Constitutional Principles

Why Congress has two chambers, one based on population and one on equal state representation

The specific tools each branch has to restrain the others, and why the system depends on each branch using them

The idea, stated in the Declaration of Independence, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the people they govern

The constitutional guarantee, in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law

A federal government of limited, listed powers, and the clauses that have allowed those powers to grow

Powers the national government holds because it is a sovereign nation, especially in foreign affairs and immigration, even where the Constitution does not list them

The principle that government has only the powers the people grant it, bounded by a written constitution, enumerated powers, and protected rights

The principle that government's authority comes from the people, and how the circle of "the people" has widened

The founding principle that government should rest on elected representatives accountable to the people, rather than on a monarch or on direct rule by the majority

How the Constitution divides authority: powers delegated to the national government, powers reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment, and powers both may exercise

Why the Constitution divides federal power among three branches, and how courts police the lines between them

Congress's power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with Indian tribes, the basis for much of modern federal law

The Article IV promise that the United States will guarantee every state a republican form of government and protect each against invasion and domestic violence

The final clause of Congress's enumerated powers, which lets Congress pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out its other powers, the source of most implied federal power

The principle that government acts only through law, that law binds those who govern, and that it applies equally to all

The provision of Article VI making the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties the supreme law of the land, binding on state judges and overriding conflicting state law

Congress's power under Article I to lay taxes and spend for the common defense and general welfare, including the authority to attach conditions to federal funds