Introduction To The Us Presidential System Law Constitutional Administrative Essay

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

After the civil war when the British were defeated with the help of the French, the United States of America was formed, a large independent country. Since the Declaration of Independence signed almost 250 years ago, the USA has grown into a powerful state, in fact being the current world power. As it stands today, the military is one of the strongest in the world also owning the largest number of nuclear missiles left over from the Nuclear Arms Race with the USSR during the Cold War. Its social structure can be considered stable, so can be the political system’s structure. Economically, the country internally is currently standing relatively strong, however, they do owe China a debt that runs into the trillions, money that they do not have at the moment. Our topic for today is not concerned with the economy though, but lies with the democratic political system that’s been in use since the Constitution was written in 1789.

The constitution is a document that states down the formation of the government and certain guidelines by which to govern the country by. It is a very solid document in the sense that amendments are difficult to make. It puts down the basic structure that the government should be in, attempting to create the most democratic system possible. Therefore, the Federal Government of the USA consists of three separate bodies, they are; the President, Congress and the Supreme Court. These make up three separate institutions, the executive, the legislature and the judicial system.

The President is an elected individual voted in by the public or through the Electoral College. He is the Head of State, military and the executive office. Also being placed in charge of national affairs and also spokesperson and sometimes decision maker for international affairs, the person holding this post becomes the most important individual in the country. One term for a president is four years till elections are held, and the maximum terms allowed for a president to hold position totals at two.

The Congress consists of two main separate divisions, the House of Representatives and the Senate. A third party in the congress is the Vice President, elected in similar fashion as the President by the Electoral College and usually does not hold much power unless the President needs to be replaced on short notice due to, perhaps, death. The length of term for the House of Representatives last for two years whereas the term for the Senate lasts for six years. This helps keep the government from becoming stagnant. Both divisions are directly elected.

The Judiciary works independent of both the executive and the congress, although Judges go through the executive and part of the congress before being appointed. They serve to make sure that the Separation of Powers is upheld and that neither of the other two institutions have the power to interpret laws or take the laws into their own hands. The legislature is in charge of drafting laws, the executive will approve of these, and the judiciary makes sure that they are obeyed by interpreting them and sometimes looking at their original purpose.

The Separation of Power upholds the balance between the three institutions and makes sure that none grows too great in power or infringes on the roles of the others. This is very important in a democratic country, where the people should have the most say, while the elected bodies make sure that the requests are met.

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Figure 1

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Characteristics of Presidential System

The Presidential government system practices the Single Executive concept, in which the head of State is additionally the head of state as well and the he is commonly referred to as the President. The Chief executive, the President is liable for the leadership of the government and therefore the state. Consequently the Chief executive is also independent from the legislative assembly, in contrast to the parliamentary system where the Chief executive and his cabinet members are actual members of the legislative assembly. The United States of America, the Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia and Singapore are some examples of Presidential Governments.

System and Structure

The government structure of the United States of America is split into three. There are the Legislative, the Executive and also the Judiciary branch. The Constitution is made up of the idea of "checks and balances" among the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of American government. As an example, while the legislative which is the Congress, has the ability to make law, the executive that is the President, is allowed to veto any legislation acts which, in turn, can and will be overridden by the Congress. The President nominates the judges to the nation’s highest judiciary authority which is the Supreme Court. However those nominees made should and has to be approved by the Congress. The Supreme Court, in its turn, has the ability to invalidate as "unconstitutional" any law passed by the Congress.

The Legislative

The United State Congress which is the legislative branch of the federal government that makes the laws. It is a bicameral, and consist of both the House of Representatives in addition to the Senate. Congress is granted various powers by the Constitution. Under Article 1, Section 8, these would include the power to charge and collect taxes in which to coin money and control its worth that will be granted for punishment for counterfeiting, establishing post offices as well as roads, promoting the progress of science through patents, create federal courts that are inferior to the Supreme Court, fight piracies and felonies, announce warfare and so forth. In order to make up the Congress, there is a House of Representatives which consists of 435 voting members. Each of them would be representing a congressional district and serve a two year terms. Also there is no limit on the number of representatives that may serve. In addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voters, made up of five delegates and one resident commissioner. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, despite the inhabitants. There are currently 100 senators; two from each of the 50 states, that serves six-year terms. Just about a third of the Senate stands for election every two years. Both the House and Senate each have particular exclusive powers; the Senate, for instance must approve of the many important Presidential appointments. These include cabinet officers, federal judges, department secretaries, U.S. military along with naval officers, and ambassadors to foreign countries. All legislative bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. The approval of both chambers is compulsory to pass any legislation, which then may only become law by through the President’s signature or, if the President vetoes the bill, both houses of Congress then is capable of re-passing the bill, but it has to be by a two-thirds majority of each chamber, in which case the bill will straight away be approved as the new law without needing the President's signature.

