No, We Haven’t Evolved Beyond Our Constitution

This past week the Constitution turned 234 years old, signed September 17, 1787. I’d like to take a look at how well it is aging.

"Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" by Howard Chandler Christy
image found on Wikipedia

Back in the day, there were some things our founders probably couldn’t have imagined: cars, subways, trains, airplanes, rockets to space, satellites, electricity, lightbulbs, radio, telephones, television, computers, cell phones, internet. I was alive for the landing on the moon. I went through college doing term papers with the footnotes at the bottom of the page—where I had to roll the paper down to the right location on the typewriter to type the note, then roll back up to type the rest of the page, and hope it all fit. If it didn’t, I’d have to type the whole page over, correcting any errors with white out (a little bottle of white paint you brushed on over the typo). When we got really advanced, we used erasable bond paper, which smeared badly, so you had to be really careful, and then you had to get a Xerox copy to turn in, because teachers didn’t like the thin texture of the paper or the smearing.

Computers were around, even when I was in high school (or before), but they were large, room-sized devices that you fed programming cards into. Personal computers came out, in rudimentary forms, shortly after college.

illustration of technological progress found here

I remember one person with a mobile phone during college. It was connected to his car and was the size of a large brick, required a large antenna, and also did not have a very clear sound. I didn’t see a need for a cell phone until we moved to Houston in 1998. I didn’t have a “smart phone” until two phones ago (phone life is longer for me than for most at 3-5 years).

So all this technology surrounding us has changed. But have humans changed?

There’s a prejudice against older generations, a feeling of self-importance current generations have, where we think those people back then were primitive—not just technologically, but in their thinking as well. I think there’s a word for it, but I can’t come up with it right now. Presentism is close, the assumption that past generations are bad for not holding the same cultural morals as are held in present culture. But that’s not quite it.

Anyway, while we may think we’re better for all our technological advances, there have been tradeoffs. We’ve mostly let go of basics, like how to sustain ourselves during a famine, or how to treat ourselves in the absence of a hospital, or how to dispose of waste. Maybe even how to make cheese. Specialization has meant letting go of general knowledge, much of which was widely known by past generations but has been lost to us. Think about something as simple as going to the bathroom, where we find easy access to toilet paper and soap and water. I’ve experienced camping, but I bring along comforts of home, plus maybe some hand sanitizer.

The point is, technology doesn’t equal human advancement. Humans are still human. Even evolutionists talk in time lengths of millions of years, not the mere handful of millennia of recorded history. Humans today are flawed in the same ways as our ancestors—but maybe with the technology to spread the harm further.

So, here’s what our founding fathers—and all wise people throughout history—knew about human nature: Humans are imperfect. Among the imperfections are:

·         Pride

·         Selfishness

·         Deceitfulness

·         Manipulation

·         Cheating

·         Greed

·         Thievery

·         Prejudice

·         Short-temperedness

·         Impatience

·         Laziness

·         Tendency toward violence

·         Lust

·         Power mongering

I haven’t covered them all, of course. But they include the problems brought up in the Ten Commandments. They include the 7 Deadly Sins. They include human weakness depicted in stories, and from life over the centuries—regardless of what technology the people may have had. Ancient Greeks and Romans faced the same human weaknesses. So did people through the Dark Ages and the Renaissance. And in Ancient Israel, Ancient China, Ancient India, or Ancient anywhere.  

portraits of Greek philosophers Sokrates, Antisthenes, Chrissipos, and Epikouros
in the British Museum

The last one on that list, power mongering, is particularly important when we’re talking about government. There’s a scripture used in my faith to warn against abuse of power:

We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. (Doctrine & Covenants 121:39)

James Madison put it this way in Federalist No. 51,

If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government that is to be administered 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 it to control itself.

