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Comparing Constitutions 3.12: Florida's State Constitution vs the U.S. Constitution - Benchmark EOC — Transcript

by Mr. Raymond's Social Studies Academy · 2,935 words · 451 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:01[Music]
0:08Secretary of Treasury Secretary of
0:10Treasury deals with money deals with
0:13money
0:14[Music]
0:20[Music]
0:24secretary hi and welcome back to Mr
0:26Raymond Civic CC Academy where today
0:29we're going to be preparing the US
0:31Constitution and the Florida state
0:33constitution So today we're going to be
0:35continuing our look at federalism which
0:38is the sharing of power between the US
0:41state and local governments we spent a
0:43couple videos looking at the United
0:45States Constitution so if you haven't
0:47checked those out you might want to go
0:49back to our Channel and view those today
0:51I'm really going to be focusing on the
0:53Florida Constitution and how it is
0:55similar but also very different to the
0:58US Constitution and just a reminder
1:00teachers at this PowerPoint lesson plans
1:01and activities are all available at
1:02teachers paid teachers just search for
1:04Mr Raymond Civic COC Academy now as you
1:07know a constitution is basically a
1:09rulebook for how a government operates
1:12they explain how the government is set
1:14up and usually they outline the rights
1:17that the people have in comparison to
1:19the powers that the government has and
1:22that's what Florida's Constitution does
1:24like it says here it's a basic framework
1:27of government you're going to see a lot
1:29of similarities between the national
1:30government and the state governments as
1:32set up by these constitutions for
1:35instance Florida's Constitution provides
1:37a two house legislature just like the
1:39Federal Constitution also like the US
1:42Constitution the Florida Constitution
1:44gives a lot more powers to the
1:46legislative body than the executive
1:49which is headed up by just one person
1:51and these are examples of how just like
1:53the US Constitution the Florida
1:55Constitution contains the principle of
1:57separation of powers the idea that
2:00spreading out Powers amongst the three
2:02branches and then further between the
2:04three levels of government is what
2:05guarantees that no part of the
2:08government has too much power remember
2:10giving anyone part of the government too
2:12much power is scary now what are some
2:14things that makes Florida's Constitution
2:17and Florida's government different well
2:19the members of Florida's cabinet which
2:21are the executives advisers are elected
2:24and this is definitely different the
2:26executive who is the governor also
2:28shares a lot of powers with his cabinet
2:31in Florida which is also unusual Florida
2:33also regularly reviews their
2:35constitution to consider adding
2:37amendments and this is something that
2:39totally goes against the way we consider
2:42the text of the US Constitution as
2:44something that's almost sacred and
2:46should never be changed and finally
2:48Florida is one of only nine states
2:50without an income tax now another big
2:52difference between the US federal
2:54government and the State of Florida is
2:56that Florida is on its sixth
2:58Constitution since its existence Florida
3:01wrote its first constitution in 1838 7
3:04years before it even became a state as
3:06you know the national government is
3:09technically on its second Constitution
3:11you learned all about the first US
3:13Constitution known as the Articles of
3:15Confederation but really the federal
3:17government as we know it today came into
3:20existence with the drafting of the US
3:22Constitution in 1787 and its
3:25ratification in 1788 now one of the
3:27reasons that Florida's had so many
3:30constitutions was that Florida was a
3:33slave state and around the Civil War the
3:36war fought over the slavery question
3:38Florida changed its Constitution several
3:41times to deal with the question of
3:43slavery here we see an original copy of
3:45Florida's first constitution from 1838
3:48which has seen better days now slavery
3:51isn't the only reason Florida keeps
3:53changing its Constitution after all the
3:56latest version was written in 1968 so
3:59it's only a year older than I am Florida
4:02views their constitution as something
4:04that should be changed and updated to
4:06keep up with the times whereas the
4:08national government believes that this
4:10is the job of the courts and their
4:12interpretations to update the US
4:14Constitution another reason for these
4:17constant changes to Florida's
4:18Constitution is that it contains many
4:21more specifics and we'll come back to
4:24this idea later now as we said there are
