Structure of the U.S. Constitution

Far too many people could not define what a constitution is on their exam. They were confusing it with the Declaration of Independence. We need to clear this up pronto:

The Declaration of Independence is a letter. It is not law. It does not say how to govern. It was written by Thomas Jefferson for the purpose of informing Great Britain that the United States of America was now its own sovereign nation-state and it included a list of grievances against them.

A constitution is a plan of government. Remember that one of the requirements for being a state is having a government. You don't know how your govenrment is supposed to run unless you write it down and that's where a constitution comes in. So while the Declaration of Independence is an important letter in history that Americans are very nostalgic about, the U.S. Constitution effects us every day because it is the way our government runs.

I can guarantee I will ask about this difference on your next exam.

Today I handed out a copy of the Constitution for you to keep. We began an outline of it so we can be familiar with the structure of the constitution. We will constantly refer to this U.S. Constitution every day so you need to bring it with you to class. From now on you may as well call it Constitution class rather than government class.