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Celebrating the Declaration of Independence and the Nation’s Founding

By Michael Lang on Jul 2, 2008 in OUR FOUNDING FATHERS

There is something wrong when a newly sworn in American citizen knows more about this country’s founding and its constitution than most adults born here.

As we celebrate the declaration of independence and the nation’s founding, it is also a time to think about the Constitution. Here are 10 things you may not know:

The Constitution applies only to government. That means students at a private university have no First Amendment right to demonstrate, while students at a public college have protection. If you work in the private sector, you cannot wear a button supporting a candidate while on the job if your employer objects.

From 1791, when the Bill of Rights was ratified, until the 20th century, those amendments restrained only the federal government. In 1937, the Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction and death sentence of a man Connecticut put on trial twice for the same crime, in violation of the double-jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment. The Court said the amendment didn’t apply, and the state executed him.

When Congress proposed the Bill of Rights, what we know today as the First Amendment was listed third. It moved up only because the first two amendments were not ratified at the time.

The 27th amendment, the last one approved, was proposed by Congress in 1789 with no expiration date. It was not ratified until 1992, 203 years later. Under the amendment, no pay raise for Congress can take effect until after a general election.

If no presidential candidate wins a majority of electoral votes or there is a tie, the election is decided by the House of Representatives, whose members vote by state. California has the same vote as Wyoming, even though it has 70 times the population.

Congress has the power to set the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts, including the Supreme Court. Thus, Congress can remove all cases dealing with abortion or other issues from the Supreme Court’s docket as long as the president signed such a bill or a veto was overridden.

Congress also has the power to change how many justices serve on the Supreme Court. The Court began with six seats, has had as few as five, and as many as 10.

The framers of the Constitution worried that the vice president would have nothing to do, so they made that person the head of the Senate who also can break tie votes.

The vice president, as Senate president, can preside over his or her own impeachment trial. The Constitution says the Senate shall try all impeachments. When the president is impeached, the chief justice is in charge.

For much of the nation’s history, members of Congress elected in November of even-numbered years were not sworn in until March and did not hold their first session until the following December, 13 months after they were elected. This was changed in 1933 by the 20th amendment. Now members of Congress take office on January 3.

Richard Labunski is a journalism professor at the University of Kentucky, and author of "James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights."

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