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. Americans are subject to two governments, that of their state and that of the Union, and each has its own distinct function. The states have, under the Constitution, the primary functions of providing law and order, education, public health and most of the things which concern day-to-day life. The Federal government at Washington is concerned with foreign affairs and matters of general concern to all the states, including commerce between the states. This at any rate is how the system was planned at the beginning. But for a long time the Federal government has been extending its activities more and more.
The United States is a representative democracy. All government power rests ultimately with the people, who direct policies by voting for government representatives. The nation’s constitution defines the powers of national and state governments, the functions and framework of each branch of government, and the rights of individual citizens. All public officials of the national as well as state governments must swear to abide by the Constitution, which was created to protect the democratic interests of the people and the government.
Limited Government
The principle of limited government is basic to the Constitution. When the Constitution was first written about two hundred years ago many Americans feared that government power could become concentrated in the hands of a few. Several features were created to guard against this possibility:
- federal organization of government;
- the separation of powers among different branches of government;
- a system of checks and balances to restrict the powers of each branch.
Federalism
Under federalism, the principle of limited government was achieved by dividing authority between the central government and the individual states. The federal (national) government has powers over areas of wide concern.
At each level, in state and Union, there is a constitution which defines and limits political power, and which provides safeguards against tyranny and means for popular participation. In each state, power is divided between three agencies, with law-making power given to a legislature (usually of two houses, elected for fixed terms), an executive (the governor), and finally the judges of the State Supreme Court. Each state is divided into counties, which have their own powers, and there are also special-purpose areas for some functions of local interest. Within the counties the towns have their own local governments, mainly as ‘cities’. City government, with elected mayor, council and judges, reproduces the state pattern on a smaller scale. Each of the fifty states has its own peculiarities. But all state and city governments provide for election of legislature and executives for fixed terms, and all have devices for ensuring that each of the three elements of government exercises a check on the other two.
DIVISION OF POWERS
POWERS OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
- To regulate foreign trade and commerce between states
- To borrow and coin money
- To conduct foreign relations with other nations
- To establish post offices and roads
- To raise and support armed forces
- To declare was and make peace
- To govern territories and admit new states
- To pass naturalization laws and regulate immigration
- To make all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out its powers
CONCURRENT POWERS
- To collect taxes
- To borrow money
- To establish and maintain courts
- To make and enforce laws
- To provide for the health and welfare of the people
POWERS RESERVED TO STATE GOVERNMENTS
- To regulate trade within the state
- To establish local governments
- To conduct elections
- To determine voter qualifications
- To establish and support public schools
- To incorporate business firms
- To license professional workers
- To ratify amendments
- To keep all the “reserved powers” not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states
POWERS DENIED TO THENATONAL GOVERNMENT
- To tax exports
- To suspend writ of habeas corpus
- To change state boundaries without consent of states involved to abridge the Bill of Rights
POWERS DENIED TO BOTH NATIONAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS
- To pass ex post facto laws
- To pass bills of attainder
- To deny due process of law to grant titles of nobility
POWERS DENIED TO STATE GOVERNEMNTS
- To coin money
- To enter into treaties
- To tax agencies of the federal government to tax imports or exports
The Federal government also has three elements – executive (the President), legislature (Congress) and judicial, and the three elements are checked and balanced by one another.
Separation of powers
Besides the division of power between state and national governments, power is also limited by the separation of power among three branches – legislative, executive, and judicial. In the United States, each branch has a separate function.
Legislative Branch
The function of the legislative branch is to make laws. The legislative branch is made up of representatives elected to Congress. Congress is comprised of two groups, called houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Congress is the law-making body, and no federal taxes can be collected or money spent without the approval of both Houses.
Elections for both Houses are held (along with elections to other positions) in November each even-numbered year, when the whole House of Representatives is elected, to serve for only two years, while senators are elected in rotation for six years. Every two years, one third of the Senate stands for election. If a senator or representative dies or resigns, a special election may be held to fill the vacant place for the remainder of the term.
The Senate embodies the federal nature of the Constitution, with two senators from each state. Each state’s two senators are elected at separate elections; and each senator is elected by and for a whole state, without geographical division.
The House of Representatives has a fixed number of seats (435). The number of representatives each state sends to the House depends upon the number of districts in each state. Each district chooses one representative. The number of districts in each state is determined by population.
Each house of Congress is engaged in making laws, and each may initiate legislation. A law first begins as a ‘bill’. Once a bill is introduced, it is sent to the appropriate committee. Each House of Congress has committees which specialize in a particular area of legislation, such as foreign affairs, defense, banking and agriculture. When a bill is in committee, members study it and then send it to the senate or House chamber where it was first introduced. After a debate, the bill is voted on. If it passes, it is sent to the other House where it goes through a similar process.
The Senate may reject a bill proposed in the House of Representatives or add amendments. If that happens, a ‘conference committee’ (made up of members from both houses) tries to work out a compromise. If both sides agree on the new version, the bill is sent to the president for his signature. At this point, the bill becomes a law. If the President refuses to sign it, his’ veto’ can be overridden by a two thirds majority in both Houses. All treaties, and all the President’s appointments to high offices, are subject to the Senate’s approval.
