Equal Powers Of The United States Government

Essay, Research Paper

The Constitutional convention of 1787 brought together the greatest political minds of contemporary America. Men like Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison gathered in Philadelphia in order to reorganize the weak, inefficient government created under our nation s first written Constitution; the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation were reflective of America s fears of concentrated central authority. This remarkable group of intelligent men representing nine out of the thirteen states unanimously elected George Washington as their presiding officer. Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation, which was their initial intent, they plunged boldly ahead and drafted an entirely new frame of government. The resulting Constitution, the product of four months of deliberation, was a bundle of compromises between large and small state influence, between executive and legislative power, between federal and state authority. This document provided the young nation with a balanced and lasting system of government. Our government consists of three branches, the legislative, the executive and the judicial, each of which controls a fair amount of power. The framers of the constitution were wary of placing too much power in the hands of one branch of government. Therefore, they devised a system of separate branches sharing powers. Under this system of government authority, no branch of government could dominate the others. Each branch could only work in cooperation of the others. The first branch of government is the legislative branch, our bicameral Congress. The existence and authority of Congress are derived from the first article of the Constitution:Section 1- All legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.The Senate, also known as the upper house, is composed of two senators from each state, elected for six-year terms. Senators are elected by the popular vote. A Senator must be at least thirty years old, a Citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and a resident of the state in which they are elected. Each Senator has one vote. The Vice President is the president of the Senate. The Vice President may vote only when there is a deadlock in the Senate. The role of Senators is to represent their state s interests in the congress. Senators are members of committees and subcommittees that coincide with issues that apply to their states needs. For example a Senator from Indiana will most likely belong to an agricultural committee. Each of these committees prepares legislation that they bring to the floor.The House of Representatives, also known as the Lower House. Representatives are appointed to the states on the basis of population. Our House currently consists of four hundred and thirty-five members. Members of the House generally represent congressional districts established by the states. A representative must be at least twenty-five years old, a citizen for at least seven years, and must be a resident of the state in which they represent. The leader of the House is called the Speaker of the House. The role of representatives in the house is to work at a parochial level of government. Where Senators work for the state as a whole, representatives focus their efforts more narrowly to the local interests of their constituents. There are certain power bestowed upon Congress, some of which are, “the power to lay and collect taxes, borrow money on the credit of the US, coin money, declare war.” The congress is mainly accountable for the legislative role of the United States government. The congress main actions are the passage of laws, the ratification of public policy. The House is also, according to the constitution, the only place where impeachment proceedings may begin. The second branch of our government is the executive branch. According to Article II of the Constitution: The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years. The President is the chief officer of the executive branch, he is also the commander and chief of the armed forces. The president s duties are to “Preserve and Protect and defend the Constitution.” This position consists of a large amount of work for one person. In discharging this responsibility, the President is assisted by vast numbers of executive bureaucracies, which concentrates on specific governmental areas of policy. The President is also assisted and advised in political and policy matters by members of his cabinet. The President also has the power to appoint cabinet secretaries and the heads of independent agencies, federal judges, and Supreme Court Justices. All of these positions must be confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate. Finally the third branch of government is the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch is the Supreme Court, which is the highest level court in the United States. According to Article 3: The Judicial Power shall extend to all cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution. The Supreme Court operates only as an appellate Court. It reviews the decisions of the lower courts. Since there are so many cases going to the Supreme Court, they only review cases that have a legitimate complaint. If they do decide to review a case, they send out a writ of certiorari. A writ of ce