What word means the basic laws of government?

The word that means the basic laws of government, on the USCIS reading vocabulary list, is Constitution. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, the document that establishes the federal government and the relationship between the federal government, the states, and the people.

The Constitution was drafted at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, signed by 39 of the 55 delegates on September 17, 1787, and ratified when the ninth state, New Hampshire, approved it on June 21, 1788. It went into effect on March 4, 1789, replacing the Articles of Confederation.

The original Constitution has a Preamble and seven articles. Article I creates Congress and lists its powers; Article II creates the presidency and the executive branch; Article III creates the federal judiciary; Article IV governs relations between the states; Article V provides the amendment process; Article VI establishes the supremacy of federal law and federal treaties; and Article VII set out the original ratification procedure.

The Constitution has been amended 27 times, with the first ten amendments collectively known as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution operates on three core principles: separation of powers among three branches, federalism (a division of power between the federal government and the states), and limited government (the federal government may exercise only the powers enumerated in the document plus those necessary and proper to execute them).

The original signed Constitution is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. On the reading test Constitution may appear in a sentence such as "What is the supreme law of the land?" or "The Constitution protects rights."