The System of Government in the usa

The success of the Revolution gave Americans the opportunity to establish a new form of government which had been expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

As early as May 10, 1776, the Continental Congress issued a resolution authorizing each of the 13 colonies to form a new provincial government. Within a year after the Declaration all but three colonies had drawn up constitutions.

The new constitutions were built on the solid foundation of colonial experience and English practice. But they also showed the spirit of republicanism.

Each constitution began with a declaration or bill of rights. Virginia’s variant included a declaration of principles, such as popular sovereignty, rotation in office, freedom of elections, and an enumeration of fundamental liberties: moderate bail and human punishment, speedy trial by jury, freedom of the press and of conscience, and the right of the majority to reform or alter the government.

Other states added freedom of speech, of assembly and of petition; often included such provisions as the right to bear arms, to a writ of habeas corpus, to inviolability of domicile, and to equal protection under the law.

The most radical constitution was the Pennsylvania’s one. It permitted every male taxpayer and his sons to vote, required rotation in office (no one could serve as a representative more than four years out of every seven) and set up a single-chamber legislature.

None of the constitutions secured equality, however. The slave population was excluded from the constitutions. Women had no political rights; universal male suffrage was absent, too.

The form of government is based on three main principles: federalism, the separation of powers, and respect for the Constitution and the rule of law.

The USA is a representative democracy. All public officials of the national as well as state governments must swear to abide by the Constitution.

The Federal government has three elements: executive (the President), legislature (Congress) and judicial, and the three elements are checked and balanced by one another.

The function of the legislative branch is to make laws. The legislative branch is made up of representatives elected to Congress.

American Constitution

American Constitution has always been considered with almost religious veneration. It was written more than 200 years ago. It inspired many other countries to create their own constitutions using the American one as a model. Now it is the oldest written constitution in the world, but its principles are very vague which leads to disputes over the laws that are forbidden by the Constitution.

The First Article provides for the establishment of the legislative body, Congress, consisting of two Houses, and defines its powers. The second describes the powers for the executive branch, the President, and contains in general terms information of a system of federal courts.

The authors of the Constitution understood that there might bу a need for altering it and they included provision for amendment. The Fifth Article lays down the procedure for amendment, allowing either the states or Congress to take the initiative. A proposal to make a change must first be approved by two-thirds majorities in both Houses and Congress and then ratified by three-quarters of the states (38 states out of 50).

The first ten amendments, known as the “Bill of Rights”, were made in 1791 and now are an extension of the original Constitution. In the nest seventy years to more amendments were adopted, and the 13^th, 14^th and 14^th came after the Civil War.

There are 27 amendments to the Constitution. (one of the amendments – the Twenty-First (1933) – repealed the prohibition of alcohol, which was established by the Eighteenth Amendment (1919)).

The most important amendments are the first, fifths and tenth. The first amendment forbids any laws “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” or laws which might in any way rake away freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to assemble peacefully and to petition the government for a redress of grievance.

The Fifth Amendment provides that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation”.

Under the tenth amendment “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people”.

The Constitution of the USA takes precedence over all state constitutions and laws, and over laws made by the US Congress. It also includes a list of the subjects concerning which Congress may make laws (it means that the US Congress does not have a general legislative power, but only power to make laws on these particular subjects). These subjects are enlisted in Article One; they are: defense and foreign affairs, citizenship and naturalization, the regulation of commerce with foreign countries and among the state, and power to collect taxes to pay the debts and to provide the common defense and general welfare of the USA.