Well hey there and welcome back to Heimler’s
History. We’ve been going through Unit 3 of the AP U.S. History curriculum, and in the last
video we saw how the Articles of Confederation was replaced by the Constitution of the
United States as America’s new governing document. In this video we’re going to look
at the main content of the Constitution, and I can see that them brain cows are
ready to get milked, so let’s get to it. So if you’ll recall from the last
video, delegates from the states met in Philadelphia in 1787 at the Constitutional
Convention. Here they hammered out a new governing document through debate and
compromise which expanded the power and influence of the federal government. And they did
this because no small part of the failure of the Articles of Confederation was that the federal
government was far too weak to be effective. So let’s have a look at the major provisions
of the Constitution. And we’ll by no means look at everything, but in order to taste
a little of the constitutional sauce we really need to look at two major themes:
federalism and the separation of powers. Let’s start with federalism. Now this term is
a perpetual scourge to high school students everywhere, and they often misinterpret
it. And the reason students so often get it wrong is because federalism sounds like the
federal government, and the federal government is the national government. So when you hear
that the Constitution embodies federalism, what you immediately think is, Oh
that means the federal governing is more powerful than the states. But that is
emphatically NOT what federalism means. So I’m about to tell you what it means and
I want you to write it down, bold it, highlight it, underline it, tattoo it on
your forehead so you don’t get it wrong. Federalism just means the sharing of power between
the national government and the state government. Say it with me now. Federalism is the sharing of
power between state and national governments. It doesn’t mean that one has more power than the
other, it just means that they share the power to govern a people. Okay, assuming your forehead
tattoo is finished and healed up, let me continue. Now, with respect to federalism, even though
I just said neither the national government nor the state government was more powerful
than the other, I’m about to complicate it a little. Article VI of the Constitution,
also known as the supremacy clause, does in fact state that national law trumps state
law whenever they contradict. On the other hand, there are only certain national laws that fall
under this category, and these are called the enumerated powers of Congress which are given
to us in Article I Section 8. An example of an enumerated power of the federal government is the
power to declare war. If the federal government declares war on Canada, for example, and Rhode
Island is like, yeah we’re not into that, then sorry, Rhode Island, supremacy clause,
we bout to invade Canada. So with respect to the powers outlined in Article I Section 8,
the federal government has the trump card. But then we get the Tenth Amendment which
shifts power over to the states. It says, “The powers not delegated to the United States…
are reserved to the states.” Which basically means that power NOT listed in Article I
Section 8 belongs to the state governments. This included powers like defining legal
relationships like marriage or divorce, etc. So that’s how federalism plays out in the
Constitution. Some powers are explicitly given to the federal government, and others are reserved
exclusively for the states. Power is shared. But in addition to federalism, the new
Constitution also provided for a separation of powers between the three branches of government.
The three branches established by the Constitution are as follows. The legislative branch which is
responsible for making laws. The executive branch, which is to say a president, which is responsible
for carrying out and enforcing the laws. And the judicial branch, or the Supreme Court, which is
responsible for interpreting laws to make sure they align with the Constitution. Side
note, the judicial branch wasn’t given much love in the Constitution, but in the
next few videos we’ll see how the Supreme Court got its big boy pants on and became a
major player with respect to federal power. Now the last thing you need to know about this
separation of powers in the federal government is that the framers of the Constitution set it
up this way so that each branch could check and balance the power of the other. No one branch
of government had all the power. For example, the legislative branch creates and proposes
laws, but the president must approve and sign it in order for the law to become
binding. If the president doesn’t approve, then the president has the executive power
of veto which puts the kibosh on the proposed law and that is a check on the power of Congress.
However, as a check on the power of the executive, Congress can override the veto with a
two-thirds majority vote. And that’s just one example of the many ways the three
branches check and balance each other. But the Constitution’s provision for both
federalism and the separation of power in the three branches really comes down to this.
The framers of the Constitution were under no delusions about human nature. They understood
that humans are, by nature, turds, and will always abuse the power given to them. Which
is why James Madison argued in Federalist 51, “If men were angels no government would
be necessary.” That being the case, the framers took special care to distribute the
power to govern over several different entities, and this was their plan to protect
the American people from tyranny. Okay that’s what you need to know about Unit 3
topic 9 of the AP U.S. History curriculum. If you’re enjoying your new forehead tattoo,
you might also enjoy getting an A in your class and a five on your exam in May, and
to that end I recommend that you grab my then go ahead and subscribe right here and I
will remain your obedient servant. Heimler out.