CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES 1559 CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES 



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ONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 

 STATES, the basic or fundamental law of 

 the republic. It is a precise, formal, written 

 document of the extraordinary, or supreme, 

 type of constitutiqn. The founders of the 

 Union established it as the highest govern- 

 mental authority; there is no national power 

 superior to it. Its foundations were so broadly 

 laid as to provide for the expansion of national 

 life and to make it an instrument which should 

 endure for all time. To emphasize its stability, 

 the framers made unusual and difficult the 

 means by which it could be altered. No amend- 

 ment becomes valid unless ratified by three- 

 fourths of the states. The British constitu- 

 tion served, in some measure, as a pattern for 

 it, but the wide variation required to meet 

 the needs of a new sisterhood of states, all 

 bound together as one federation, yet each 

 sovereign in local affairs, developed a system 

 of government unlike any the world had ever 

 before seen. 



Relation to State Constitutions. The Con- 

 stitution binds the states of the American 

 Union in a governmental unity in everything 

 that affects the welfare of all, but recognizes 

 the right of the people of each state to inde- 

 pendence of action in what pertains solely fco 

 themselves. Therefore, the people of each state 

 are allowed to formulate their local state con- 

 stitution, but to avoid a conflict with the rights 

 of other states or with the powers reserved to 

 the Federal authority the national Constitu- 

 tion is declared to be the supreme law of the 

 land, "anything in the Constitution or laws of 

 any state to the contrary notwithstanding." 

 This provision lessens the danger of a clash 



between Federal and state governments; for 

 the decision in case of a conflict of laws is 

 made a judicial, rather than a political, ques- 

 tion. Since the Federal Constitution is the 

 fundamental law of the land, all other laws 

 must conform thereto; and the Constitution, 

 like other laws, is enforceable in the courts. 

 The Federal judiciary has jurisdiction over all 

 cases arising under the Federal Constitution, 

 laws and treaties; and therefore it has the final 

 decision on all questions of constitutional inter- 

 pretation. No other single provision of the 

 Constitution has worked more successfully in 

 practice, or received more praise from foreign 

 critics. 



If a law of Congress is passed which violates 

 any provisions of the national Constitution the 

 Supreme Court of the United States may de- 

 clare it unconstitutional and void, provided 

 the law is involved in a case before the court. 

 In like manner, the supreme court of a state 

 may set aside as unconstitutional any act of 

 the state legislature which is in conflict with 

 the state constitution. 



History. Within a few months from the 

 date the Articles of Confederation became 

 effective (1781), serious defects were apparent 

 in the system of government just established. 

 There was a necessity for changes which would 

 create a national government with adequate 

 powers in place of the Confederation, which 

 was in fact only a league of sovereign states. 

 In 1786, an effort toward regulation of inter- 

 state commerce terminated in what is known 

 as the Annapolis Convention. It was not pos- 

 sible to accomplish definite results at this 

 meeting because only five states were repre- 



