1. your teacher needs ! before beginning the lessons on the u. s. constitution, he asked his students to write essays on what they already knew. now he has to correct those essays. read the first essay and write a corrected version. the two statements that make up the first paragraph of the following essay are correct. fix the rest. then write a summary sentence about the constitution. essay: the u. s. constitution was adopted on september 17, 1787 by the constitutional convention meeting in philadelphia, pennsylvania. after ratification by 11 states (only 9 were required), the new united states government began operation in march of 1789. the constitution establishes five branches of government that include the congress, the president, the courts, the military, and the postal service. the congress has two parts: a house of senators and the representatives. each calls for two members and two alternates from each state. the president is responsible for introducing and passing all new laws, but the representatives can veto them. the highest court is called the court of special appeals. the judges serve 10 year terms and are elected. unlike the judges, the president is appointed by the congress. the constitution can be changed by a process called altering it. the first ten alterations to the constitution are known together as the states’ rights acts. alterations to the constitution must be approved by half of the states. each branch of the government operates independently of the other. there is no system for separation of powers, which makes the government free of any checks and balances. judicial review of whether laws are constitutional is possible only when the president asks for it.