American Government / Unit 1 Gov 042 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Looking Up a Constitutional Claim
The idea
A constitutional claim is checked by tracing it to exact text in Constitution Annotated, the Library of Congress's annotated edition of the Constitution.
In practice
Take the claim: "the Constitution guarantees each state two senators." Step one — identify the likely article; the legislature is Article I. Step two — open constitution.congress.gov and navigate to Article I, Section 3. Step three — read the clause: two senators per state, six-year terms. Step four — record the citation beside the claim: Art. I, §3, cl. 1. Step five — check the annotations for later amendment; here the annotation flags the Seventeenth Amendment, which moved the choice of senators from state legislatures to the voters. The claim survives, with its citation and its amendment history attached.
Where people slip
A claim that cannot be traced to a clause is not a constitutional claim — the claim may still be true as law or practice, but the Constitution is not its source.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
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