Mark Twain said it this way, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Chapter 10, “Beginnings of Civilization”:

Unlimited power is the ideal thing when it is in safe hands. The despotism of heaven is the one absolutely perfect government. An earthly despotism would be the absolutely perfect earthly government, if the conditions were the same, namely, the despot the perfectest individual of the human race, and his lease of life perpetual. But as a perishable perfect man must die, and leave his despotism in the hands of an imperfect successor, an earthly despotism is not merely a bad form of government, it is the worst form that is possible.

Humans are flawed. Even (especially) in 2021. If you’re looking at some human evolution since 1787, you’re probably not going to find any measurable progress. At all.

People are not angels. Until they are, there needs to be limits placed on the authority anyone is granted.

The question is, then, is there any reason to think the Constitution is outdated? Insofar as it addresses ways to protect us from human flaws like lust for power, then, no; it is definitely not outdated.

The Constitution, which we’re celebrating, is an instrument for limiting government in a way intended to give individuals as much freedom as possible while limiting their ability to harm one another—which is what government is instituted to do.

The Preamble is the mission statement. As opposed to the loosely governing Articles of Confederation, which weren’t doing their necessary governing job, the Constitution was set up by “We the People of the United States”:

In Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity….

Constitution detail, image from Wikipedia

The first purpose is to get the separate states more unified, to do the things a nation needs to be able to do—things like make treaties with other nations, establish trade with other nations, keep the peace among the member states, etc.

General Welfare does not mean a national-level charity giveaway program. It means promoting what is in the best interest of the nation as a whole, rather than favoring one state or region over another.

Does every nation have to have an identical constitution to this one in order to flourish? Not necessarily. But what they would have to do is meet the principles—the ways of dividing and balancing power so that the good could be done that needs doing by a federal government, while leaving freedom to the people and the local jurisdictions.

Our three branches of government separate the lawmaking duties, the executive duties (i.e., the carrying out of the laws), and the judicial duties (i.e., the judging according to the laws). And the lawmaking duties are further divided into state representation in the upper chamber and population representation in the lower chamber, which have to deliberate and come to agreement on any laws enacted. It's not meant to be easy.

Around this time of year last year, I wrote a 4-part series on the Constitution, with an introduction and then covering the first three articles:

·       Try Reading the Constitution, Part I 

·       Part II: Article I—Legislative Branch 

·       Part III: Article II—Executive Branch 

·       Part IV: Article III—Judicial Branch 

The point here was that the Constitution is readable and understandable—no lawyer or judge needed to interpret it. And we ought to be reading it and understanding it.

It’s hard to know at this point whether We the People will be able to take corrective action so that our country will once again be governed by our basic law, the Constitution. There are so many egregious violations right now. And the laws are only good for a people that respect them and adhere to them. Otherwise we just have tyranny of the most powerful—as most of historical mankind has had to deal with.

As with the treatments available for a certain virus, treatments for our beloved Constitution on life support are denied, as though they don’t exist. We may have to start small—at our school board races, and our local government. Stop tyranny there by our constant vigilance. And then work with others to stop tyranny at every level all the way up.

We’re going to have to be better, to overcome our human flaws, so we merit the help I hope God is willing to give. I believe He’s willing to give it, because He gave the help to our founders back in 1787 to come up with this Constitution. It’s a miraculous governmental instrument that leads to freedom, prosperity, and civilization—every time good people try it.

Try reading the Constitution, Part II

We’re doing a series of pieces celebrating the US Constitution. Part I is here.

Today, we’ll start the actual exercise of our series with Article I, pertaining to the legislative branch. If you’ve had the idea that the Constitution is hard to understand, too much legalistic language as well as too many archaic words, you might want to give it another try. Feel free to get out your pocket Constitution to follow along.

Article I covers the legislative branch.

Article I

We'll go through these section by section, with a bit of commentary. Here’s Article I, section 1:

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and House of Representative.

