USI.14

 Standard USI.15>

media type="custom" key="29546825" align="right" =**Explain the characteristics of American democracy, including the concepts of popular sovereignty and constitutional government, which includes representative institutions, federalism, separation of powers, shared powers, checks and balances, and individual rights. **=

** Topics on the Page **

 * Teaching Resources **
 * Popular Sovereignty **
 * Federalism **
 * Separation of Powers **
 * Checks and Balances **
 * Individual Rights **

//Focus Question: How does American democracy form a government of the people, by the people, for the people?//

 * [[image:Screen Shot 2017-04-14 at 2.41.45 PM.png]]See United States Government 2.4 for more definitions of key terms from this standard.**

Teaching Resources
For more information, see
 * ===United States Goverment.3.3 on the key concepts of American constitutional government. See also Grade 7.38===
 * ===United States Government.1.6 on the characteristics of democracy.===
 * ===United States Government.1.5 on the rule of law in a constitution, including lesson plans on teaching students about Constitutional Rights.===

[|The Road to the Capitol] is an interactive game that lets students participate as a candidate for Congress.

[|Creating a Metaphor for the Three Branches of Government]is a lesson plan from from The Dirksen Congressional Center.

The [|13 Keys to the Presidency] is a model that predicts the outcomes of Presidential elections developed by historian Allan Lichtman of American University.

**Popular Sovereignty**
For more information and issues involving popular sovereignty, explore USI.36 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

[|Popular sovereignty] is a concept that evolved in 18th century Europe in response to the then-dominant practice of sovereignty: the supreme authority in a political community.
 * By contrast, popular sovereignty, an idea that came out of the [|Age of Enlightenment], posited that there is a contractual agreement between the members of a society, and that laws are legitimate only if they are consented to, either directly or indirectly, by those governed by those laws.
 * This idea was adopted in the new model of American democracy

A [|Constitutional Govern][|ment] is directed and limited by its constitution as the guide for its legal workings and structure. The constitution also enumerates the principles under which the government has been established.

** [|Federalism] **


 * For more on constitutional debates over federalism, see __United__ States History I.8**

As the revolution and struggle for independence ensued, there was the question of whether the colonies would continue to be loosely confederated or become more centrally organized into a state with a more potent federal government.

Through Federalism, citizens of the United States have their rights protected by two entities: the state and national governments. However, the relationship between state and national government has not always been harmonious. The question of who is the ultimate authority is often debated between the state and national governments.

[|Federalism Cartoon]

Think of Federalism in national and state government as a Marble Cake.
 * With the chocolate (national government) being on top and the dominant force, while vanilla (state government) is on the bottom.
 * However, examine the cake further and one can see vanilla on top, with chocolate underneath it.
 * There are also times where the two are in line with each other.
 * This can be considered "concurrent powers" where the state and national government rule equally.

The United States Government is divided into three branches: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.
 * [|Separation of Powers] **
 * To prevent one branch from dominating the other two, the Framers separated the powers of the government between these branches.
 * The most salient example is legislating bills.
 * The Legislative branch (Congress) can debate a bill and approve it, but it is the Executive branch (President) that turns the bill into a law.

[|Does the Separation of Powers Produce Ineffective Government?] is a lesson plan from The Dirkksen Congressional Center

Click here to play "Branches of Power". In this game, you can control all 3 branches of power. This game helps explain which branch controls what.

For a brief game on the branches of power, visit the Branches of Government Game

Click here for a John Oliver clip about the separation of powers in the 2016-17 Supreme Court nomination process(few swears)


 * [|Checks and Balances] **

To ensure that the government's powers were truly separated, the Framers made it possible for each branch to "check" the power of another branch and have the power and roles of the branches balanced.

A [|succinct explanation] of the checks and balances of the government.

Checks and balances through the [|nomination] of a Supreme Court nominee. For a brief game on checks and balances, visit the Checks and Balances Game.


 * Individual Rights **

Even with the checks and balances and the separation of powers, some of the Framers feared the government would become too tyrannical and would not protect the individual rights of the citizens. To ensure the citizens were protected from the government, the Constitution (transcript of the Constitution) was amended almost immediately after its ratification. The first ten amendments, know as the Bill of Rights, ensured that the individual rights of the citizens wouldn't be infringed upon by the government.

[|The Bill of Rights]

Click here for Constitutional Protection of Individual Rights for an explanation of how the Bill of Rights came to be and the ways in which it protects individual rights.

Click here for The Bill of Rights: A Brief History for an ACLU article about how the Bill of Rights affects minorities.

Go to Constitution USA for an overview of the concepts of"
 * Majority Rule vs. Minority Rights
 * Negative Rights vs. Positive Rights

Sources [1Popular Sovereignty] (Revised: 2004-07-02), retrieved March 30, 2009, []