The Executive

The executive power is vested in the President of the United States, even though authority is often handed over to the Cabinet members and other officials. The President and Vice President are chosen as running mates by the Electoral seminary, for which each state, has allocated a certain amount of seats based on its representation in both houses of Congress.

The executive branch is made up of the President and those to whom the President's powers are delegated. The President would be the head of state and government, as well as the military commander-in-chief along with the chief diplomat. The President, according to the Constitution, is responsible in making sure that laws are faithfully executed and in charge of preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution. The President shall lead over the executive branch of the federal government and may sign legislation passed by Congress into law or may veto it, preventing it from becoming law unless two-thirds of both houses of Congress vote to take precedence over the veto. The President may unilaterally sign treaties with foreign nations. Nevertheless, the agreement of worldwide treaties entails a two-thirds popular vote in the Senate. The President may be accused by a majority in the House and removed from office by a two-thirds majority in the Senate for reasons such as sedition, corruption, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The President may not disband Congress or call special elections. The president does however have the power to pardon, or to release criminals who are convicted of offenses against the federal government except in the cases of prosecution, endorse executive orders, and employ Supreme Court justices and federal judges.

The Vice President is the second-highest executive official in the position of the administration. They are the first in the U.S. presidential line of succession, therefore the Vice President becomes President upon the bereavement, resignation, or removal of the President. Under the Constitution, the Vice President is the President of the Senate. By virtue of this role, he or she is the head of the Senate. In that capacity, the Vice President is permitted to vote in the Senate, but only to break a tie vote. Pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the Vice President supervises over the multiparty session of Congress when it convenes to count up the vote of the Electoral College. While the Vice President's only constitutionally arranged functions, aside from presidential succession, recount to his or her role as President of the Senate, the office is now frequently viewed as a member of the executive branch of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution does not particularly allocate the office to any one branch, causing scholars to clash on whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both.

The routine enforcement and administration of national laws is in the hands of the diverse federal executive departments which were created by Congress with the intent to deal with specific areas of national and international affairs. The heads of the 15 departments, is chosen by the President and approved by the U.S. Senate, form a council of advisers generally known as the President's "Cabinet". In addition to departments, a number of staff organizations are grouped into the Executive Office of the President; these would include the White House staff, the National Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The employees in these United States government agencies are known as federal civil servants.

There are also self-governing organizations such as the United States Postal Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Agency for International Development. Additionally, there are government-owned business such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

The Judiciary

While both the Executive and the Legislative branches are elected by the people for the people, the members of the Judicial Branch are to be chosen by the President and confirmed via the Senate. The Judiciary is in charge of explaining and applying the laws. This is attained through hearings and eventually making decisions on various forms of legal cases.

Article III of the Constitution that establishes the Judicial Branch would leave the Congress with noteworthy discretions in the direction of determining the outline and arrangement of the federal judiciary. Even the figure of Supreme Court Justices is left to the Congress as well. The Constitution also grants the Congress the essential authority to set up courts that are inferior to the Supreme Court. This resulted in the Congress establishing the United States district courts, which try most federal cases, and 13 United States courts of appeals, which review appealed district court cases.

Federal judges can only be removed through accusation by the House of Representatives and assurance of the Senate. Judges and justices serve no fixed term as they will serve until their demise, retreat, or conviction by the Senate. This protects them from the temporary passions of the community, and allows them to relate the law with only justice in mind, and nothing involving electoral or political concerns. In general, Congress is the one to establish the jurisdiction of the federal courts. In some cases, however — such as in the example of a dispute between two or more U.S. states — the Constitution grants the Supreme Court inventive jurisdiction, aright that cannot be undone by the Congress.

Federal courts take pleasure in the sole power to understand the law, decide the constitutionality of the law, and relate it to individual cases. The courts, like Congress, can force the making of evidence and testimony through the use of a subpoena. The inferior courts are controlled by the decisions of the Supreme Court — once the Supreme Court interprets a law, inferior courts must relate the Supreme Court's interpretation to the evidence of a particular case.