You know what legislative means: related to the making of laws. “Herein granted” may not be our normal conversational speech, but “herein” means within this document, the Constitution. And granted means given. Then “vested” is the next slight challenge. It means fully given, or placed, as a legal right or privilege. In today’s speech it would be hard to get clearer. But we might say,

All legislative powers granted by this Constitution are placed in a Congress of the United States…

Then there’s the part about the Congress consisting of two bodies, a Senate and a House of Representatives.

Remember a history lesson about the Great Compromise? That was the way to balance the power of population against the power of the states. Each member of the House would represent a set number of constituents (voters being represented). The Senate would have two members from each state, to represent the states’ interests. The two would have to come to an agreement in order for the legislative branch to pass any law.

Section 2 explains details about the House of Representatives.

·         Members would be chosen every two years, in a vote by the people in the district they represent.

·         Members must be 25 or older.

·         Members must live in the state where chosen (and further, must live within the district they represent).

·         Members would be apportioned according to a count of the people.

o   There would be an “actual enumeration,” a census, every ten years.

o   There would be a representative for every 30,000 people (when written, but the number has changed, because of an upper limit on total representatives).

o   Every state would have at least one representative, no matter how small the population.

·         For vacancies happening mid-term, state executives (governors) would call special elections to fill such vacancies.

·         Members choose their own Speaker (their leader and spokesperson) and other officers.

·         The House shall have the sole Power of Impeachment (calling into question, or charging with a crime for, the behavior of an elected official, such as the president, vice-president, federal justices, or other officers).

Section 3 explains details about the Senate.

·         There are two Senators from each state.

·         Originally these were chosen by state legislatures; the 17^th Amendment changed this to direct vote by the people of the state.

·         Each senator’s term lasts six years. Terms alternate so that one-third are voted on every two years.

·         Vacancies happening during recesses of the state legislature (during the time before the 17^th Amendment) could be filled by governor’s appointment until the next meeting of the state legislature.

·         Senators must be at least 30 years old.

·         Senators must be at least 9 years a US Citizen prior to being elected.

·         Senators must live in the state for which they are being chosen.

·         The US Vice President shall serve as the President of the Senate, non-voting except to break ties.

·         The Senate shall choose their other officers, including a President pro tempore (temporary, a backup president as needed) in the absence of the VP, or when the VP has stepped up to act as US President (as when the president has been incapacitated, has died, or has been removed from office).

·         The Senate has sole power to try all impeachments. (That means, when the House impeaches an office—that is bring forth the prosecution—the Senate conducts the actual trial.

o   If the Senate finds the defendant guilty, they have the power to remove that person from office. While this has happened a number of times with judges, a president has never been removed from office. It’s possible Nixon might have been, but he resigned rather than go through the Senate trial.)

o   The Senate cannot inflict a punishment greater than removal from office and disqualification from further office. In other words, the Senate does not have the power to fine or inflict prison or execution.

o   The convicted person could still face indictment, trial, and punishment according to the law.

Section 4 explains times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives.

Section 5 explains that the Senate and House shall set their own rules and processes for conducting their business. And they must keep a record of all proceedings.

Section 6 explains compensation and privileges:

·         Legislators shall receive payment from the US Treasury (not from their states or local jurisdictions—so that all members shall be equal).

·         Legislators shall be exempt from arrest—except for treason, felony (serious crimes), and “Breach of the Peace.” The founders were trying to prevent using the law as a political attack while still preserving protection against betrayal of the country.

·         Legislators can’t create a civil office or increase the emoluments (payments) for such an office and then, during their term, be appointed to such an office. The founders were trying to prevent legislators from creating ways to use their office to financially benefit themselves.

·         Legislators can’t be a member of both bodies at once. For example, being elected to, or appointed to, one before their term in the other has expired. Once they take the new position, they are considered to have vacated the previous one.

Section 7 relates to budget issues:

·         Bills (proposed laws) for raising revenue (such as taxes, tariffs, or fines) originate in the House.

o   The Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

·         Bills must have passed both the House and the Senate. (Bills can originate in either body, and then be passed to the other body. If the second body makes significant amendments, the bill goes back for reconciliation. Both bodies must agree on a bill before it is considered passed.)

