USA: Political System
USA: Political
System
The nation's capital, Washington,
D.C., has the 10th largest metropolitan population in the country, with a
population of over 3.9 million. Laid out by the French architect Pierre
L'Enfant in the late 18th century, it was the world's first city especially
planned as a center of government.
The city of Washington, in the
District of Columbia along the Potomac River, is the capital of a federal union
of 50 states. When the United States declared its independence from Great
Britain on July 4,1776 (now celebrated as a national holiday), there were 13
original states—each one sovereign, each wanting to control its own affairs.
The states tried to keep their sovereignty and independence within a loose
confederation, but their attempt proved ineffectual. Therefore, in 1789, they
adopted a new Constitution establishing a federal union under a strong central
government.
The original 13 states were grouped
along the Atlantic Coast. As the frontier moved westward, large areas of what
is now the continental United States were added by purchase, treaty and
annexation. As each state was settled, governments were first organized as
territories and later entered the Union as states when their territorial
legislatures petitioned the Congress for admission. There are now 50 states.
Alaska and Hawaii, the last states to enter the Union, did so in 1959.
Under the Constitution, the states
delegated many of their sovereign powers to this central government in
Washington. But they kept many important powers for themselves. Each of the 50
states, for example, retains the right to run its own public school system, to
decide on the qualifications of its voters, to license its doctors and other
professionals, to provide police protection for its citizens and to maintain
its roads.
In actual practice, and in line with
the American tradition of keeping government as close to the people as
possible, the states delegate many of these powers to their political
subdivisions—counties, cities, towns and villages. Thus, at the lowest
political level, residents of small American communities elect village trustees
to run their police and fire departments, and elect a board of education to run
their schools. On the county level, voters elect executives who are responsible
for roads, parks, libraries, sewage and other services, and elect or appoint
judges for the courts. The citizens of each state also elect a governor and
members of the state legislature.
In addition to the 50 states and the
District of Columbia, citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa
vote in federal elections. United States possessions include the Pacific
Islands of Wake, Midway, Jarvis, Howland, Baker, Johnston Atoll and Kingman
Reef. The United States administers the Republic of Palau under United Nations
auspices. Two entities, The Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of
the Marshall Islands, have become sovereign self-governing states in free
association with the United States.
Under the Constitution, the federal
government is divided into three branches, each chosen in a different manner,
each able to check and balance the others.
The Executive Branch is headed by
the President, who, together with the Vice President, is chosen in nationwide
elections every four years (in every year divisible by four). The elective
process for a U.S. President is unique. Americans vote for slates of
presidential electors equal to the number of Senators and Representatives each
state has in Congress (a total of 535 persons). The candidate with the highest
number of votes in each state wins all the electoral votes of that state. The
presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to be elected; if no candidate
has a majority, the House of Representatives makes the decision. (In all other
state and local elections, voters cast their votes directly for the candidate
or referendum on that particular ballot.) Any natural-born American who is 35
years old or older may be elected to this office. The President proposes bills
to Congress, enforces federal laws, serves as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces and, with the approval of the Senate makes treaties and appoints federal
judges, ambassadors and other members of the Executive Departments (the
Departments of State, Defense Commerce, Justice, etc.). Each Cabinet head holds
the title of Secretary and together they form a council called the Cabinet.
The Vice President, elected from the
same political party as the President, acts as chairman of the Senate, and in
the event of the death or disability of the President, assumes the Presidency
for the balance of his term.
The Legislative Branch is made up of
two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 435 seats in the
House of Representatives are allocated on the basis of population, although
every state has at least one representative. Each state elects two members of
the 100-member Senate; a Senator's term of office is six years.
Both houses must approve a bill for
it to become law, but the President may veto or refuse to sign it. If so,
Congress reconsiders the bill. If two-thirds of the members of both houses then
approve it, the bill becomes law even without the President's signature.
The Judicial Branch is made up of
Federal District Courts (at least one in every state), 11 Federal Courts of
Appeals and, at the top, the Supreme Court. Federal judges are appointed by the
President with the approval of the Senate; to minimize political influences,
their appointments are for life. Federal courts decide cases involving federal
law, conflicts between states or between citizens of different states. An
American who feels he has been convicted under an unjust law may appeal his
case all the way to the Supreme Court, which may rule that the law is unconstitutional.
The law then becomes void.
In order to amend the Constitution,
Congress must pass the proposed amendment by a two-thirds majority vote in each
house, and three-fourths of the states must concur. In more than 195 years, the
Constitution has been amended 26 times. The first 10 Amendments— the Bill of
Rights—guarantee individual liberties: freedom of speech, religion and
assembly, the right to a fair trial, the security of one's home. Later
amendments chronicle America's struggle for equality and justice for all of its
people. These amendments abolish slavery, prohibit any denial of rights because
of race, grant the vote to women and to citizens of the District of Columbia
and allow citizens to vote at age 18.
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