Congress of the United States Essay

The chronology of events during the revolution era are: Black Loyalists, A century of Law making for a new constitution, The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources-1745-1799, Letters of Delegates to Congress- 1774-1789, The Rochambeau Map Collection, American Revolutionary War – (dead link). The date for the Declaration of Independence is July 4, 1776, and the US constitution is September 17, 1778. Authority granted to the following government branches; Congress- article 1 states that all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. The President- article II states that 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, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term. Lastly is the section three of the judiciary that says; the judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. Framers’ rationale for a separation of powers in the US Constitution attempts to move beyond the general functional/formal debate by analyzing the views of the contemporary Court’s leading separation of powers functionalist, Justice White, and his effort to create a meaningful doctrine. Faction is the conflict within a nation. Madison in federal paper 10 addresses the question of how to guard against factions, groups of citizens with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. Republic is an authority derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them, while Democracy is a government of the masses whereby authority is derived through mass meeting or any other form of direct expression. When we compare and contrast the political view of young Madison with mature Madison, it depicts that when he was young, he distrusts political parties and democracy; while he believed that government should reflect the will of the majority, when he got mature. Dahl argues that an individual voter in a state with a smaller population has greater weight than a voter in the more populated state. The reason is that both African Americans and Hispanics are substantially underrepresented due to their greater presence in high-population states as compared to in low-population states. Dahl likes the proportional representation of national elections using a parliamentary system. The advantages are; Parliamentary systems are characterized by no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, leading to a different set of checks and balances compared to those found in presidential systems, are usually have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state, with the head of government being the prime minister, and the head of state often being the president. The disadvantages of parliamentary systems are; In Presidential system, executive branch in separately elected, meaning that there’s no direct responsibility, numerous, fragmented party system, fusion of powers, dangerous for young democracies. First-past-the-post election system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies. Having a right to vote has helped due to the expansion of various amendments like; universal suffrage which describe a situation in which the right to vote is not restricted by race, gender, belief or social status. Framers decide to use an electoral college for presidential selection because Electors are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, but in practice pledge to vote for specific candidates and voters cast ballots for favored presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors. The electoral college works by allocating each state a number of Electors equal to the number of its U. S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U. S. Representatives (which may change each decade according to the size of each State’s population as determined in the Census). A constitution can be amended by proposing an amendment and ratifying an amendment. The president can be removed from the office on impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and misdemeanors. â€Å"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is what Madison said and it is still true up to date. Intent bill of rights was meant to protect the state from the federal interference. The most important on e is the English bill of rights. The tenth amendment states that â€Å"The States should be left to do whatever they can do as well as the federal government†. It reassures the states that they would remain largely in charge within their own borders. Majoritarianism is a traditional political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language, or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society. The political theory of pluralism holds that political power in society does not lie with the electorate, or with small concentrated elite, but is distributed between a wide numbers of groups. Elite theory is a theory of the state which seeks to describe and explain the power relationships in modern society. It argues that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks, hold the most power no matter what happens in elections in a country. Yes, the judicial is independent of the other branches of the government and external forces. The reason for this is to prevent corruption. The first amendment is an absolute right. John Peter Zenger was a German-born American printer, publisher, editor and journalist in New York City Zenger’s trial was significant because he was fighting for the freedom of speech. Libel is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image. Obscenity is a term that is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. Business administration consists of the performance or management of business operations and thus the making or implementing of major decisions while public administration is the development, implementation and study of branches of government policy. Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals, rather than through legislative statutes or executive action. Case law is that body of reported judicial opinions in countries that have common law legal systems. It includes courts’ interpretations of statutes, and also constitutional provisions and administrative rules. Statutory law is written law set down by a legislature or other governing authority such as the executive branch of government in response to a perceived need to clarify the functioning of government, improve civil order, to codify existing law, or for an individual or company to obtain special treatment. The U. S. House of Representatives and then the U. S. Senate are the one who declares war. Yes, the Congress has the authority to veto state legislation. One of the intentions of the founders in designing a new constitution was to ensure that the federal government had sufficient power to run the country. The Supremacy Clause is the common name given to Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, which reads: â€Å"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding†. Public administration is boring because it’s full of bureaucracies. Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Politics is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Politics consists of social relations involving authority or power, and refers to the regulation of a political unit and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.