·         Bills that have passed in both bodies are presented to the President to sign into law.

o   If the president objects to a law, he can return it to the originating body.

o   If the originating body reconsiders the bill and 2/3 approve, it becomes law, even without the president’s signature.

o   If the president doesn’t sign a bill but neither does he return it to the originating body within ten days (excluding Sundays and days when Congress has adjourned and thus prevents a bill’s return), it shall become law.

Article I, Section 8 covers nearly every enumerated power.

Enumeration of Powers

Section 8 is where it really gets good. Section 8 lists what the legislative branch can make laws to do (followed in Sections 9 and 10 with listed limitation). There are 18 enumerated powers of Congress, as written in the Constitution. To save space here, you can read them directly. Also, we talked about there here, where we add in a couple of additional ones from the Amendments. 

To be thorough, let’s list the prohibitions in section 9 and 10 (some rewording).

Section 9 tells what Congress cannot do:

·         Congress can’t prohibit migration or importation of persons from one state to another until 1808, but a duty of up to $10 per person can be imposed.

·         Habeas Corpus can’t be suspended except in cases of rebellion or invasion that require it.

o   Habeas corpus means that if a person is confined, meaning held in prison, they must be physically brought before a judge to determine if the confinement is lawful.

·         No Bill of Attainder or expost facto Law shall be passed.

o   A Bill of Attainder is a legislative act (bill) pronouncing a person guilty without a trial.

o   An expost facto law is legislation that declares people guilty of violation retroactively, declaring their guilt for acts committed before a law was the law.

·         No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid.

o   This means no direct per person tax, or in other words, no income tax.

o   This was changed with the 16^th Amendment in 1913, which now allows the income tax.

·         No Tax or Duty on articles (goods) exported from any state.

o   An example would be taxing corn that Nebraska exports to other states or countries. The federal government can’t pick and choose ways to burden particular states.

·         No preference by Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports favoring one state over another. And vessels (ships) have to pay duties (taxes or fees) to leave one state and enter another.

o   An example would be regulating in such a way that eastern coast ports would have an advantage over gulf coast ports.

·         No money can come from the Treasury unless the legislature has made it legal by passing an appropriations bill. Also the federal government is required to publish a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money; they have to show their account books.

·         The US does not grant any title of nobility. Also, no public officeholder is allowed to accept any present Emolument (money payment or other profit), Office, or Title from a leader of a foreign state (country).

Section 10 limits the state governments, so they cannot act against the other states, or against the interest of the nation:

·         States can’t enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation.

·         States can’t grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.

o   This would allow an attack on a ship, for example, based on the state’s declaration. It is essentially a private war. States cannot declare war, in other words.

·         States can’t coin Money.

·         States can’t emit Bills of Credit.

o   These are promissory notes. It’s a type of money, in other words. They were not to pay debts with anything but legal tender.

·         States can’t impose duties on imports (with the exception of paying for legally required inspections).

·         States can’t keep their own troops, or enter into a compact with other states, or declare or engage in war, except when actually or imminent invasion.

·       So that covers all of Article I.

We’ve covered all that the federal government can do, the sum total. There are some notable things missing:

·         Power to take income from those who earned it to give to those the government chooses to favor (income redistribution).

·         Power to offer charitable services (welfare).

·         Power to guarantee income, food, or housing.

·         Power to supply and/or govern education.

·         Power to force purchase of a service or product (such as health insurance).

·         Power to require payment into a retirement supplement (Social Security).

·         Power to interfere with commerce that doesn’t cross state lines.

·         Power to redefine marriage in a way that is contrary to longstanding law and tradition, and to enforce acceptance of the new definition, even when it violates personal religious beliefs.

·         Power to subsidize any industry (alternative energy).

·         Power to target industries in accordance with a social agenda (gun manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, nuclear energy, oil and gas, fast food, or sugary drinks).

