Lecture 6: Constitutional Safeguards

GOVT 2305: Federal Government

Instructor: Tom Hanna

2026-09-02

Today

  • Why the Constitution matters
  • Separation of powers
  • Checks and balances
  • Federalism (including who was once independent)
  • Discussion

Why This Matters

Why This Matters

By the end of today you will name the main structural tools the Constitution uses to limit organized coercive force — and why splitting power is the point.

Bridge

  • Force is dangerous (Lectures 2–3)
  • Values aim at peaceful equals (Lecture 4)
  • Origins: force appears for order and rights (Lecture 5)
  • Today: how the Constitution tries to keep that force limited

Why care about the Constitution?

A system designed to allow the good and limit the bad from coercive power

Design tools

  • Separation of powers
  • Checks and balances
  • Federalism
  • (Later) Bill of Rights

Separation and Checks

Separation of powers

Split power

Separate power among groups with different agendas

Balance and check

Competing interests force groups to check each other

Checks and balances

No one dominates alone

No group or person has enough power to act alone

Three branches

Basic jobs

  • Legislative — makes law
  • Executive — executes and governs
  • Judicial — interprets and applies

Congress checks

  • Impeach
  • Override veto (2/3)
  • Structure court jurisdiction

President checks

  • Veto
  • Pardon
  • Discretion in enforcement

Courts check

Judicial review — Constitution as supreme law

Supreme Law

This Constitution … shall be the supreme Law of the Land

— Article VI

Into Federalism

Congress itself is split

House and Senate — different terms, constituencies, roles

Senate and the states

Designed to represent states — bridge into federalism

States were sovereign

Declaration: free and independent States — plural

Who was actually independent?

Thirteen original states · Vermont · Texas · Hawaii

The other states

Bought or won in war — still get the federalism bargain

Why that history matters

Federalism is shaped by places that were real countries first

Federalism

National and state power

Reserved powers

Powers not given to the United States remain with the states or the people

Tenth Amendment

The powers not delegated to the United States … are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

State power in practice

Most ordinary crime · property · contracts · family · intrastate life

Enumerated national powers

Enumerated means limited

Unless the Constitution grants it, it is not a federal power

Discussion

Discussion

  • Which safeguard do you trust most to limit abuse — separation, checks, or federalism?
  • Does knowing that Texas (and a few others) were independent countries change how federalism feels?

Next

Next class (September 9): What’s Missing / Amendments

Come ready to talk about original omissions and how the Constitution has been formally changed.

Reminders

  • Module 1 Study Guide and Connect due September 18

Authorship and License

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