13 States convention written constitution

brief document 26 amendments Founding Fathers

checks and balances branches War of Independence

1 A good example of a __________ is the Constitution of the Unites States.

2 It is a relatively __________ of some 12 pages.

3 The constitutional __________ which was to adopt a new constitution, officially opened on May 25, 1787, in Philadelphia.

4 The 55 delegates who drafted the Constitution included most of the outstanding leaders or __________.

5 George Washington, the Military hero of the __________, was the presiding officer.

6 Under the Constitution power was further divided among the three __________ of the national government.

7 These three powers established a so-called system of __________.

8 When the Constitution was written in 1787, there were only __________.

9 Over the past 200 years __________ have been adopted.

B Complete these sentences with the past simple active or passive form of the verb.

When the Constitution first 1)______(propose) and adopted, there was widespread dissatisfaction of the American people, because it 2)______(not to contain) guarantees of certain basic freedoms and individual rights. It also 3)______(recognize) slavery and 4) _______(not to establish) universal suffrage. Only in 1791, under the strong popular pressure, the Congress 5) ______(force) to adopt the first ten amendments to the Constitution dealing with civil liberties. They 6) ______(call) collectively the “Bill of Rights”.

Since the Bill of Rights 7) ______(adopt), 16 other amendments have been added to the Constitution.

Adopted in 1787, the Constitution 8) ______(ratify) and 9) ______(come) into force on March 4, 1789.

C Fill in the gaps with one of the modal verbs: can, may, must, cannot, may not.

Under the Constitution, no member of one branch of government 1) _____ be a member of the two others. The President of the United States is not and 2) _______ be, a member of Congress (the legislative branch). Any member of Congress who wishes to become President of the United States 3) _____ resign from that body before accepting the Presidency (Gerald Ford resigned from Congress in 1975 on becoming President). At the same time the President 4) _____ or 5) ______ be, a member of the political party with a majority in Congress. No member of the Government (the executive branch) with the exception of the Vice President (who presides over the Senate) 6) ____ also be a member of Congress.

Vocabulary tasks

A Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.

1 принять конституцию

2 добавить поправки

3 ветви государственной власти

4 обеспечить права и свободы

5 обвиненный в нарушении закона

6 съезд делегатов

7 структура государственной власти

8 гарантировать права жителей

9 достичь чрезмерной власти

10 не дело правительства

B Match the terms with their definitions.

1	system of checks and balances	a	a system or body of fundamental principles to which a nation or state is constituted and governed by
2	convention	b	constitutional amendments of 1791
3	constitution	c	general conference devoted to a special object
4	preamble	d	a preliminary copy of a document
5	amendment	e	a mechanism to control the abuse of power
6	the Bill of Rights	f	body of persons sworn to render verdict on question submitted to them in court of justice
7	jury	g	added article in the US Constitution
8	draft	h	the introductory part of a document

C Complete the sentence with the best answer (a, b, or c) according to the information in the text.

1 Adopted in 1787, the Constitution was finally ratified and came into force

a in 1788

b in 1789

c in 1790.

2 Many people contributed to writing the Constitution, though one of the three great is regarded as the father of the Constitution:

a George Washington

b James Madison

c Alexander Hamilton.

3 The Constitution provided that federal laws would be made only by

a the Government

b the Supreme Court

c the Congress.

4 The drafters of the Constitution saw that the future might bring a need for changes, that’s why they provided

a a method of adding amendments

b the power to veto acts passed by the Congress

c the evolution of governmental institutions.

5 The system of checks and balances was established in order

a to check whether all the bills become law

b to balance the political forces during elections

c to give each branch of government the means to restrain the other two.

Over to you.

For discussion:

1 Compare the Bill of Rights in England and the Bill of Rights in the USA.

2 Speak on the adaptability of the American Constitution to new conditions, its stability and the role it played in the history of the USA and some other countries.