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1.2 Key Features of the US Constitution - Coggle Diagram
1.2 Key Features of the US Constitution
The Founding Fathers wrote the US Constitution using a number of key principles
These are evident in the text of the document (even if the principle is not explicitly named)
These ‘principles’ are the beliefs the Founding Fathers aimed to uphold in their newly independent country
Federalism
Federal government = two levels of government exist (each having its own powers)
US Constitution - these two levels are ‘federal’ (or national) government and the state governments
‘Federal’ or ‘federalism’
= do not appear in the US Constitution, but the principle can be seen throughout the document in how power is divided
Constitution tries to protect the powers of both federal and state government
(see 'Table 1')
The powers of federal government are
enumerated
in the Constitution:
= any powers that are not listed here were expected to be carried out by the state governments
The addition of the 10th amendment (1791) made this expectation clear:
"
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
In the event of disagreement between federal and state government over the exercise of these powers:
the Supreme Court would be the body that decided on the outcome
Federalism
can also be seen in the requirement for both national and state-level approval for:
amendments to the Constitution
giving the states the power to choose their own two Senators to send to national government
Separation of Powers
In order to ensure that the newly independent country would remain free from tyranny (like that from the British):
the Founding Fathers applied the principle of the separation of powers throughout the Constitution
(see Table 3)
This means:
each of the 3 branches of government must remain completely independent of the others
be selected by different processes
nobody allowed to be a member of more than one branch
^This would prevent any one branch holding too much power and would require the branches to cooperate in order for government to work
The Founding Fathers gave each branch the ability to limit the actions of the other branches
This would ensure that no single branch became dominant over the others
This is known as checks and balances
(see 'Checks and Balances' branch)
Checks and Balances
Checks by Congress
Override the presidential veto with a 2/3 supermajority in both Houses of Congress
‘Power of the purse’ - Congress, as the representative of the taxpayers, controls the budget and therefore the money that the president is allocated
Senate can ratify or reject treaties and appointments (to federal offices or courts) put to them by the president
Congress can impeach the president for ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours’
Checks by President
Veto any legislation from Congress
Recommend legislation to Congress at the State of the Union address
Power of the pardon
Nomination of federal officers and justices
Checks by Supreme Court
Judicial Review
Limited Government
Founding Fathers wanted to create a government that:
could not limit the freedoms of its citizens or states
would not become too large or powerful
Throughout the Constitution there are requirements that stop the federal government from acting in any way it wishes (limiting what it can do)
Obvious limits are the systems of
separation of powers
and
checks and balances
:
Limit the actions that each branch can take
Allow them to prevent each other from acting
IN ADDITION:
Bill of Rights protects the basic freedoms of US citizens including those that might not be explicitly laid out in the Constitution (inc. 9th)
Protects the rights of US states in the 10th Amendment
Bipartisanship
Founding Fathers were:
not in favour of political parties
some of them seemed to believe that the formation of parties was inevitable
Constitution:
does have some safeguards that prevent parties from being too powerful
Staggered election cycle:
House of Representatives elected every 2 years
President every 4 years
Senate every 6 years (although 1/3 of Senators are reelected every 2 years
= a different party could control each branch of government
Supermajorities:
are needed in some circumstances - e.g: for constitutional amendments
AND
to override the presidential veto, (requiring party cooperation)
Checks and balances written in the Constitution = in order to achieve anything, the different branches of government must work together