Abstract
Following the preamble, the Framers arranged the body of the Constitution into a series of seven articles (hence the modern slogan, “The Constitution, I Read It for the Articles”), which are somewhat like chapters in a book or stanzas in a poem. Most of these are, in turn, divided into sections. The first three articles deal with branches of the national government, the fourth with national/state relations, the fifth with amending procedures, the sixth with miscellaneous matters, and the seventh with ratification. These are, in turn, followed by 27 amendments. The Framers anticipated that the legislative branch would be closest to the people and accordingly began with it.
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Cases Cited
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. 1 (1831)
Cooky v. Board of Wardens, 53 U.S. 299 (1852)
Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 (1824)
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 416 (1819)
Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224 (1993)
Pollock v. Farmers Loan & Trust Co. (II), 158 U.S. 601 (1895)
Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969)
Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857)
Southern Pacific Company v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761 (1945)
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. V. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995)
Wickardv. Filburn, 317 U.S. Ill (1942)
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832)
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© 2015 John R. Vile
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Vile, J.R. (2015). The Legislative Branch: It’s a Congress, Not a Parliament. In: The United States Constitution. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137513502_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137513502_2
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