The Constitution Clarifies

The Constitution clarifies

By: Adnan Sbai , and Gabriel Carlson

Chapter 1: Consti Talks About the Declaration of Independence

Hi my name is Consti the American Constitution not only am I one of the
biggest parts of American government, I know lots about it too. The

Declaration of Independence for example is something I know rather well. It
was the document that the colonies used to state that they were, as of then

independent from Britain. That document is was what helped start The
Revolutionary War get started. When the American colonies had finally won
the war, they had to get to work on their government. It ended the war and

showed our independence.

Chapter 2: Consti recalls the Connecticut Compromise

I recall much more that has happened throughout American Past for instance
the Connecticut Compromise. This compromise was the result of the
delegates not being able to agree on either the New Jersey plan, which was
having an equal number of representatives for each state, or the Virginia plan,
with representative number based on the population of a state. So they
created the Connecticut Compromise. This compromise allowed for equal
representation in senate, and representation based on the population of the
house of representatives. This allowed the representatives to focus on other
issues.

Chapter 3: Consti talks about the Separation of Powers

I witnessed when the government separated into powers. The
representatives did this by deciding to divide the power into the three new
branches of federal government and also the state government. The state
is able to do certain things, and the federal government can do other
things. State governments are smaller, but help keeps some balance in
that specific state. Federal government governs all, but to a certain
degree.

Chapter 4: Consti Brings up the Articles of Confederation

The articles of confederation was almost a birth to me and was the first
attempt at self government for the americans. They had their benefits from
the way land was split amongst the colonies, and also the freedom that the
people had from the government. There were too many drawbacks, however.
The government couldn’t have a standing army, print money, defend the
states from attackers, or anything that required much more power than they
were allowed to have.

Chapter 5: Consti Speaks of The Branches of Government

I was there for the beginnings of the branches of government. The Executive
branch (president and vice president) carried out laws, the Legislative branch
(house of reps and senate) created the laws, and the judicial branch (supreme
court) determined if a law was being broken or if it was unconstitutional. The
three branches need to agree on a new law if it isn’t passed, than it is voted on
again and can eventually overthrow the veto of the president should he
decline it. The judicial branch can also decline laws, but only if it's
unconstitutional.

Chapter 6: Consti Explains The Three-Fifths Compromise

I was there to witness slavery also and what came along with that was the
Three-Fifths compromise. Over long conflict between two sides in the
counting of slaves into a place’s population gave the birth to the three-fifths
compromise. Three-fifths of slaves would be tallied as citizens in every state at
the constitutional convention of 1787. This helped to determine the
representation of states in the House of Representatives and their delegates.

Chapter 7: Consti States What Sovereignty Is

The government was decided to not have too much more power than the
citizens, so they made Sovereignty that the people were what the government
would get it's power from. When I went to the polls, The people can vote for
representatives, justices (who’s in the supreme court) and the president. They
also have some power over the state government, but the citizens have to
follow the rules they agree to as long as it's constitutional. If the government is
viewed as being unjust or abusing power, the citizens can overthrow it, but
that has never happened since america was founded.

Chapter 8: Consti Gossips About the Federalists

The federalists who were technically my parents who created me were people
who supported the concepts of the constitution. The federalists were the
people who helped form the constitution, they had to try and get the
constitution signed off by every state, but not all of them agreed. The
anti-federalists tried to keep it from being signed unless there was a bill of
rights, or something listing what the government could never change ever.
They made an official bill of rights, and the last few states then signed it.

Chapter 9: Consti brings up The Bill of Rights

Something that was successful in American government were the bill of rights
is the name of the first 10 amendments. These amendments are what got the
last states who didn’t agree with the constitution to sign off on it. These
amendments can never be broken by the government, or anyone for any
reason. These amendments range from freedom of speech and religion, to the
right to own guns, to having rights in court.

Chapter 10: Consti elaborates on the amendments

Lastly to wrap up the amendments that I witness created were the first 10
laws of the constitution, they are also known as the bill of rights. The
other amendments are added laws or guidelines added later by the
government as time went on. These amendments can be specifying
certain rules of a law, changing a law to include or exclude something, or
an additional law added by the government.

Activity links

http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/pages.aspx?name=all-games-and-interactives&Asp
xAutoDetectCookieSupport=1