·         Power to use taxpayer funds to support abortion.

·         Power to subsidize or control student loans.

·         Power to take over any industry (as when the Obama administration temporarily took over General Motors and banks).

·         Power to favor or disfavor individuals or groups for hiring, educational opportunities, or other purposes based on their race or religion (for example, affirmative action).

There are certainly more things the government is doing, or trying to do, that are well beyond the enumerated powers.

Some people characterize the very desire for limiting government to our Constitution as hating all government, and then claiming we’re hypocritical for wanting a military or border control to protect our sovereignty. That’s a mischaracterization. The pro-Constitutional view favors government—but a limited government. Government must be limited to its proper role: protecting life, liberty, and property. Or, more specifically, as the Preamble to the Constitution says about what a more perfect union is established to do:

Establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

The founders assumed those government responsibilities enumerated in the Constitution could be managed on about $20 a year (in near-current-day dollars). Imagine how easy it would be to pay off the national debt, in a thriving economy (which happens when government gets out of the way), if government did only what it was allowed to do.

Try Reading the Constitution, Part I

Our beloved Constitution is 233 years old today. That’s worth celebrating.

There’s so much opposition to our Constitution and our constitutional republic form of government right now that we might have reason to be amazed a year from now to be able to celebrate again, instead of mourning its passing.

Image from Texas Attorney General's Facebook page

In my very limited ability to preserve it, I thought our celebration could be going through the articles to make sure we know what they mean.

It’s not that long, around 4,543 words—plus amendments. For comparison, this year’s yet-to-be-finalized Texas Republican Platform is around 17,000 words. You could probably read the Constitution in half an hour.

Then the question is, would you understand it? If you haven’t tried it, you might be surprised at how clear it is—even with some legal and archaic word usages.

First a quick review of how the Constitution is structured.

You’ve got the Preamble. (We talked about that here.)

Then come the main three articles. Why three?

In case it is no longer self-evident, placing power in an individual ruler was something our founders intended to avoid. They assumed that, given human nature, if they divided up the power into different branches, each branch would be jealous to maintain its own power, thus checking the power of the other branches.

They divided these into the three basic actions a government would need to take: make laws, execute those laws (as Picard would say in Star Trek, “Make it so”), and judge according to those laws.

These separate actions are divided up into the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. The Constitution is laid out to address the powers and duties of each. Article I addresses the legislative branch. Article II the executive branch. Article III the judicial branch. These main articles are further divided into sections.

There are four additional articles related to additional details, like adding states, proposing amendments, handling debts, and ratifying the Constitution originally. And then come the Amendments. The first ten are what we refer to as The Bill of Rights; they were part of the Constitution by the time it was ratified and became law—effective December 15, 1791.  So far there are 27 amendments.

The Light of Freedom, by Ken Turner

This painting was done by my artist friend, Ken Turner, who did the painting "Out of the Ashes" I shared for 9/11. He said of this one:

After fasting and praying in 1987 about how to paint something about the Constitution, I had a dream in which I saw Washington signing the Constitution and knew how to begin. I then added figures symbolic of those yet to come.

It's going to take multiple posts to get through this exercise of reading through the three main articles of the Constitution for understanding. Next time we’ll start our series with Article I, pertaining to the legislative branch. Go pull out your pocket Constitution for that, so you can read along and see if we get it right.

Constitution Quiz

image from here

A couple of days ago, September 17, we marked 232 years since we got our US Constitution.

In honor of that, I thought we might do a pop quiz. This is open book. You can use your pocket Constitution, or a printed copy, or an online copy. The answers will follow, below.

Some of the questions are about the history and intent and surrounding information, but much of it will come from the Constitution itself. For questions that ask “where in the Constitution” do you find something, you can answer with Article and Section numbers, or Amendment numbers.