4:26some definite similarities with how both
4:29of these doc documents is set up both
4:31start out with a preamble they both
4:33contain articles to signify the
4:35different sections and they both have a
4:37list of Rights although technically the
4:40Bill of Rights and the extended rights
4:42added to the US Constitution are
4:44additions to the document whereas rights
4:46are found right at the beginning of the
4:48Florida Constitution now one of the most
4:51important differences that you need to
4:53know for your exam is the size and scope
4:56of these two documents the US
4:58Constitution is a very short document
5:01with only 4,400 words it makes it one of
5:04the shortest in the world we see that
5:06with more than 50,000 words the Florida
5:10Constitution is more than 10 times
5:12longer than the US Constitution and that
5:16is what I was talking about before the
5:17US Constitution is very Broad and some
5:21would say vague which is probably why
5:24it's lasted so long if you don't count
5:26the Bill of Rights into the number of
5:28amendments you can see that the
5:29Constitution has been changed only 17
5:32times in over 200 years meanwhile
5:35Florida in a little more than 40 years
5:38has been amended more than 100 times
5:41there's a couple of reasons for this for
5:43one thing state governments have much
5:45more interactions with the people in
5:47their everyday lives they have to
5:49provide an in-depth system for
5:51organizing the way we function as a
5:53society for everything from rules about
5:56our driving to the schools our children
5:58go to and the other big difference we
6:00already mentioned is that the federal
6:02government relies on the courts
6:04especially the US Supreme Court to
6:06interpret what the US Constitution says
6:09rather than passing laws or amendments
6:11to change the document so let's look a
6:14little closer at these two documents
6:16starting with their preambles as you
6:18hopefully remember the Preamble is the
6:20introduction to these documents and its
6:23job is to lay out the goals and purpose
6:26of the Constitutions and therefore of
6:28the governments as you can see they both
6:30begin with the words quote We the People
6:34unquote and these simple three words
6:38have big implications that these are
6:41governments as Abraham Lincoln said of
6:43the People by the people and for the
6:46people these words demonstrate those
6:48principles we learned about at the
6:49beginning of the year popular
6:51sovereignty which means that the people
6:53have the power and are in charge and
6:56consent of the Govern in which the
6:58people give their permission to be ruled
7:01We the People means that these
7:03constitutions speak for everyone not
7:06just the government these two preambles
7:08have other similarities both talk of the
7:10need to make the best government that
7:13they can to ensure domestic tranquility
7:16and providing Freedom even if they do so
7:19in a slightly different language now
7:21unlike the US Constitution which had the
7:24Bill of Rights added to the original
7:26document the Florida Constitution lists
7:28its rights right at the beginning of the
7:30document article one which is known as
7:33the Declaration of Rights now these list
7:36of Rights contain a lot of the same
7:39rights here are some rights that you can
7:41find in both documents they both start
7:43with our basic freedoms speech religion
7:46press and assembly they both have the
7:49right to bear arms they both protect
7:52against unreasonable search and seizure
7:54and excessive punishments and provide
7:57for trial by jury we covered these
7:59rights in our Bill of Rights video so if
8:01you'd like some more clarification about
8:03what these rights entail check out that
8:05video but Florida has a much longer and
8:08in-depth list of Rights in comparison to
8:11the US Bill of Rights for instance the
8:13rights include the right to work which
8:15actually means a person's right to not
8:17join a union they are not saying that
8:19everyone has the right to a job they
8:21list laws that can't be passed there's a
8:24section on rights for people who get
8:26into debt or owe too much money you
8:28don't really need need to know the
8:30specifics on these you just need to
8:32remember that Florida's Declaration of
8:34Rights contains many more specific
8:36rights there's rights for juveniles who
8:38have been accused of a crime a taxpayers
8:41Bill of Rights and they define marriage
8:44which is a very political issue which I
8:47won't touch right now now probably the
8:49biggest right listed in the Florida
8:51Constitution which is missing from the
8:53US Constitution is the right to privacy
8:56hopefully you remember that the closest
8:57thing we have in the US Constitution to
