American Constitution
The basis of all law in the United States
is the Constitution. This Constitution
is a document written by "outcasts" of
England. The Constitution of
the United States sets forth the nation's
fundamental laws. It establishes the
form of the national government and
defines the rights and liberties of the
American people. It also lists
the aims of the government and the methods of
achieving them. The
Constitution was written to organize a strong national
government for the
American states. Previously, the nation's leaders had
established a national
government under the Articles of Confederation. But the
Articles granted
independence to each state. They lacked the authority to make
the states work
together to solve national problems. After the states won
independence in the
Revolutionary War (1775-1783), they faced the problems of
peacetime
government. The states had to enforce law and order, collect taxes,
pay a
large public debt, and regulate trade among themselves. They also had to
deal
with Indian tribes and negotiate with other governments. Leading
statesmen,
such as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, began to discuss
the creation
of a strong national government under a new constitution. The
United States is a
republic that operates under a federalist system. The
national government had
specific enumerated powers, and the fifty states
retain substantial endowment
over their citizens and their residents. Both
the national government and the
state government are divided into three
different branches, executive,
legislative, and judicial. Written
constitutions, both federal and state, form a
system of separated powers.
Amendment, in legislation, is a change in a law, or
in a bill before it
becomes a law. Bills often have amendments attached before a
legislature
votes on them. Amendments to the Constitution of the United States
may be
proposed in two ways: (1) If two-thirds of both houses approve, Congress
may
propose an amendment. The amendment becomes a law when ratified either
by
legislatures or by conventions in three-fourths of the states. (2) If
the
legislatures of two-thirds of the states ask for an amendment, Congress
must
call a convention to propose it. The amendment becomes a law when
ratified
either by the legislatures or by conventions in three fourths of the
states.
This method has never been used. The Federal Government is
comprised of three
branches: Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and
the Judicial Branch. The
executive branch includes the President the vice
President, the cabinet and all
federal departments, and most governmental
agencies. All executive power is
vested in the President [US Const. Art. II,
sec 1, cl. 1], currently Bill
Clinton, who serves a four-year term. The
President is the commander in Chief of
the military [US Const. Art. II, sec
2, cl. 1], and has primary authority over
foreign affairs. The President has
the power to make treaties, but only with
two-thirds of the US senate [US
Const. Art. II, sec 2, cl. 2]. The President of
the US has the power to
nominate all Supreme Court Justices, all other federal
juries, ambassadors,
and all other officers of the United States. The President
had the
jurisdiction to veto legislation. The vice President is the President of
the
Senate. The Vice President serves the same four year term as the
President.
The President is the head of the thirteen government
departments. These
departments are not listed in the constitution and have
varied in name and in
number over the years. Currently they are the
DEPARTMENTS OF STATE, TREASURY,
DEFENSE, JUSTICE, INTERIOR, AGRICULTURE,
COMMERCE, LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES, HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORTATION, ENERGY, and EDUCATION.
The heads of each
department form the cabinet, which is the highest advisory
group to the
President. The executive branch also includes dozens of government
agencies.
There is a difference between departments and agencies. Agencies have
a very
specific purpose while the departments are more broad. Heads of
any
governmental agencies are not members of the cabinet. All federal
legislative
powers are vested in the Congress of the United States, which
contain two
chambers, a Senate and a House of Representatives [US Const. Art.
I, sec 1,].
There are one hundred Senators, two from each of the fifty
states. Senators
serve six-year terms [US Const. Art. I, sec 3, cl. 1]. The
House of
Representatives has 435 members, the population of each state
determines this
number. Each state is granted minimum of one representative.
Each representative
serves a two-year term. The powers of Congress are
specifically enumerated in
the Constitution and include, among other things,
the power to lay and collect
taxes, duties, and tariffs. Congress also has
the power to regulate commerce
with foreign nations, among several states,
and with Indian tribes. To pass a
law, a bill must be passed by both the
House and the Senate, and signed by the
President. The President has the
option of vetoing the legislation, but the
Congress can override the veto
with a two-thirds vote of both chambers. The
Congress also has
substantial powers in overseeing the activities of the
executive branch. The
House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach the
President and
other officers, and the Senate the sole power to try impeachment.
U.S.
Congressional committees may demand disclosure of information and
require
agency officials to testify before them. The Congress has also
established the
General Accounting Office (GAO), which evaluates
executive branch activities and
reports back to the Congress. Most GAO
reports are public documents, which can
be viewed upon request. Much of
Congress' work is done by Congressional
committees. The number and scope of
Congressional committees can change,
particularly when political control of
the chamber changes parties and when the
jurisdiction of committees overlaps,
as is often the case. Practically all the
elections in the United States are
the same, except the presidential election,
which happens every four years.