Constitution Quiz

1.     What year was the Declaration of Independence signed?

2.     What year was the US Constitution signed?

3.     What was the purpose of the Declaration of Independence?

4.     What was the purpose of the US Constitution?

5.     What are the three branches of government?

6.     What does bicameral mean, and what does it refer to in our government?

7.     What chamber represents the people by population—that is, a representative for a set number of people?

8.     How many Senators are in the Senate, how were they originally chosen, and how are they chosen now because of which Amendment?

"The Connecticut Compromise,"
by Bradley Stevens, 2006

9.     During the original Constitutional Convention, what is referred to as the Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise?

10.  Does the Constitution grant legislative powers to the executive or judicial branches? Based on your answer, how do you explain the Environmental Protection Agency or Roe v. Wade?

11.   What are the eligibility requirements for being President of the United States; give article and section number for your answer.

12.  Does the President have the power to create the budget? Explain.

13.  What number of justices for the Supreme Court is designated in the Constitution?

14.  What is the Bill of Rights and where is it found?

15.  Where does the phrase “separation of Church and State” appear in the Constitution, and what does that mean?

16.  Where does the Constitution say, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”? And what does this mean?

17.  What is the purpose of the right to keep and bear Arms?

18.  Explain the compromise surrounding counting slaves as three-fifths of a person, and where is this found? What was it changed to, and where is that found?

19.  What is the Electoral College? What is its purpose? Where is it described in the Constitution?

20.  Where do you find the enumerated powers? For each of the following, indicate whether it is an enumerated power or not:[i]

a.     Lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.

b.     Govern education.

c.     Fix the standard of weights and measures.

d.     Offer charitable services (welfare).

e.     Raise and support armies and navy.

f.      Require purchase of a service or product (such as health insurance).

g.     Establish post offices and post roads (mail system).

h.     Target industries in accordance with a social agenda (gun manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, nuclear energy, oil and gas, fast food or sugary drinks).

i.       Lay and collect taxes on income.

j.       Favor or disfavor individuals or groups for hiring, educational opportunities, or other purposes based on their race or religion.

There’s plenty more to ask, but if you know—or can learn—the answers to these questions, you might know enough to be a good citizen and an educated voter. And we can always use more of those.

May our Constitution outlast all those enemies within and without who misunderstand, misconstrue, and even purposely thwart her sacred purposes.

Answers

1.     1776

2.     1787

3.     To declare independence from Great Britain.

4.     To form a “more perfect government,” and we could add, as the Preamble does, “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” to those founders and their posterity.

5.     The legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the executive branch.

6.     It means two chambers. It refers to the two chambers of our legislature: the House of Representatives, and the Senate.

7.     The House of Representatives, which are apportioned following the census every decade. Since 1910 the number of representatives has been capped at 435, which means that the number represented per Congressman continues to grow. Each state has at least one representative, no matter how low the population. There are also additional non-voting representatives from Washington, DC and several other American territories.[ii] A new representative is apportioned for an average of approximately 700,000 people. [iii]

8.     Two Senators per state, regardless of population size of the state. Originally, they were chose by the respective state legislatures. That changed to popular statewide vote with the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.

9.     There were those who believed in representation strictly by population—meaning big states would get much more representation than little states. The little states wanted to emphasize their state sovereignty by having representation by state, regardless of size. These smaller states had no incentive to belong to a union that disregarded them. So there had to be a compromise. The bicameral legislature was born out of this dilemma. The upper chamber was the Senate, with equal representation for each state regardless of population; the lower chamber was the House of Representatives, with representation based on population size. So population matters, but state sovereignty also matters.

10.  Legislative powers, or law-making powers, are solely granted to the legislative branch. The EPA is an arm of the executive branch, with regulatory powers, nominally granted by the legislature, but not constitutionally so. Roe v. Wade is often referred to as the “law of the land,” but the judicial branch does not have law-making powers. Hmm.

