Civics Tuesday! Constitution: Recipe for Liberty
Plain language civics for busy people. Civics: the study of the rights and duties of citizenship
This week in history:
1854, British and French troops began the Siege of Sevastopol, during the Crimean War. This war involved Russia, France, Britain, Ottoman-Türkiye, and Sardinia-Piedmont, and involved fights for control of religious factions and locations in then Palestine.
2022, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and leader of the private military corporation '“Wagner Group,” boasted about Russian interference in U.S. elections: “We have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do.”
This year, Pregozhin died when the airplane he was in exploded. Mr. Pregozhin had not only interfered in elections in other countries, he challenged the leader of his own country. That country had to form a government in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and had a constitutional crisis in 1993, when the new Constitution of Russia put most of the power in the control of one person, the president. In governments that have most of the power with a single person, it is common to see dissidents and journalists arrested or “disappeared.”
What’s in the US Constitution?
The US Constitution is a sort of installation and operating manual, a guide for how to run the nation.
The Constitution of the United States has an introduction (a preamble), and 7 Articles.
Articles 1, 2, & 3 are the installation manual, or set-up guide for the 3 branches of government: Legislative (Congress), Executive (office of the President,) and Judicial (Federal court system).
Articles 4, 5, & 6 are the operating and repair manual: how States work with the Federal Government, how the Constitution is the top law of the land, and how the Amendment process works (for repairs and updates as needed).
Article 7 is Ratification. This is like a contract agreement with signatures. Each State sent representatives to argue for what was important for their own state and all the people of the country. When everyone agreed they could work with the guidelines, they signed the last page.
The Constitution explains about voting in Article 1, section 4. Each US State Legislature makes laws for their states, including about where and how to vote. The US Congress (people voted from each State to US House and Senate) can decide if a State has voting rules that are wrong. Congress can, by law change them.
Part of the job each member of US Congress and the state legislatures is explaining what new or changed laws are supposed to do. This helps people be informed voters.
Article 1, Section. 4.
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall, by Law appoint a different Day.
Some Amendments to the Constitution are about voting laws, aimed toward making elections fair, so each US Citizen Voter has an equal chance by law to do this part of their civic duties.
Election Day for most elections is a Tuesday, between November 2nd and 8th. It is the last day to vote, and the day most votes get counted. If you are a Citizen 18 years of age or older, it is your civic duty to vote.
Check your Voter Registration! It’s hard to vote if your registration isn’t up to date. Check in to see if you have the correct location for voting, or how to vote by mail or early. Vote411.org is a good place to get started to find your voting location and check your registration. Local libraries and city offices are also helpful.