The Four Ideal Concepts Of The United States Constitution

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Paper 1 The United States constitution is said to be unique compared to any other forms of law. There are four ideal concepts that set the constitution apart from any other law. The four ideal concepts is representative-democracy, federalism, separation of powers, and interpretation (Marks; 9/8/16). All of these concepts were different from the other world governments at the time in 1787. Most likely taking influence from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, the U.S. constitution tries to establish trust between the people and the government. It sets up limitations, functions, hierarchies, and constant debate. The constitution serves as a benchmark and a reference point to see what the government can and cannot do. The first ideal concept from the constitution is a representative democracy. A representative democracy is a system where the citizens elect officials to serve on their behalf. A representative democracy is a form of “Republicanism”(Marks;9/8,16). This form of democracy shouldn’t be mistaken with direct democracy. Where all of the citizens vote on public policies and what the country does. On the …show more content…

The government is supposed to interpret the constitution. All three branches have to interpret the constitution but it is the Supreme Court who has the sole responsibility of interpretation. The Supreme Court interprets laws and cases to see if they are constitutional or not. Judicial review is something the Supreme Court has the power to do. Judicial review was not included in the constitution but rather adopted as necessary. It came about through the court case, Marbury v. Madison. There are two forms of interpretation, originalism and non originalism (Marks; 9/13/16). Originalists believe that the constitution is meant to be applied to what it meant at the time it was drafted in 1787. Non Originalists believe that the constitution should not be applied literally but it should be used as a

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