American history from 1945 : CDM

Résumé du document

The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the founding fathers. There are 7 articles and 10 amendments which followed in 1791, the Bill of Right. The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution has a central place in American law and political culture. The US Constitution is argued by many to be the oldest written national constitution.

Extraits

[...] Each branch has the power to defend itself against any abuse of power from the other two branches. The American political system changes extremely slowly, it changes only in times of crisis, but it is a system which is characterized contrary to its French counterpart by its flexibility. The second difference between the French political system and the American political system is that we only have in France one axis of separation of powers, we have separation of powers between the legislative branch and the executive branch, not to the same degree. [...]

[...] And this Americans saw, the founding fathers saw as one first protection against abuse of power. The idea was simple, if you separate power between the states and the federal government, naturally the federal government in order to become more efficient will want to increase its power. But then, in that system of separation of powers, if the federal government wants to increase its power, necessarily it is going to be at the expense of the states. And so, any abuse of power on the part of the federal government will be resisted by the states. [...]

[...] The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process (legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers); however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The election process: Primaries and Caucuses. Election of each party candidates. National Convention. Each party nominates the party candidate, the vice-president and the platform. Official campaign. American people vote and then the electors. Inauguration of the president. An amendment: There are 27 in the Constitution. The first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights. [...]

[...] The U.S. Constitution is argued by many to be the oldest written national constitution. Federalism The Constitution organized the federalism. A system of governments in which the sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central government and central political units. The Americans were afraid for the return to monarchy or a autocratic form of government. Each American state wants to stay sovereign. The federal government doesn't have enough power to supply the government of the States. The central power is limited. [...]

[...] A president can veto a bill passed by Congress if he disapproved it. He refuses to sign it. This veto can be overridden by a 2/3 majority in both houses. -Supreme Court. The Supreme Court can declare an act of congress unconstitutional. The idea is to sever the link between the executive branch and the judicial branch. There as never been in France a completely independent judiciary. In the USA the judiciary is independent because federal judges are appointed for life, which means that you don't have a career, you are not promoted from one position in the judiciary to another based on how you decide as a judge. [...]