Civi US
6/02/08
I. The Constitution
The Constitution was written in
So: USA is the oldest constitution republic.
=>It’s a good document-> it can be improved through amendment.
The first ten amendments were written in 1791 =basic human rights
Ex: freedom of speech
freedom of religion.
The bill or rights.
Since 1791, 17 others amendments had been adopted.
Ex: abolish slavery 1865
Women accede to the right to vote
Age limit to vote: 18
Black people have the right to vote.
President can only be elected twice.
èAmendments evolved at the same time than the history.
II. Federal and State Government:
èDivided Sovereignty:
°°°Political powers are divided between : -national government
-state government.
°°°Division of political powers: i.e. it’s impossible for one person to have all the political powers.
There are 50 separates states.
The 10th amendment says:
“All of the political power that a constitution doesn’t give to the national government is exercised by the state government”.
At the beginning, the national government was “weaker”? Than the state government.
è1900’s: industry revolution
->It was the rise of modern imperial power all around the world (French/UK) so it was necessary to US to have a strong government.
Transfering power StateèNational.
è1937: The important Supreme Court decision which extends national government is responsible for regulated commerce between the different states.
Supreme Court: the education influences commerce, so national government is responsible of the education.
National government can intervene in scientific progress.
=>National government can intervene in every aspect of US life.
Each state in USA has its own Constitution which organizes the political life of the state.
By instance: governor=> verify that all laws are respected.
There is also a state legislature. So laws are different between states and each state has a State Supreme Court.
Ex: Death Penalty.
III. The System of Checks and Balances.
èChecks: limits
èBalances: more or less equality of each branch than another
è3 branches of government : __legislative
__judicial
__executive. èthe 3 at the top of the power.
USA: “Tyranny” when USA was under the power of British colony.
Each Branch of government was given roughly the same in power (meme division des pouvoirs).
Each branch can use its power in order to limit the activities of another branch.
President can also influences/proposes people for the Supreme Court.
He can also proposes laws to Congress.
IV. The legislative branch- Congress.
Intro: The people who wrote the Constitution are called the Funding Fathers.
They believed that people should control government so they made a legislative branch (this branch is a little stronger than the others branches.)
A). The House of Representatives.
è435 members.
Each representative is elected from a congressional district (roughly the same number of people).
They represent/reflect the population distribution in USA.
°°°Every 10 yearsè recensement
So account the result, the congressional districts are equally redistributed.
èrepresent people.
°°°Election= every 2 years because the House of Representatives represents people and that the funding fathers wanted people to control government.
The work of the representatives is organised by the speaker of the representatives.
èThis one is powerful and chosen by the party which is the most important/representative.
B). The Senate.
°°°House of Representatives is considered to represent people.
°°°The Senate is considered to represent the State.
So: each State has 2 senators.
The senators are directly elected by the people.
->100 senators =-49 republicans
-49 democrats
-2 independents (but they are democrats).
Senators are elected for 6 years.
1/3 senators will be up for election every? 2 years.
So funding fathers gave them special power
è this one to approved or not treaty between States.
President proposes Supreme Court judges and the ministers (secretary).
C) Committees in the House of Representatives and the Social.
èit’s impossible for all the laws makers.
So, USA Congress is divided into 2 committees.
Ex: Committee for budget ==<reflected the political image.
Before to vote a law, they have to know the situation in the country.