US Government History
In this essay I will give a short history
of the government in United States of
America (U.S.). Then I will
describe each of the three branches of government in
the U.S. and the
relationship between them. In principle, the U.S. is a
democratic republic,
they govern themselves by choosing their leaders by secret
ballot, and these
leaders in turn make the rules. Americans started
"governing themselves" as a
nation on July 4th, 1776, when the
Declaration of Independence was signed
in Philadelphia by representatives of the
thirteen British colonies in North
America. These states joined together
formally in 1781 under a first
"constitution," the Articles of
Confederation. That loose union of the
states was replaced by the Constitution
of the U.S. in 1789. This document
(amended 26 times) is still the political
foundation of the U.S. Being based
on a written constitution, the U.S.
government is committed in principle to
the rule of law. To guarantee the rights
of free speech, a free press,
freedom of religion etc. the first ten amendments,
called the "Bill of
Rights" were adopted in 1791. There are three
levels of government in the
U.S. Local government (city/county), state
government, and federal
government. Here I will pay most attention to the
federal government. Many of
the concepts of the U.S. government can be traced to
progressive thinkers of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, e.g. Locke,
Spinoza,
Blackstone, and Montesquiueu. Out of some of their thoughts the
U.S.
government system with the three branches were made: A legislative
branch
(Congress), an Executive branch (President), and a judicial branch
(Supreme
Court). The Constitution is most of all a document of checks and
balances: among
the three branches of the federal government; and between the
levels of
government, nation and state. The legislative branch (Congress)
that has the
power to make laws valid for the whole country. Powers like the
regulation of
taxes, regulation of commerce between the states and with
foreign countries, the
power to declare war, and the power to impeach the
President are some of the
other matters the legislative branch have to deal
with. Congress has two
chambers (or "houses"): the Senate and the House of
Representatives
("the house"). The Senate consists of one hundred senators:
Two
senators from each of the fifty states. The senators serve for six-year
terms.
One third are elected every two years. The Senate's area of
responsibility
consists of to approve major presidential appointments, and
approve major
foreign policy steps. The House of Representatives has their
435 members (called
"congress-men/women/people/persons") chosen from
districts (the U.S.
is divided into 435 districts containing some five
hundred thousand
inhabitants). The districts are reapportioned every ten
years. The
representatives serve in two-year terms, and all of them are
elected every two
years. All tax legislation must start in the House.
Executive power is vested in
the office of the President of the U.S. The
President has the dual role of being
the chief of state and the head of
government. The President is also commander
in chief of the armed forces; he
issues executive orders, and appoints Supreme
Court justices (with senate
approval). The president is also called "the
chief legislator" because he/she
indirectly proposes many bills, considers
all bills from Congress and signs
them into law or vetoes them. The President is
elected by "the whole country"
for four years. He/she is assisted by
the Cabinet and its departments, the
White House staff, and some independent
administrative agencies. The Supreme
Court: "The Judicial power of the U.S.
shall be vested in one supreme court,
and in such inferior courts as the
Congress from time to time may ordain
an establish."(The Constitution
states). All nine federal judges are
appointed by the President and serve
"during good behaviour," usually meaning
for life. The judges cannot
be removed from office except for criminal
behaviour or malfeasance. This makes
them less vulnerable to political
pressure than they would be if they had to
depend upon politicians or the
voters for new mandates. The main feature of the
independent role for the
courts lies in their power to interpret the
Constitution. They review the
"constitutionality" of laws and
executive orders. The number of justices is
decided by Congress, and they can be
impeached by congress. There are also
Inferior Courts: One hundred District
Courts and thirteen Courts of
Appeals, all of them are created by Congress, with
judges appointed by the
President (with Senate approval). All federal courts
hear cases involving
federal law, involving state laws whose constitutionally is
changed,
involving the U.S., involving two separate states, and involving
citizens of
different states. Having presented the three branches of U.S.
government in
broad strokes, I will now turn in to how the separation of powers
is designed
to work. The system of government is commonly referred to as
"the system of
checks and balances". It is designed to work so as to
avoid placing too much
power in too few hands. The most powerful tool Congress
has (most important
"checks" on the power of the President) is the
power to appropriate money
(set aside money for some specific purpose). After
both houses of Congress
have approved the budget, it is sent over to the
President. He/she has to
sign the bill into law. Another major check on the
power of the President is
the Senate's power of advice and consent. The
President is obliged to ask
for the advice and consent of the Senate on all
major appointments (e.g.
members of the president's Cabinet, new justices of the
Supreme Court,
other federal judges, and members of administrative or regulatory
agencies)
and major foreign policy decisions he/she makes (e.g. when it
concerns
treaties). To declare war, the President must turn to both houses of
Congress
for their approval. The president's major countervailing power in
the
legislative process is the power of the veto. The President must sign
any
proposed legislation before it becomes law; his failure or refusal to do
so can
thus stop any bill. If the President returns a bill to Congress with a
veto on
it, the legislature has the power to override the President's veto by
re-passing
the legislation by a two-thirds majority in both houses. Then the
bill becomes
law without the President's signature. (If the President does
not wish to be
associated with a bill but does not feel that it is worthwhile
to prevent it
from becoming law, he can demonstrate this by using a so-called
pocket veto:
he/she simply lets it lie on his/her desk for ten days without
signing it or
vetoing it, in which case it becomes law without the
President's signature.) The
Congress has the power to impeach the
President. (A complex matter that involves
the House of Representatives and
its Judicial Committee or a special ad hoc
committee, the Senate, the Chief
Justice of the U.S. (the Supreme Court))
Turning to the relationship
between Congress and the Supreme Court, we find that
Congress has the
power to determine the construction of the Court (and its
inferior courts).
As mentioned before, the Congress has some say in whom will
sit on the
Supreme Court bench, in that nominations made by the President must
be
approved by the Senate. I have already touched the "checks" between
the
Supreme Court and the President. Just as the President may be impeached
by
the Congress, so may justices of the Supreme Court (indeed, all civil
officials,
except members of Congress) be removed from office by impeachment.
The single
countervailing "arrow" of power aimed at Congress by the Supreme
Court
is the comprehensive power of judicial review (As mentioned earlier on
in the
paragraph about the Supreme Court). This review of laws by the courts
is not an
"automatic" part of the legislative process, but the specific
laws
have to be brought before the courts for a decision about
their
constitutionality. If Congress finds that the Supreme Court has
interpreted the
Constitution in a way which disagrees with its own
fundamental views (or for any
other reason), then Congress can initiate the
process of amending the
Constitution. A majority of two thirds of both
houses of Congress must pass the
amendment. As soon as three quarters of the
states (thirty-eight of them) have
ratified the proposed amendment it becomes
a part of the Constitution. In all
these ways the Constitution checks the
unrestricted exercise of power by each
branch and balances of the powers of
the branches against each other.
Bibliography
T. Sirev?g, American
patterns, Ad Notam Gyldendal, Oslo D. May and J.
Oakland, American
civilization, Routledge, London/New York B. O'Callaghan, An
Illustrated
History of the USA, Longman, Essex G. T. Kurian, A Historical Guide
to the
U.S. Government, Oxford University Press, New York/Oxford L.
Berlowitz,
D. Donoghue, and L. Menand, America in theory, Oxford
University Press, New
York/Oxford D. J. Boorstin, The Americans, The
Democratic Experience, Random
House, New York D. S. MacQueen, American
Social Studies, Studentlitteratur, Lund
Encyclop?dia Britannica
(http:/www.britannica.com)