All political elections are based on two major
parties, the democrats, and
the republicans. Both parties have different beliefs
and usually stick to
them. For the majority the popular vote wins, and
determines the victor. Two
or more candidates for the office desired
,"run", and try to convince the
voters that they are the best person
for the job. While at the same time try
to ruin each others. It takes one more
than half the votes, to declare a
triumphant party. Presidential elections
however are quite different. Two
candidates, or more, run for the office of
president. Along with the
presidential office is the vice presidential office.
The Presidential
candidates chooses a running mate (the vice president hopeful).
All
parties, weather an independent or a popular party, have what they call
a
"platform". This "platform" is made up of many
"planks", which are what
each party/person/group believes in and
stands for. When it comes time for
the legal citizens to vote upon an official,
they go into voting areas and
vote for each president. However, the citizens do
not vote for the president
directly. They vote for his electors, which are
regular people chosen by each
candidate to vote fore the president. Then the
electors vote for the
president. Each state has a different number of electors
equal to the number
of representatives. EXAMPLE: Two candidates, A and B. Three
States, 1, 2
and, 3. State 1 has a population of 100 people, and 2
representatives. State
2, 200, and 3 representatives. Lastly state three has 500
people, and 6
representatives. Candidate A gets 30 votes of state 1, candidate B
gets the
remaining 70. Thus, candidate B receives the two electoral votes. State
2
is split 60 (A) and 140 (B), candidate B, again, receives the electoral
votes.
Now as it stands A, zero; and B, 5. The last state is a landslide
for A. He gets
130 votes. He gets the 6 electoral votes. Candidate A wins
the election. Even
though that B had 280 votes from the citizens, he lost the
election, because it
is not the number of the popular votes that counts. It
is the number of the
electoral votes. Though it usually work hand in hand,
popular and electoral, it
sometimes does not. The word citizen comes from the
Latin word civitas, which in
ancient times meant membership in a city. Today,
citizenship refers mainly to
membership in a nation. What it means to be a
citizen The rights of citizens
differ from nation to nation. The Constitution
of the United States provides the
basic rights of American citizens, and laws
passed by Congress give additional
rights. These rights are called civil
rights. They include freedom of speech,
freedom of religion, and freedom of
assembly (the right to gather peacefully for
political or other purposes).
American citizens have the right to vote for the
President and members of
Congress and to run for government office themselves.
U.S. citizens have
the right to travel throughout the United States. American
citizens, unlike
those of some countries, cannot be forced to leave their
homeland. American
citizenship cannot be taken away, except for certain serious
actions. Aliens
and non-citizen nationals share many of the rights of U.S.
citizens. But they
cannot vote, hold public office, or do certain other things
that citizens can
do. The rights of citizens have certain limits. For example,
U.S.
citizens must be at least 18 years old to vote. States also can limit
voting
rights to people who have registered to vote. Freedom of speech does
not
allow a person to tell lies that damage someone's reputation. Many other
civil
rights also have limits. The duties of citizens, like citizens' rights,
differ
from nation to nation. Most governments demand that citizens pay
taxes, defend
their country, and obey its laws. Some governments require
certain citizens to
serve on juries. Many people believe that citizens also
have duties not demanded
by law, such as voting, learning about public
problems, and trying to help other
people. Many of these duties go along with
rights. For example, the duty to vote
comes with the right to vote. The duty
to learn about public problems comes with
freedom of speech and of the press,
which protect the open discussion of public
events and the exchange of ideas.
Aliens must obey the laws of the country in
which they are traveling or
living, except for those that bind only citizens. In
addition, aliens must
obey some of the laws of their homeland. For example, some
foreigners who
work in the United States must pay taxes both to the U.S.
government and to
the government of their own country. Travelers who break the
laws of a
country they are visiting may be put on trial and fined or
imprisoned.
Many nations grant diplomatic immunity to aliens who
represent foreign
governments. Diplomatic immunity is a set of special rights
granted to the
representatives of foreign governments and to the
representatives' families and
staffs. In many countries, these rights include
freedom from arrest, search, and
taxation. Ways of becoming a citizen Nations
have various laws that govern the
granting of citizenship. People become
citizens in two ways: (1) by birth and
(2) by naturalization. Birth. Most
people become citizens of a country simply by
being born there. The right to
citizenship in the country of one's birth is
called jus soli (pronounced juhs
SOH ly), a Latin phrase that means right of
soil. The laws of most nations,
including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the
United States, grant
citizenship based on jus soli. Some nations limit jus soli
to children whose
parents already have citizenship in that nation. Some nations
also deny jus
soli to certain groups of persons. Such persons include children
who are born
in a country where their parents are serving as diplomatic
representatives.
