The Constitution

							The Constitution
Dennis the Constitutional Peasant
On March 4, 1789, the new Congress
convened in the temp capital of NY
On March 4, 1789, the new Congress
convened in the temp capital of NY
• In fact, at this time only 11 of the 13
  states had ratified the Constitution
On March 4, 1789, the new Congress
convened in the temp capital of NY
• In fact, at this time only 11 of the 13
  states had ratified the Constitution
• Our population stood at 3,000,000
  whites, and 50,000 free blacks
On March 4, 1789, the new Congress
convened in the temp capital of NY
• In fact, at this time only 11 of the 13
  states had ratified the Constitution
• Our population stood at 3,000,000
  whites, and 50,000 free blacks
• The document that had been ratified by
  the states was now the supreme law
  governing the United States
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Popular Sovereignty – the people are
  the only source of governmental power
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Popular Sovereignty – the people are
  the only source of governmental power
  – “We the People of the United States”
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Limited Government
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Limited Government
  – Gov’t must be conducted according to the
    Constitution
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Limited Government
  – Gov’t must be conducted according to the
    Constitution
  – Gov’t is not above the law
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Limited Government
  – Gov’t must be conducted according to the
    Constitution
  – Gov’t is not above the law
  – Remember our cartoon
  from the other day?
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Limited Government
  – Gov’t must be conducted according to the
    Constitution
  – Gov’t is not above the law
• The Constitution is a list of limitations
  and guarantees that the gov’t has
  regarding the people
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Separation of Powers
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Separation of Powers
  – Isaiah 33:22, "For the Lord is our judge,
    the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our
    King; he will save us."
  – Judicial, legislative, executive
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Separation of Powers
  – Clearly written in Article I, Section 1
     • All legislative powers vested in Congress
  – Article II, Section 1
     • The executive power is vested in a president
  – Article III, Section 1
     • The judicial power is vested in one Supreme
       Court and several inferior courts
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Checks and Balances
  The 6 Basic Principles of the
  Constitution
  • Checks and Balances (pg. 58)
                          Approves justices, creates lower courts
   Judicial Branch                                   Legislative Branch
                               unconstitutional
                     Appoints
                     supreme court,          Veto
Life terms, free     federal judges                   Override Veto,
from executive
                                                      impeach
pressure, can
                          Executive Branch            president,
declare
                                                      approves treaties
executive
                                                      made by president
actions
unconstitutional
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Judicial Review
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Judicial Review
  – The power to declare something
    unconstitutional
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Judicial Review
  – The power to declare something
    unconstitutional
  – Marbury v. Madison took this unclear part
    of the constitution and clarified and
    establish this power
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Federalism
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Federalism
  – The division of power between a central
    government and several regional
    governments
The 6 Basic Principles of the
Constitution
• Federalism
  – The division of power between a central
    government and several regional
    governments
  – Remember the colonists’ complaint about a
    distant central government
Is the Constitution a Christian Document?
• Number of times they appear in the
  constitution:
  – God: 0
  – Creator: 0
  – Jesus: 0
  – Christian: 0
Ten Commandments in the Constitution
• First two commandments are
  contradicted by the 1st amendment
  – You should have no other gods before me
  – No graven images
          » Exodus 20: 2-3
Constitution Specifically singles out
religion
• Congress shall make no law respecting
  an establishment of religion, or
  prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
  abridging the freedom of speech, or of
  the press; or the right of the people
  peaceably to assemble, and to petition
  the Government for a redress of
  grievances.
Constitution Specifically singles out
religion
• Some argue that Article VI says that no
  "no religious Test shall ever be required
  as a Qualification to any Office or public
  Trust under the United States."
  – " If the authors of the Constitution did
    indeed wish to create a document
    designed to favor Christianity, why would
    religious tests (common in the colonies at
    the time) be specifically forbidden? “
        – Atheist Austin Cline
Founding Fathers and Christianity
• Most were Christian
• Most had a very good knowledge of
  the Bible
• Not sure how many had a true personal
  relationship with God
• Most were deists
  – Believed in a God who created the world
    and the laws the govern it, but He is not
    active in the world
Is it a Christian Document?
• No
• It is actually quite secular, and
  extremely secular for the time in whch
  it was written
Downer?
• No
  – While not an out right Christian document,
    it is based in many Christian principles
Foundations of Democracy and Christian
Principles (4th time you have seen this)
• Fundamental worth of the individual
   – God desires a personal relationship with everyone
• Equality of all persons
   - God is the creator of all humans, and values every one
• Majority Rule with protection of the minority
  - God loves and protects even those who have not accepted
  him yet
• Necessity of compromise
   - Jesus…he was sent do die for our sins because we cannot do
      it on our own
• Individual Freedom
   - Free will, free to make the choice to follow Christ
Our calling
• What is more important, is that the
  Constitution allows us to be Christians
  involved in our Government
  – We need to participate in electing and
    being elected to our government to shape
    it in a Christian worldview
Our calling
• 2 Chronicles 7:14
• If my people, who are called by my
  name, will humble themselves and pray
  and seek my face and turn from their
  wicked ways, then I will hear from
  heaven, and I will forgive their sin and
  will heal their land
Our calling
• The job of the government is to do for
  the people what they can't do for
  themselves. And the job of bringing
  people to faith belongs to the private
  citizens.
Our calling
• "Let us look forward to the time when
 we can take the flag of our country and
 nail it below the Cross, and there let it
 wave as it waved in the olden times,
 and let us gather around it an inscribed
 for our motto: "Liberty and Union, one
 and inseparable, now and forever," and
 exclaim, Christ first, our country next!" -
 - Andrew Johnson