Acronym for the 7 articles of the Constitution

• •Lazy= Legislative branch (Write bills to become laws

  •Elephants= Executive branch (President, VP and cabinet enforce law)

  •Jump= Judicial branch (Interpret laws, Supreme Court and lower courts)

  •Slowly= States and Federal powers (Federalism)

  •And=Amendment process (2/3 of congress, ¾ of the states)

  •Sleep=Supremacy clause (State law cannot conflict with federal law)

  •Regularly=Ratification (To approve and pass the Constitution)

Article 1: The legislative branch

• •Establishes a 2 house legislative branch. It is “Bicameral”

  •House of Representatives: Serve 2 year terms. 435 members. Seats based on the population of the state. Florida has 27 seats.

  
  

  •The Senate: Serve 6 year terms. 100 members. 2 Senators per state. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott are the 2 Florida Senators.

  
  

  •All issues with money starts in the House of Representatives.

  •All bills must pass both houses.

  •Only Congress can declare war. 

Article 2: Executive Branch

• •President, Vice President and 15 cabinet positions.

  
  

  •President is the commander and chief of the armed forces.

  
  

  •Vice President is the only person in our government in two branches. (Tie breaking vote in the Senate)

  •Cabinet positions include, Secretary of state, treasury, defense, labor, HUD, education, energy, homeland security.

  •Presidents job is to enforce law.

  President has the power to veto bills to prevent them from becoming law

Article 3: The Judicial Branch

• •Creates a Supreme Court and lower courts

  
  

  •Supreme Court justices are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They serve lifetime appointments.

  
  

  •There are currently 9 Supreme Court justices, though there is no official number set by the Constitution. It does need to be a odd number to prevent ties.

  
  

  •They interpret law and decide if a law is Constitutional or Unconstitutional. Their decision is final. Only the Supreme court can reverse themselves. They also resolve issues that they have been petitioned to look at. They hear less than 100 cases a year but thousands of cases are petitioned each year. 

The Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.