11.  The president must be a natural born Citizen (not a naturalized citizen), at least 35 years of age, and residing within the United States for fourteen years. This is found in Article II, section 1, the fifth paragraph. About the fourteen years: It was not uncommon for people to spend extended time overseas for various reasons, as Thomas Jefferson was doing during the Constitutional Convention, for example. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin also spent years doing diplomatic duties in Europe. This is saying a person can’t spend a whole life abroad and then show up to try to lead America. They were trying to make certain that the President would always have total loyalty to our country.

   

12.  No. Budgets originate in the House and are then passed by the Senate, and finally signed by the President. (See Article 1, Section 7.) The President can, however, outline a budget that would meet his priorities, which the legislature can use or discard as it sees fit. Since 2006, when Democrats regained the majority in the House, budgets have mainly been a series of continuing resolutions, which means something like, “We’ll just keep the same budget priorities as the past budget, with perhaps a percentage increase.” Even during the few years the Republicans regained the majority, threats of stonewalling until there were government shutdowns allowed continuing resolutions to become a habit.

13.  No number is given. Nine is the traditional and current number. There was a time that FDR threatened to “pack the court,” to add as many judges as he wanted to attain his desired political outcomes. The court at that time resisted for a while, but then gave in to his demands rather than subject the court to overt, permanent political partisanship.

14.  The Bill of Rights make up the first Ten Amendments. They weren’t originally included, because they were understood as obvious to the people at the founding. But then some worried that, if they weren’t included, a later people might not recognize these rights. The government does not grant these rights. Rather, government is strictly limited so that it does not infringe on these God-given rights. There are other God-given, or “natural” rights, such as parents’ rights to the care and upbringing of their children. In fact, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments make it clear that government only has those rights enumerated in the Constitution; all other rights are “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

15.  Trick question: it does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. It appears in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, assuring them that no preferential treatment would be given to any other religious sect, thus negatively affecting them. Jefferson meant that government would do nothing to interfere with the various churches; churches were safe from government intrusion. It does not mean that any appearance of sympathy toward religion or religious people is prohibited. Nor is this phrase a part of US law. In fact, at the time of the founding, several states had state religions, which was not prohibited by the Constitution.

16.  This is the beginning of Amendment I to the Constitution. These two parts mean, first, that there will not be a state-endorsed religious sect—as was found in Britain and many European countries (and elsewhere) that the people in America had come from. Second, the federal government is to make no law that interferes, stops, hinders, prevents, or otherwise prohibits the free exercise of religion for people in the United States.

17.  In short, self-defense. You could add that, as the founders spelled out in the Declaration of Independence, a people needs to be able to defend against a tyrannical government.

18.  Article I, Section 2, third paragraph talks about counting population for purposes of representatives and taxes. The states with slaves wanted to count all their slaves as persons for representation, but not allow them to vote. The non-slave states worried that granting this advantage to the slave states would make it impossible to ever eliminate slavery. So they came up with this compromise—not to demean the worth of slaves, but to make it possible to eventually end slavery. Passed in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment, section 2, eliminates the three-fifths phrase referring to slaves, because slavery had been eliminated through the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Two years later, in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, guaranteeing all citizens the right to vote, “regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

19.  The Electoral College is the way in which we elect the President. It allows for the people in their respective states to elect persons who will cast their votes according to the choice of the people in the state. A state’s number of electors equals the number of their Representatives plus their two Senators. The Electoral College procedures are described in Article II, Section 1.

20.  The powers are enumerated mainly in Article I, Section 8, with some additional enumerations added in Amendments 15, 16, 24, and 26.

a.       Yes

b.       No

c.       Yes

d.       No

e.       Yes

f.        No

g.       Yes

h.       No

i.     Yes

j.       No

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[i] I give some help on these answers in a previous post, “The Enumerated Powers.” 

[ii] https://history.house.gov/Institution/Apportionment/Determining-Apportionment/

[iii] Here’s how to do the math: https://www.census.gov/topics/public-sector/congressional-apportionment/about/computing.html