One of the most important characteristics of the two Houses of Congress is that they work through committees of their own members. The House has about 20 permanent committees, and the Senate has about 16. Each senator is a member of one or two committees. The main function of a committee is to inquire into each bill that is proposed and to recommend whether the bill be accepted or not, and also to decide whether to recommend changes in its text before it goes to the main House for discussion. But the committees have developed much wide functions than this. Nowadays they undertake inquiries into all sorts of matters and they also examine the working of the administrative machinery under the President. Each committee has a chairman. When a committee decides to hold hearings on a bill or other questions it may very often set up a sub-committee for the purpose.
When the committee has completed its work on a bill it reports it back to its House. In the House of Representatives the bill has to take its place along with dozens of others. The arrangement of the business of the House of Representatives is controlled by another committee called the Rule Committee.
Executive Branch
The executive branch of government is responsible for administering the laws passed by Congress. The President of the United States is the effective head of the executive branch of government as well as head of state.
In November of each leap year a President is elected to serve for exactly four years from a fixed day in the following January.
The Vice-president, who is elected with the President, is assigned only two constitutional duties: 1) to preside over the Senate; however, the vice-president may vote only in the event of a tie; 2) to assume the presidency – for the unexpired part of the four years – if the President dies, becomes disabled, or is removed from office.
In 1973, while a Senate Committee was discovering facts about President Nixon which were leading people to talk of his possible impeachment or resignation, it was found that Vice-President Agnew was involved in another scandal. Agnew resigned, but before he did so Nixon had informally proposed that Gerald Ford, the Republican leader in the House of representatives, should be the new Vice-President in his place, and the Senate elected Ford without a contest. Then in 1974, when Nixon resigned rather than face certain impeachment, Ford automatically became President, and the Senate appointed Nelson Rockfeller as Vice-President, on Ford’s nomination and without a contest. So from August 1974 to January 1977 both President Ford and Vice-President Rockfeller held office without having been elected, but appointed through consultation.
Until 1951 there was no limit to the number of four-year terms for which a person could be elected as President. Up to 1940 eight had served for two full terms but none for a third.) In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt was elected for a third term, and in 1944 for a fourth, cut short by his death. In 1951 a constitutional amendment set a limit of two terms – that is, eight years.
The Constitution gives the president many important powers. As chief executive, the president appoints secretaries of the major departments that make up the president’s cabinet. Today there are 13 major departments in the executive branch: the Department of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labour, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, and Education. As chief executive, the president also appoints senior officials of the many agencies in the expansive bureaucracy. A change of President also produces changes in other jobs in the federal administration.
As head of state, the president represents the country abroad, entertains foreign leaders, and addresses the public. As director of foreign policy, he appoints foreign ambassadors and makes treaties with other nations. The president also serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and as head of his political party.
Judicial Branch
The third branch of the government is the judicial branch, which is headed by the Supreme Court. Under the Supreme Court, there are many state and federal courts. An important function of the judicial branch is to determine whether laws of Congress or actions of the president violate the Constitution.
For all ordinary law and order each state has responsibility in its own territory. The federal courts – and hence the Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal police and prison – are involved only in matters outside the individual states’ jurisdiction (such as federal income tax) and incases arising under the US Constitution.
The legal system is based on Common Law. Anglo-American Common Law is based on the supposed reasonable person’s view of what is right and fair. Each decision creates a precedent, and for any particular case a court must, as far as practicable, follow a precedent set by a higher court’s previous decision.
In some states judges are publicly elected, in others they are appointed, by state governor or by special bodies such as judicial councils. Some judges hold office for fixed periods, but others are installed for life or up to the retiring age; or there may be provisions for ‘recall’.
Checks and Balances
The division of government power among three separate but equal branches provide for a system of checks and balances. Each branch checks or limits the power of the other branches for example, although Congress makes laws, the president can veto them. Even if the president votes a law, Congress may check the president by overriding his veto with a two-thirds vote.
The Federal Constitution
The First Article provides for the establishment of the legislative body, Congress, consisting of two Houses, and defines its powers. The second does the same for the executive, the President, and there is also a provision in very general terms for a system of federal courts.
The first ten amendments were made almost at once (1791); they form the “Bill of Rights”, and are really an extension of the original Constitution. Two more amendments were adopted in the next 70 years, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th were passed only after the Civil War. There have been more amendments since then.
The first amendment forbids Congress to make any law ‘respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ It also forbids any law which might in any way take 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 grievances.
The fifth amendment provides that ‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without the due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.’
Political Participation
Groups and individuals have a variety of ways they can exert pressure and to try to influence the government policy. Many people write letters to elect officials expressing their approval or disapproval of a political decision. People sometimes circulate petitions or write letters to editors of newspapers and magazines to try to influence politicians. Organized interest groups, however, can generally exert influence much more effectively than can isolated individuals.
To exert direct pressure on legislators in Washington or in state capitals, a major interest group may employ a professional lobbyist. Lobbyists work for interest groups by keeping them informed about proposed legislation and by talking to decision-makers about their group’s concerns.
