The Government of the U.S.A.
and The U.S. Constitution

(The oldest Constitution in the world that is still in existence)

• everyone is protected by the law;
• everyone must obey the law; and,
• no law can be made which contradicts or opposes the Constitution.

The right of all Americans to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is the basis for the Constitution and its amendments.

The United States Constitution was a huge experiment in 1789.  After the war with Britain, everyone had ideas of how the government should be set up.  Eventually, everyone agreed that no person or group could completely control the government.  To make sure this would not happen, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have:

• A system of government that has checks and balances to control the power of politicians, and
  
  
• A guarantee of basic rights and freedom to all people living in the U.S. – the Bill of Rights

A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT WITH CHECKS AND BALANCES

There would be three branches of government:

ü     The Legislative Branch which was known as Congress would make the laws.

ü     The Executive Branch would carry out the laws – the President and cabinet     members.

ü     The Judicial Branch – the Courts – would interpret the laws.

BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT

The Legislative Branch
Makes laws

	Congress
House of Representatives  435 members Elected for 2 years		Senate 100 members Elected for 6 years

The Executive Branch
Carries out laws

President

Elected for 4 years

Maximum two terms

appoints

Cabinet

13 members

The Judicial Branch
Interprets laws

9 members

Appointed for life.

1.       The Legislative Branch - Congress

Initially, there were 13 colonies which became the first 13 States but they were not equally populated.  For example, Rhode Island had a tiny population while some of the other colonies/states had far more people.

The smaller states were afraid of not having adequate representation in the government, if the system of government was based on each state sending representatives to Congress based on each state’s population.

Eventually the following system of government was devised:

A Congress would consist of two houses:

(i)        The House of Representatives which today has 435 members.  The population of a state will depend on how many representatives it can send to the House of Representatives.  States like California, Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida have far more representatives than a state like Rhode Island.  Each representative is elected for two years.

(ii)       The Senate.  Each state elects two senators to the Senate.  At the present time there are 100 senators, two from each state.  Each senator is elected for six years.

Making a law

In order for an idea to become a law, both Houses of Congress have got to agree to the identical terms of the law and the President must sign the law.

2.       The Executive Branch

The President heads the Executive Branch and is elected by the electoral college.

The Electoral College

Each state elects a certain number of members to the electoral college depending on how populated that state is.  It is possible for one candidate to have more votes throughout the country, yet have less members sent to the electoral college, and lose the election.  How could this happen?  The candidate with the most votes in a state gets all the members of the electoral college for that State.  The populated states send more members to the college.

The President

A president serves for four years and is allowed to serve for two terms.

The Cabinet

The President nominates the cabinet members who must be confirmed by the Senate.  The cabinet members are the bosses of the various departments of government, e.g., foreign affairs are dealt with by the Secretary of State; the Justice Department is headed by the Attorney General; agriculture is run by the Secretary for Agriculture.

Government agencies

Certain departments of government have different sub-sections.  For example, there are many divisions to the Department of Justice including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS).  In the Treasury Department, there are also various departments which would include The Mint, Customs, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Even if both Houses of Congress pass a law, the President has the right to veto it.  Congress can override the President’s veto by passing the same law with a super majority consisting of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members of the Senate.

3.       Judicial Branch

The Courts – interpret the laws

In each state there are federal courts which interpret the federal laws.  Federal judges are appointed for life, while in many states, state judges are elected for a period of service.

It is important to remember that each state has its own State Courts which interpret the laws of that particular state. 

Federal judges deal with laws relating to the federal government and more particularly the highest law of the land which is the Constitution.  State Courts deal with their state laws.

There is an appeals system within the federal courts with the highest federal court being the United States Supreme Court based in Washington, D.C.  There are nine judges, who are appointed for life, who interpret the laws on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Federal judges, and more particularly, the U.S. Supreme Court, are there to protect the people's rights as set out in the United States Constitution.

The Constitution

“The Supreme Law of the Land”

In many countries, if a law is passed by a Congress or Parliament, the highest court of the land must enforce that law.  This is not the case in the United States.

Example:  Even if all 435 members of the House of Representatives and all 100 members of the Senate passed a law saying that one particular religion would be the national religion of the U.S.A. and the President signed that law, any citizen affected by the law could challenge the validity of the law in the United States Supreme Court.

It could be challenged on the basis that it violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution which prohibits the government from establishing a religion.  This is a very obvious example and there are many subtle cases which come before the United States Supreme Court on whether a law passed by a state or even a local government (municipality) violates the United States Constitution.  At one stage, the death penalty was challenged as being cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.  The United States Supreme Court ruled that it was not cruel and unusual punishment.

When the Constitution was first presented to the various colonies/states, it was accepted by the states with various amendments.  The first ten amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights and are the strong foundation of people's individual rights to freedom.

It is possible to amend the Constitution.  The Constitution has been amended 26 times.  The last amendment changed the voting age from 21 years of age to 18 years of age.  There was an amendment that prohibited the sale of alcohol, which became known as Prohibition.  That very amendment had to be changed by another amendment to the Constitution which allows the states to make their own regulations regarding alcohol but no state can prohibit alcohol being transported through its territory.

In order for there to be an amendment to the United States Constitution, it is necessary for two-thirds of both Houses of Congress to propose an amendment or for two-thirds of the states to propose an amendment.  Thereafter, it is necessary for three-quarters of all the states to agree to such a change in the Constitution.

This system of checks and balances has proved to be an excellent form of government.  What was once merely an experiment and a gamble by the members at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 has become the backbone of democracy in the United States.