Popular Sovereignty

Article IV of the Constitution guarantees the American people a

Republican Form of Government. Today the word republic can mean
any representative government headed by a president or other elected
leader. This differs from a government in which the leader, such as a
king or queen, inherits his or her position. The Framers of the
Constitution, however, used the term republic to describe a
representative democracy. In this kind of government, power belongs
to the people. The people state their will through elected
representatives. This idea was valued by the early English colonists
who came to America.
The idea that the power of government lies with the people is called
popular sovereignty (SAHvuhrntee). Sovereignty means the right to
rule. The word popular, in this case, means the people or public.
Thus, popular sovereignty means the peoples right to rule.
The Declaration of Independence is a statement about popular
sovereignty. It says that governments should draw their powers from
the consent of the governed. The same idea is echoed in the We the
People phrase with which the Constitution begins.
Further, the Constitution includes several parts that protect and
ensure, or guarantee, the sovereignty of the people. Under the
Constitution, the will of the people is stated most strongly through
elections. By a majority vote, citizens decide who will represent them
in Congress. Through the Electoral College, voters also choose the
president and vice president. Elected officials must always answer to
the people. Elections are held at set times. Voters can reject and
replace representatives who serve them poorly.

Separation of Powers & Checks and Balances

The Framers acted to protect Americans against the abuse, or misuse,
of power. They also took steps to keep any one person or group from
gaining too much power. To set limits on power, the Framers divided
the federal government into three branches. Each branch would have
different tasks. The Framers ideas were influenced by French thinker
Baron de Montesquieu.
Montesquieu believed that the peoples liberty could be protected by
separating the legislative, executive, and judicial tasks of government.
He thought each task should be assigned to a separate branch of
government. This division of authority is called separation of powers.
This separation of powers, the Framers believed, would limit the ability
of any one branch from gaining too much power in another way. The
Framers relied on human nature. The ambition of people serving in
each branch will lead them to guard their own power from attempts by
another branch to expand its power.
Separation of powers was set up to check unlimited authority.
However, the Framers feared that one branch of government could still
gain control of the other two. Therefore, they developed another plan.
Its goal was to keep any one of the three branches from becoming too
powerful.

This plan was called checks and balances. Under a system of checks
and balances, each branch of government is able to check, or limit, the
power of the other two branches in a number of ways. The chart of
checks and balances shows you how each branch interacts with the
other two.

Federalism
Further limits on government arise from our federal system. Under
federalism, as you have learned, power is shared by the national
government and the states. Each level of governmentnational and
statehas independent authority over people at the same time.
In creating a federal system, the writers of the Constitution divided the
powers of government into three types. The powers directly granted to
the national government are called the enumerated powers. The
word enumerated means listed or spelled out. Enumerated powers
are also called the expressed or delegated powers.
There are certain powers that the Constitution does not give to the
national government. Instead, they are set aside, or reserved, for the
states. These reserved powers include regulating trade within state
borders, setting up schools, and making rules for marriage and divorce.
The authority of the national and state governments overlap in some
cases. Powers that both levels of government carry out are concurrent

powers. These powers include collecting taxes, borrowing money, and

setting up courts and prisons.
In a federal system, the laws of a state and the laws of the nation may
conflict. The Framers dealt with this possibility. They included a
statement called the supremacy clause in the Constitution. It is found
in Article VI. The supremacy clause states that the Constitution and
other laws and treaties made by the national government shall be the
supreme Law of the Land.
Because the Constitution is the highest law, the national government is
not supposed to act against it. Likewise, states may do nothing that
goes against either the Constitution or federal law.

Judicial Review
In 1803, the U.S. Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison
established that the Supreme Court has the power to determine
whether or not the actions of the other two branches of government
are legal and in line with the U.S. Constitution. This is called judicial
review.
Judicial review is the power of courts to decide the validity of acts
of the legislative and executive branches of government. If the courts
decide that a legislative act is unconstitutional, it is nullified. The
decisions of the executive and administrative agencies can also be
overruled by the courts as not conforming to the law or the
Constitution. The power of the judicial branch to review the actions of
the executive and legislative branches and determine whether or not
they are unconstitutional.

Limited Government and Rule of Law

The Framers firmly believed that the government should be strong, but
not too strong. They therefore included in the Constitution the principle
of limited government. This means that government can do only what
the people allow it to do.
"In framing a government which is to be administered [run] by men
over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the
government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige
[require] it to control itself."
James Madison, The Federalist, No. 51
The Constitution limits the power of both the federal and state
governments. It says what each may and may not do. English
monarchs, before the Magna Carta, headed unlimited governments.
The powers of these rulers had few limits.
Under the Constitution, the U.S. government is also limited by the rule
of law. This means that the law applies to everyone, even those who
govern. No one may break the law. No one, even at the highest level of
government, can escape its reach. Thus, limited government and the
rule of law may prevent tyranny by the government and protect the
liberty of the people.