The Six Basic Principles
Limited Government- People give the government more power, but the government only has so much to have. The government doesn’t already have power, it has to receive it. The people have to give them power. For example, think of the Grinch and his house is the government. The Grinch has no gifts at home, so he steals kids presents to have gifts at his house.
Popular Sovereignty
Popular Sovereignty- This principle states that the source of government’s power lies with the people. The belief comes from the idea that the government should be to help the people. If the government is not doing their job, than they can be shut down. For example, people will start to ask why they are not getting helped out.
Separation of Powers
Separation of Powers- The government is divided into three parts, so that no one part has all the power. Each has its own purpose: to make laws, execute laws, and summarize laws. If three captains were holding onto a map, one couldn’t hold all of it because it’s not even. If two of the captains try to have all of it at the same time the map will rip, that’s why it has to be shared.
Checks and Balances
Checks and Balances- To protect the people, the constitution set up a system call checks and balances. Each part of the government has a certain number of checks that it can use to tell the other parts do not become too powerful. For example, if a kid doesn’t know how to spell “Dog” and they try to spell it their way than they will try to spell other words their way. That is when the teacher comes in and corrects the student from being wrong and so that the student won’t keep writing words according to their way.
Judicial Review- This is the power that allows the Supreme Court to choose if the acts and laws are useful. Imagine your dad by a new car in the winter but it’s snowing. The cars are all piled with snow on top of them. The car salesman tells your dad that each car is useful and perfectly brand new with no marks, scratches, or anything to damage it. Even though the snow is on top of every car on the lot, the car salesman still tries to sell your dad the car.
Federalism
Federalism- This is idea came from the heart of the government and it explains how the governments don’t control the entire nation. Each state has its own government. So each state has a governor who controls their part of the country. Each governor is selected by the people and is transferred into that state to be a leader.