Guiding Themes of the Constitution

The U.S. Constitution is the document used to structure the American government. The U.S. Constitution is known as the supreme law of the nation because it consist's of six guiding themes. These six guiding themes are popular sovereignty, rules of law, separation of powers and checks and balances, federalism, independent judiciary, and individual rights. These guidelines are important to provide the framework for how our country should be run.

Popular Sovereignty is called the heart of democracy. It is called this because it means that power should not be resided in the government but to the people of the United States. Rules of Law means that the people of the United States and it's government should follow a system of laws. For example. if there is a conflict between federal law, which is the law in all of the United States, going against a state law, the federal law will always win.

Separation of Powers-Check and Balances is the principle based on Montesquieu's ideas and how the national government should be divided into 3 branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Federalism is the principle that is used to divide the power from our central government, which is located in Washington D.C., from the state governments creating 3 types of powers: delegated power, reserved powers, and concurrent powers. Independent Judiciary is the principle that says that the Supreme Court is the ultimate authority that chooses whether something is legal or illegal in the United States. Individual Rights is the principle that used to let us know that our individual rights are protected by the first 10 amendments.