60 days prior to an election. 

Holding: The movie was allowed to be shown. 

Reasoning: The First Amendment's protection of Freedom of Speech protects corporations and other groups’ “electioneering communications”. In this case spending money is a form of protected speech.