Constitution Assignment PART A

The Preamble
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justic, insure domestic transquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosterity, do ordain and established this constitution for the United States of America." In the preamble, "we the people of the United States" would indicate you, me and each of the people living in the United States. Then they list all the things that would make the United Sates better and to protect the people of the United States. "We the people of the United States" is the most important phrase in the preamble, and where the government derives its power from the people to creat an "orderly, stable and just society" (taken from the textbook).

Legislative Branch - they are the closest and most directly reponsible to the people
-House of Representatives - responsible to the "will" of people. They also have to conduct a census to determine how many members they should have for each state in the congress. They also have the power to choose their own speakers and officers.
-Senate - they are less direct to the people so they are elected every 6 years but since they only have two people in each state, they are responsible to prevent larger states with bigger populations for dominanting smaller states. The senate is also like a big boss where the other officers cannot tell the senate what to do and when impeachment happens, the senate becomes a court.
Both the House of Representatives have their own rules in how they control their members and Congress cannot be arrested for what they say.
Powers of Congress: the power to borrow money and one kind of money in U.S; to creat a clear, uncomplicated system of trade; regulate the way which immigrants can become U.S. citizens; regulate international relations especially when it comes to war; provide and maintaining a navy; mail, knowledge and copyright exchange.
one of the responsibilities (or powers that Congress can't have) is that they cannot arrest citizens who did not commit a crime(which saves the people from getting told by the higher-ups of the government if they haven't done anything wrong).
(Also, the president have to obey some of the powers that the senates and house of representatives have and vice versa such as signing a bill from the president, if the president doesn't sign it, it turns into a law. Then with the president, the president needs approval for the treaties and appointments from the senates/supreme court)

Executive Branch - President and the Vice President
Electoral College: state legislatures decide how electors for that state will be chosen. Number of electoral votes = number of senators and representatives.
Responsibilities: becoming the president, the candidates have to be a natural born citizen, and 14 years resident to be eligible (and over the age of 35..that's old).
The president swears oath to the Constitution and only the constitution(not the country of USA).
- Duties of the President: give a state of Union address occasionally, adjourn Congress if 2 hourses are divide about a matter; receive ambassadors and commission officers; MAKE SURE THE LAWS OF THE U.S. ARE FAITHFULLY EXECUTED.
Power:
-The president becomes the commander in chief, for the army and the navy of the U.S.
-The president have the power to grant pardons
-The Congress cannot change the salary of the president in the middle of a term (aren't the president lucky?)
-When the president dies, the vice president takes over the president's seat

Judicial Branch
Responsibilities and powers:
The salary of the federal judges cannot be reduced (unless they do not maintain their "good behavior" and makes bad judgements).
Jurisdiction - the Supreme Court handles cases involving the Constitution, federal laws, treaties, and diplomatic officials, and international cases between the U.S.
Supreme Court - they can appeal judgements of lower courts
- first ones to hear and decide cases (foreign ambassadors and individual states)

The first task that the constitution group did was memorizing the preamble. It was quite fun memorizing the preamble, plus watching and listening others memorizing the preamble. However, when I look at the constituion it was very long, which awe me a bit. The legislation part of the constitution was long which started to bore me and there was some frustration too because its hard to understand what the constitution are saying even though there are the blue printed words explaining it.

5 insights/questions
-Is the president himself really swearing the oath to all of the people or the government in the constitution like the constitution says?
-How do the government know how their laws are proper or just? Do they know what is just? Can their laws benefit everyone or just part of the people/groups/classes of the United States?
-"We the people" do not actually refer to the people of the United States, meaning us today because it has been made a long time ago and ti was signed by the rich people. So is the preamble really directing the saying to us or some other people (in the past?)? And the list of the things/goals that the preamble said, can it be formed or is it still forming today?
-Is it possible to impeach the judges? How?
- Why does treason not apply to the congress? Is it because they are the protectors or maybe not of the United States? (Article, Section6 and Article 3, section 3)