8:59the right to privacy is the Fourth
9:02Amendment which protects from
9:03unreasonable search and seizure now the
9:05Supreme Court has established the
9:07president that this implies the right to
9:09privacy but like many things in the
9:11Florida Constitution it's more specific
9:14about our rights and what the state
9:16government can do both constitutions
9:18establish three branches of government
9:21and as we said in our last video These
9:24branches operate in very similar ways
9:27both governments have a two legislature
9:30which you should know by now is a bamal
9:33lawmaking body that word bamal they both
9:36have a senate and a House of
9:38Representatives although the numbers are
9:40slightly different the US House of reps
9:43has 435 members while the Florida House
9:46of Representatives has 120 members the
9:49US Senate has 100 members while the
9:51Florida Senate has 40 members the State
9:54of Florida is divided into different
9:57districts for both the house and the
9:59Senate as rather than representing parts
10:01of the country or States they both
10:03represents parts of the same state as we
10:06mentioned before a big difference you
10:08should know for your exam is that
10:10Florida has an elected cabinet the
10:12people get to choose who will serve as
10:14the governor's advisors the President
10:17appoints his us cabinet to head the 15
10:20executive departments while the Florida
10:21governor has only three the other
10:23difference is that the governor of
10:25Florida shares a lot of responsibilities
10:27with their elected cab cabinet there is
10:29also a responsibility in the Florida
10:32Constitution just like there is in the
10:33US Constitution for the executive to go
10:36to the legislature once a year to give a
10:38speech about how the state or country is
10:41doing hopefully you remember the
10:42president's speech is called the state
10:45of the union and for the governor that
10:47speech is called the State of the State
10:49the executive lays out a list of all the
10:52issues that the state is facing say the
10:54economy they might talk about where
10:56unemployment is at for Education they
10:58might talk about how our schools are
11:00doing then the executive will lay out
11:03all of the ideas for how they think the
11:05state or country might address these
11:08issues again the presidents is called
11:10the State of the Union while the
11:11governor's is called the State of the
11:13State okay so next is the judicial
11:15branch again we spend a lot of time
11:18covering the US Supreme Court and states
11:20have their own Supreme Courts one
11:23difference is the size of the Florida
11:26Supreme Court it's made up of seven
11:28judges as opposed go to nine but the
11:30major difference you need to know is
11:32that the Florida Supreme Court do not
11:34automatically keep their jobs for life
11:36nor does the governor choose them alone
11:39in Florida a nominating committee will
11:41come up with a list of judges that they
11:43think the governor should consider the
11:45governor then chooses one of those to
11:48appoint another major difference is that
11:50the people have a say whether these
11:52judges will keep their positions on the
11:55Florida Supreme Court during elections
11:57the people will see a list of Florida to
11:59Supreme Court judges and whether they
12:01should quote retain their positions if
12:04the judges vote a certain way that makes
12:06the people angry they can vote to get
12:08rid of them and force the governor to
12:10choose new ones this is pretty rare
12:12however another difference between the
12:14two constitutions is there specifics on
12:17taxes the US Constitution gives Congress
12:19the power to pass or Levy taxes but
12:22that's about all it says the Florida
12:24Constitution has a lot of specifics on
12:27taxes the people of Florida really seem
12:29to hate paying taxes now as we said
12:31Florida doesn't have an income tax and
12:34an income tax is money they take from
12:36your paycheck even though the state
12:38constitution says that they can the
12:40Florida Constitution also describes
12:43sales tax which can be a Max of 6% and
12:46allows counties to raise a further tax
12:49of 1.5% the Florida Constitution also
12:51states that the government must have a
12:53balanced budget which means that they
12:55can't spend more than they collect in
12:57taxes I don't think you're going to need
12:59to know these specifics for your state
13:01exam but it's important to remember that
13:03taxes are another example of the Florida
13:05Constitution being much more specific
13:08than the US Constitution now the last
13:10thing we need to cover is amendments as
13:12hopefully you remember from our previous
13:14video on amendments to the US
13:16Constitution these amendments must be
