today we're looking at article 4 section 1 2 3 and 4 of the united states constitution
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a look at the questions down in the description also don't forget to check out the worksheet in
the description that goes along with this video available at dailybellringer.com the first three
articles of the united states constitution created the framework for the us government with article
1 defining the legislative branch that makes laws article 2 the executive branch that ensures laws
are enforced and article 3 the judicial branch which interprets laws and their constitutionality
now starting here with article four we get away from the organization of the government
and instead article four's main theme is state relationships how should the states basically
treat one another and what are states relationship to the federal government section 1 of article 4
requires that all states honor the laws of other states and laws passed by the federal government
this section really lays the groundwork for a very important principle in american government
and that is federalism federalism basically means the sharing of power between different levels of
government and really divides the responsibilities of government between local and federal government
entities the best way to picture this concept is to think of a wedding cake with three tiers
or layers at the very bottom of the cake is the federal government made up of congress and
the president and the supreme court the federal government has the responsibility of dealing with
major issues such as national defense or foreign affairs major nationwide issues the next layer
of the cake would be your state government with individual state legislatures and state governors
they handle issues such as maintaining roads or funding schools or giving people their driver's
licenses these are a little bit smaller issues that can differ from state to state but then
the top layer would be your local governments with maybe a city council or a county board
and a city mayor they handle items such as trash pickup and making sure the sewers are
connected this is a rather ingenious system as it divides the responsibilities so that no one
level of government is burdened with so many details so for instance imagine if in order to
get your trash picked up on your street congress had to debate and pass a bill that then had to be
signed by the president that would be an extremely inefficient system and who knows if your trash
would ever get picked up so under this federalist system the responsibilities and powers are divided
but if you study american history you will find of course that the issue of sharing power and
defining who has more power the states or the federal government would become very
very controversial and eventually would contribute to leading us to civil war
article 4 section 2 guarantees that citizens of one state be treated equally and fairly like
all the citizens of another state so states are not to discriminate against one another
or treat someone differently because they come from another state also within this section is the
idea of extradition if someone commits a crime in one state and then flees to another state
if they're captured in that other state the original state where the crime was committed
can request that the accused criminal be returned to face trial in that original state
article 4 section 3 outlines the procedures for admitting new states to the united states and
outlines control of federal land since the united states was founded with 13 states there have been
37 states added to the union the constitution does not specifically set requirements rather it
says that this is left up to congress to decide in general congress has set certain population
requirements before a state can apply for statehood and after that state has applied they
have to create their own state constitution and submit it to the federal government to be approved
lastly article 4 section 4 ensures that each state has a republican form of government now they are
not referring to the republican political party here in fact that party did not even exist when
the constitution was written instead they were basically saying each state is required to have
a system in which the people are allowed to vote for representatives to their state government or
another way to say it was they wanted to make sure each state was a republic which means the ultimate
power is with the people and the representatives they elect also here within section 4 it says
the federal government will protect states from attack or if there is local fighting or
riots within their state with this you might think back to shay's rebellion which happened
just prior to the writing of the constitution so there is article 4 of the constitution dealing
with state relationships so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching