A Citizen's Guide to the U.S. Constitution;

By Frank Schwartz

A primary duty of U.S. citizenship is to be at least familiar with the basic fundamentals of our Constitutional form of government so that one can meaningfully participate in the rights and obligations of American citizenship. As stated by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, "Our democratic Constitution assumes a public that participates in the government it creates. It also assumes a public that understands how government works." It is the hope and purpose of A Citizen's Guide to the U.S. Constitution: An Introduction to the Essential Nature of the Constitution, to empower its readers to become the kind of active and knowledgeable citizen's envisioned by Justice Breyer.

The book begins with a discussion of pre-Constitutional history, including the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, so that the nature of the Constitution, as well as the intent of its Framers, can be fully appreciated. The book then identifies the fundamental principles and clauses of the Constitution and their meanings in the context of Supreme Court decisons. Among the fundamental Constitutional principles discussed are Popular Sovereignty, Limited Government,, Separation of Powers , Federalism and Judicial Review. Among the key Constitutional clauses discussed are the Commerce Clause, Due Process Clause, Equal Protection Clause, Free Speech Clause and Freedom of Religion Clause. All discussion is basic, introductory and therefore easily understandable. It is specifically not the purpose of this book to present an exhaustive and scholarly examination of Constitutional law. Rather, it is to provide a starting point to a better understanding of the Constitution's essential character, and thereby encourage those who wish to do so to pursue a more in depth understanding elsewhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Schwartz
• Release date: Apr 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310924309

Frank Schwartz

I received a Ph.D. in American Constitutional Law from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1979 and was a full time professor of Constitutional law until 1985. In 1985 I went to the Villanova University School of Law and received a J.D. in 1988. Upon graduation from law school I practiced law full time in Philadelphia and taught part time at Arcadia University. I retired from the practice of law in 2014 but continue to teach constitutional law at Arcadia University and Bucks County Community College. I currently live in Bucks County Pennsylvania.

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A CITIZEN’S GUIDE TO THE CONSTITUTION

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE U.S.CONSTITUTION

FRANK SCHWARTZ, Ph.D., J.D.

Copyright © 2015 Frank Schwartz Ph.D., J.D.

All rights reserved.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE: PRE-CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

CHAPTER 2: THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION

CHAPTER 3: THE CONSTITUTION’S ESSENTIAL PRINICIPLES

CHAPTER 4: THE CONSTITUTION’S SEVEN ESSENTIAL CLAUSES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

I cringe whenever I hear someone say I have a Constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why cringe? Because the speaker has confused and conflated two very different documents. There is no Constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness because those words appear nowhere in the Constitution. Rather, this phrase is part of the Declaration of Independence, which you will learn creates no judicially enforceable rights whatsoever.

The primary duty of U.S. citizenship is to be at least familiar with the basic fundamentals of our constitutional form of government so that one can participate in a meaningful way in the rights and obligations of citizenship. As stated by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, [O]ur democratic Constitution assumes a public that participates in the government that it creates. It also assumes a public that understands how government works. In order to be a citizen as opposed to a mere resident of the United States, one must develop an understanding of the constitutional principles upon which the government of the United States of America is predicated.

The fact that you are reading these words suggests that you want to learn more about your constitutional form of government. The purpose of this book is to empower you to become the kind of active and knowledgeable citizen of the United States that is encouraged by the words of Justice Breyer. The title of this book, A Citizens Guide to the Constitution, is itself a hopeful harbinger of the process of your conversion from being an inhabitant of the United States to becoming a citizen of the United States.

As the supreme Law of the Land, the Constitution is to our form of government what the North Star is to the celestial navigator. Sometimes you navigate toward the North Star, and sometimes away from it, but you always move with reference to it. One simply cannot understand our republican form of government without an appreciation of its underlying Constitutional principles. This book will give all persons who wish to better understand the Constitution the ability to do so on an introductory but meaningful level.

While the principles and values underlying the Constitution are not always self-evident, neither are they particularly difficult to discover. One can appreciate the Constitution in all of its majesty via an examination of its five core principles and seven key clauses. These fundamental constitutional principles and clauses provide a sufficient basis to develop a basic understanding of the essential character of the Constitution and the form of government it created. Accordingly, this book will focus only on these core principles and clauses, rather than upon an exhaustive Article by Article, section by section analysis of the Constitution’s entire text.

Neither will this book provide a scholarly analysis of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution’s core principles and clauses. Rather, it will provide you with a basic introduction as to how Supreme Court decisions added flesh to the bare bones of the Constitution. The Supreme Court decisions cited in this book are done so by the name of the case as it appeared before the Court and the year the decision was rendered. Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of a cited Supreme Court decision can do so by simply entering this information into a search engine such as Google.

CHAPTER ONE

PRE-CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

A true understanding of the reasons for and essential nature of the Constitution is not possible without an appreciation of the economic, political and moral environment that gave rise to the Constitution. This is because the Constitution is in fact a reaction to the problems existing at the time of its creation, such that the Constitution was intended to solve those problems. Accordingly, the following brief examination of pre-constitutional history is presented in order to place the Constitution in its proper economic, political and moral context.

A. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Many persons believe they have a Constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, these same people are confusing the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence. The words life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness appear in the Declaration of Independence and not the Constitution. This is more than a passing difference, because unlike the Constitution, the Declaration creates no legally enforceable rights under the legal system of the United States.

Rather, the Declaration of Independence is a revolutionary document whose purpose it was to justify the overthrow of the existing government under King George of England. This purpose is expressed in the very first sentence of the Declaration, which states that When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bonds which have connected them with another,… The primary purpose of the Declaration was to deconstruct the existing English government, and not to construct an American government.

In order to justify the necessity of revolution against England, and to create the legal and political foundation for the creation of an independent American political system, the Declaration sets forth with particularity 27 distinct grievances which compelled a separation from England. Some of the 27 grievances are as follows:

HE (King George) has refused his assent to the laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

HE has dissolved (Colonial) Representative Houses repeatedly, ,…

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice. By refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without consent of our Legislatures.

He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our People.

HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us,…

Perhaps even more important than setting forth the factual justification for revolution against England, the Declaration establishes the legal/moral basis for revolution by invoking the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. In a concise and powerful statement of natural law theory, the drafters of the Declaration state: We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Accordingly, the Declaration is an expression of the belief in a natural law whereby the God given and inherent human rights of Man are superior to the man-made laws of England. Pursuant to natural law theory as expressed in the Declaration, if there is a conflict between man-made law and natural law rights, natural law should and would prevail, as to deny human rights to American Colonists would be against God’s natural law.

Having set forth both the political and legal/moral basis for revolution against English rule, the authors of the Declaration reiterate its fundamental purpose, stating: "WE therefore,