The Constitution

New Horizons

In the Second Chapter of American Government : Continuity and Change, the basis of our system of government, the Constitution is discussed in great detail. Standing out, in my opinion, however, are three central pillars that hold the Constitution itself together and by far, are the most important aspects of our Constitutional Government. The pillars of which I speak include the Articles, addressing the foundation of our government; the Bill of Rights, which protects us from unwarranted abuses of federal power; and finally, the Amendments, which each serve a role to protect our citizenry.

The first pillar, the Articles, are important in and to themselves because they carefully set up our governmental system. Thus, this is why I believe they are a central pillar in the learning and understanding our government and our Constitution, because the two, are of course, intertwined. Without understanding the governmental system set up by the Articles, it is hard to understand or even comprehend the complex workings of our democracy, which should remind us how important they truly are.

The second pillar is that of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights outlines what the federal government cannot do in the form of negative rights, which simply means it tells the federal government what it cannot do Constitutionally to it’s citizens, while also telling American citizens what freedoms and privileges they are entitled to. This is important because the majority of our rights as citizens come from the first ten amendments, and as such, they help us understand our rights in understanding government while also understanding the boundaries of federal governmental power in acting Constitutionally.

The third and final pillar are the Amendments to the Constitution. The Amendments further the rights of both the citizenry as well as the government through which the citizenry governs, as well as showing the mistakes of the past being repealed or the problems of new generational differences being addressed. This gives the reader or the student a grasp on the ideal that in a democracy, the government of the people and by the people may be changed by the people, if warranted. Understanding this is also a central tenant to understanding democratic governments like our own as a whole, because it shows how democracies work and focuses on how they come to solve problems.