Branches of the United States Government

Branches of the United States Government

The Constitution of the United States of America was devised by our forefathers to guard the people's rights; also the Constitution had safeguards to ensure that the government would operate properly.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (U.S. Constitution, 1788).

The words from the preamble state clearly the reasons the Constitution was established by our forefathers. In our Constitution there is a system that calls for the separation of power; the reason(s) this was necessary was that in the midst of the Revolution the colonists wanted to form a more perfect Government, free from tyrannical power. The Articles of Confederation was the precursor to the Constitution; it outlined various articles that provided for national legislation modeled on the Continental Congress. The steps were being put in place to decentralize the power of the Government, and that helped encourage the people to think of the Government as their own.

The Constitution is a set of principles that would tell how the new nation should be governed. There was some opposition to the Constitution as it was written; Anti-Federalists, including Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams feared that the Constitution would do more harm than good, and it would destroy the "Spirit of '76" (Landy & Milkis, 2004).

The leaders of the different states wanted to have a strong Government that was fair; they also wanted to ensure that individual's freedoms were protected. Another important reason for the separation of Government was to prevent the abuse of power by this Government, and they, the leaders of the states, believed the best way to accomplish this is by having three separate branches of Government: the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the executive branch.

The legislative branch of the Government consists of the Congress; Congress is divided into two bodies - the Senate and the House of Representatives. One of the most important jobs of this branch is to make laws. I found a "fun fact" on C-Span that point out that a national legislature of two branches was first suggested by Edmund Randolph in the Virginia plan presented at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

During that summer, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia established equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives. Called the "Great Compromise", this unique plan for congressional representation resolved the most controversial aspect of the drafting of the Constitution.

In the weeks before the Constitution was agreed to, the delegates from the states with largest populations argued that each state's representation in the Senate should correspond to the size of the state. The House of Representatives is established in Article 1, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Constitution, it is the lower house of the Congress, and was first devised in its current form during this time. Each state's representation is determined by their population, with no more than one representative appropriated for every 30,000 people. However, in 1911 the House passed a statute capping membership at 435 representatives, where it remains today (www.senate.gov, 2004).

The judicial branch oversees the court systems, of which the Supreme Court is the head. The court system is made up of Federal courts, Federal Judiciary, Appellate courts, trial and other courts make up this branch. The job of the judicial branch is to interpret the laws and explain the meanings of the Constitution and bills passed by Congress.

The Supreme Court consists of nine justices: eight associates and one chief justice; the number of eight associate justices is fixed by congress, and Appointees to the federal branch serve in that position for life or until they retire or resign voluntarily. The Constitution grants the President of the United States the power to nominate a Supreme Court Justice, but they must be confirmed by the Senate. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country with jurisdiction over a wide variety of types of cases; about 100 or more cases are heard during each term. The procedures for hearing cases are through oral arguments, and the lawyers from each side have to argue their case and answer questions in a Ð... hour; the Justices deliberate, vote and deliver an opinion about the case (www.c-span.org, 2004).

The Executive branch of the Government is headed by the President, who also serves as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The President, the Vice President and major department leaders appointed by the President make up his cabinet and they, along with the President oversee the various agencies and departments of the government, and enforce the laws.

A person must be at least 35 years old, is a natural-born citizen of the United States, and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years to become President. The President serves a term of four years, and can only be re-elected once. The branches serve to check one another, but they also need to share power in order to effectively exercise power between branches of government, and interact with, but not replace the existing local governments of the world.

Our Constitution was devised in such a way as to guard the people's rights against varying levels of government power; to accomplish this, a built-in system of checks and balances were put in place. John Adams said it clearly, "Only by balancing each against the other two could freedom be preserved" (www.nccs.net, 2004).

A good example of how this checks and balances system works, one just has to look at the process of how laws are made. The legislative branch introduces and votes on a bill, the bill goes to the executive branch, where the President determines if the bill is good for the country. If the President decides that the bill is ok, he signs it, and the bill becomes a law. If the President feels the bill is not good for the country, he won't sign it; this is called a veto. The legislative branch tries again, and with enough votes, they can override the President's veto, and the bill becomes a law. Once the law is in place, the people can test it through the court system, which is under the jurisdiction