Constitutional Framework

• What does Article 1 do?

  Grants all legislative powers to the Congress which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives
• What does Article 1 outline?


  The election process for each chamber and the powers allocated to them
• Members of the House of Representatives have to be elected how often?

  Every 2 years
• How are the states represented in the House of Representatives?

  Each state has a minimum of 1 representative and the total number of representatives is based on the size of the population of each state
• How many terms can members of the Senate serve?

  6 year terms
• How are elections for the Senate held?

  Every 2 years for 1/3 of the seats
• How many senators are there per state?

  2
• What does Article 2 do?


  Grants executive power to a President who sits for a term of 4 years, alongside their Vice-President. Both will be elected via the electoral college
• What does Article 3 do?

  Grants judicial powers to the Supreme Court and any smaller courts. There is no term limit for judges.
• How are Supreme Court justices appointed?

  Appointed by the President and approved by the Senate
• What does Article 4 do?


  Sets out the concept of federalism and the powers of the state. Sets out the rules for relationships between the states
• Rules for the relationship between the states set out by Article 4 include:

  1. All states have to respect the laws of other states
  2. All citizens of states should be treated fairly and equally in all other states
  3. The rules of the admittance of new states is outlined
  4. All states should have republican governments, rather than being led by a king or gentry
• What does Article 5 do?


  Sets out the process to amend the constitution.
• What are the requirements for an amendment?

  Supermajority (2/3) in both chambers of Congress and formal support (ratification) of 3/4 of states
• What is another way of passing an amendment?

  Through a Constitutional Convention, where amendments are proposed and amendments are then ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures
• What does Article 6 do?


  Contains the ‘supremacy clause’ which makes the constitution the highest law in the USA