13:18passed by 2/3 of the US Congress and 34s
13:22of the states for Florida's Constitution
13:24there's a few different ways amendments
13:27can be added and with this we must
13:29consider how State amendments are both
13:31proposed and how they are ratified
13:33remember the word ratified means to
13:36officially pass now in Florida
13:38amendments can be passed by the
13:40legislature a constitutional committee
13:42that meets every 20 years and by the
13:45people or the electorate and you need to
13:48remember Florida passes a lot of
13:50amendments from everything about how
13:52many students there can be in a
13:54classroom to the use of solar power so
13:58the Florida House and Senate which make
14:00up the state legislature can pass what
14:02is known as a joint resolution to add an
14:05amendment to the Florida Constitution
14:07however it must be ratified by 60% of
14:10the people so one way is for the
14:12legislature to pass an amendment as we
14:14mentioned before another big difference
14:16in how amendments are made is that there
14:17is a constitution revision Commission in
14:21Florida that meets every 20 years and
14:23looks for amendments or changes that
14:25should be made to the Florida
14:27Constitution finally amendments can be
14:29proposed or introduced by the people or
14:31the voting public which is called the
14:33electorate to introduce an idea for an
14:35amendment people must gather signatures
14:38in the form of a petition to show their
14:40support for an amendment 8% of the
14:42voting electorate must sign on their
14:45support for an amendment which is about
14:47600,000 signatures these days as the
14:50population of Florida continues to grow
14:52now as we said before the people have
14:54the final word on what amendments will
14:56be passed and this is the ratification
14:59process these proposals show up on
15:01ballots during elections in which again
15:0460% of the voting electorate must vote
15:06Yes for an amendment to pass so let's
15:09review our similarities and differences
15:11between these two important documents
15:13both begin with a preamble starting with
15:15those three important words we the
15:17people both contain a list of Rights the
15:20US in the Bill of Rights and additional
15:22amendments and the Florida Constitution
15:24Article 1 Declaration of Rights the US
15:27Constitution is a living document with
15:29changing interpretations by the federal
15:32and Supreme Courts while the Florida
15:34Constitution is a living document which
15:36is consistently updated through
15:37amendments and revisions the US
15:40Constitution is vague Broad and short
15:43while the Florida Constitution is much
15:45longer and specific addressing
15:47everything from education to Motor
15:49Vehicles to elections and providing a
15:52day-to-day framework for its residents
15:54now one last point before we go on to
15:56our review quiz that you must remember
15:58is that while both constitutions
16:00complement each other in our system of
16:02federalism if there is ever a conflict
16:04between the two the US Constitution is
16:07going to win thanks to the supremacy
16:10clause and that's where we will end up
16:12up next we're going to start looking
16:14outside of America with how governments
16:16are set up around the world but before
16:18we do let's review how many
16:21constitutions has Florida had remember
16:24it's a few six what year was Florida's
16:27current constitution written WR that
16:29would be
16:301968 which Constitution is longer the us
16:33or Florida I hope you know that the
16:35Florida Constitution is more than 10
16:38times longer than the US Constitution
16:40what are some similarities between the
16:42US and Florida constitutions well
16:45there's more than this list but both
16:47have preambles both create three
16:49branches and both have similar rights
16:52what are some differences between the US
16:54and Florida constitutions well Florida's
16:57is much longer it has more rights and a
17:00lot more amendments and it has way more
17:04specifics than the US Constitution which
17:06Constitution allows more ways for
17:08amendments to be passed well that's the
17:11Florida Constitution again a lot more
17:13ways to pass amendments which
17:15Constitution deals with education and
17:18elections again the Florida Constitution
17:22and that's it thanks for watching guys
17:24be sure to subscribe because up next
17:26we're going to be looking at types and
17:28forms of governments just a reminder
17:30teachers that this PowerPoint lesson
17:31plans worksheets Etc are all available
17:34at teachers paid teachers just search
17:35for Mr Raymond Civic COC Academy and
17:38again thanks for watching

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