Persons denied jus soli also include babies born to refugees
(persons who
have been forced from their homeland by war or some other
difficulty). Some
countries use another rule of citizenship instead of jus soli--or
in addition
to it. This rule provides that the citizenship of children is
determined by
the nationality of their parents, no matter where the children are
born. The
right to citizenship in the country of one's parents is called jus
sanguinis
(pronounced juhs SANG wuh nuhs). This phrase is a Latin term that
means right
of blood. Canada, France, the United States, and a number of other
nations
grant jus sanguinis to children born abroad if one or both parents
are
citizens. Naturalization is the legal process by which foreigners
become
citizens of a country they have adopted. Each nation sets requirements
that
aliens must meet to become naturalized. For example, aliens cannot
undergo
naturalization in Canada or the United States unless they have lived
in their
new country for a number of years. On the other hand, Israel allows
Jewish
immigrants to become Israeli citizens the day they arrive under a rule
called
the Law of Return. Many nations naturalize only people who understand
the rights
and duties of citizenship and can use the national language. The
United States
and certain other countries require aliens to give up
citizenship in their
homelands to become naturalized. Naturalization usually
takes place in a
ceremony in which qualified aliens promise loyalty to their
new country. In the
United States, many naturalization ceremonies take
place on Citizenship Day,
September 17. Treaties or the passage of
special laws may naturalize groups of
people without the usual naturalization
process. For example, an act of Congress
naturalized the people of Puerto
Rico in 1917. The United States had taken over
Puerto Rico through the
treaty that ended the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Criminal courts
decide the legal guilt or innocence of people accused of
violating the law.
The courts also determine the punishment for those who are
convicted.
Pretrial procedures. In most cases, the suspect is brought to court
for a
hearing within 24 hours after being arrested. At this hearing,
called
arraignment, a judge reads the charges against the defendant. The
judge also
reads the person his or her rights concerning a fair trial. The
most important
right of any defendant is the right to be considered innocent
until proved
guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." If the defendant pleads
guilty to
the charges, the judge may sentence the person immediately. If the
individual
pleads not guilty, the case goes to trial. The judge appoints a
defense attorney
to handle the defendant's case if the accused person cannot
afford a lawyer. The
judge decides whether to keep the defendant in jail
until the trial or to
release the person on bail. The defendant or another
person puts up bail to
guarantee that the accused will return to the court to
stand trial. A defendant
who cannot put up bail must stay in jail until the
trial. The courts cannot
require bail so high that no one can furnish it. But
the judge may deny bail to
a person considered likely not to return for
trial. Some states also prohibit
bail for individuals who are accused of such
serious crimes as espionage and
murder. Cases involving less serious crimes,
such as disorderly conduct or
driving without a license, may be completed in
a single court session. In these
cases, the judge hears the testimony,
decides the guilt or innocence of the
defendant, and sentences the guilty.
Cases of murder, kidnapping, or other
especially serious crimes may be
presented to a grand jury. This panel, which
consists of 16 to 23 citizens in
most states, decides if the evidence against
the defendant justifies bringing
the case to trial. The purpose of the grand
jury is to protect the defendant
from being accused of a crime with insufficient
evidence. Many cases are
settled by plea bargaining. In this procedure, the
accused agrees to plead
guilty in exchange for being charged with a less serious
crime or being
promised a shorter prison sentence. About 90 per cent of all
defendants plead
guilty, most of them through plea bargaining. The trial. When a
criminal case
goes to trial, the defendant chooses to have it heard either by a
jury or by
the judge alone. In most states, a trial jury consists of 12
citizens.
However, the juries in some states may have as few as 6 members. The
jury or
judge hears the evidence for and against the defendant and then reaches
a
verdict. If the individual is found guilty, the judge pronounces sentence.
If
the defendant is found not guilty, he or she is released. In most cases,
the
judge determines the sentence for a defendant convicted of a crime. The
judge
imposes punishment that he or she feels will best serve both the
offender and
society. Laws may provide a maximum and a minimum sentence
according to the
crime involved. In some cases, the recommendation of the
jury determines the
sentence that may be given to the offender. The judge may
put a convicted
offender on probation to protect the individual from the
harmful effects of
being imprisoned with experienced criminals. A lawbreaker
who is on probation
remains free but must follow certain rules. A probation
officer assigned by the
court supervises the individual's conduct. A
probationer who violates any of the
rules of his or her probation may be sent
to prison. Some judges require
offenders to repay their victims, either with
money or by working for them
without
pay.