Since 1781, Congress has been around making and interpreting laws. The United States Constitution created three independent branches, which are responsible for the making of our government as a whole. These branches include the legislative, executive, and judicial. Each play their own constitutional roles and duties. First, the United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government that creates the nation’s laws. Second, the executive branch of federal and state government is broadly responsible for implementing, supporting, and therefore enforcing the laws made by the legislative branch. And lastly, the judicial branch helps interpret the United States Constitution. The United States Congress is the center of our democracy, meaning it serves as the voice of the American people. The United States Congress makes laws which influence our daily lives and give American people rights. Some of the specific duties the United States Congress is responsible for include: making laws, declaring war, approving presidential appointments, approving treaties negotiated by the executive branch, oversight investigations, raising and providing public money and overseeing its proper expenditure. Of all three branches of government, Congress is the only one that is elected directly by the people. …show more content…
“The major principles of the Constitution were to avoid having a central government that was too weak and prevent any part of government from having too much power.” (enotes.com) They believed in having limited government. “They wanted to prevent the government from being able to do too much, too easily.” (enotes.com) Congress was given all legislative powers because they placed it first in the Constitution. It has the power to raise taxes, coin money, regulate interstate and foreign commerce, promote the sciences and the arts, and declare war. The framers knew that Congress would lead the
All of the framer of the U.S. Constitution had one thing in common, they all felt that the government didn't have enough power. At the same time they didn't want to give the government to much power. They all knew if there was power to be held someone was going to hold it and over use it The framers didn't want to create a system like Britain or England.
1. The legislative branch is composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as a whole they are referred to as Congress. There are 435 elected officials in the House of Representatives
Congress and The Presidency Congress as a whole makes laws. When Bills are addressed they must meet the approval of both the House and the Senate in order to become a Law, and then the President can always veto it. Congress also deals with matters of public concern be it something that needs to be investigated or something that needs to be put before the public to raise awareness. Congress is made up of two parts: The Senate and the House of Representatives. Each is granted different powers and responsibilities.
Although it is not specifically mentioned in the constitution, through all of these rights, Congress holds an inherent oversight role over the bureaucracy. The role flows from Congress’ power to make laws, raise and appropriate funds, give advice and consent to executive nominations, and impeach federal officials. This gives Congress a means of checking the power of the executive branch, as well as a method of determining if laws are being enacting
The Congress of Confederation was the only branch of government in place, there no was no executive or judical branches until the Constitution was put into effect. Under the Articles the only power the national government was granted was the ability to declare war, conduct foreign affairs, and make treaties. Furthermore, Congress did not have real power over the States, meaning all decisions made by congress could be ultimately be ignored by the states, leading to difficulties. Congress did have the power to established national control over land to the west of the thirteen states and devised specific regulations for its settlement. Under the Articles of Confederation, the power was concentrated with the states, however, with the new Constitution the power shifted more towards the federal government and less with the states.
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
The Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.
The United States Constitution was written by our founding fathers. They wrote seven articles that told how the US should be ran. The articles tell who should have power of what and what each branch’s job is. Articles one, two and three describe the three branches of government. They explain, in detail, what the role of each branch is. The framers also thought that the Constitution would need to be altered, so they added articles that explained how the Constitution could be changed.
They felt that a strong powerful central government was necessary especially after the failed Articles of Confederation. “The framers of constitution, the federalists, argued that the common people were self-interested and passionate creatures who should not be entrusted with all reins of government.” (By the People, page 10) Federalists did not agree with antifederalists and argued that they were just thinking of themselves and not the entire nation. They also believed that antifederalists were being fearful for no reason as national government had powers granted by the constitution which prohibited them from any sort of corruption. It was a limited government where federal government cannot do whatever they wanted, they had limitations under constitution. They also highlighted the fact that the constitution separated basic powers of government into three equal branches. This separation of power gave balance and limited the chances of tyranny. They also mentioned the benefits of checks and balances. They argued that central government would not be able to misuse it’s power as each branch could check or limit the other branches. They also responded to Antifederalists fear of strong federal court by saying that federal courts had limited jurisdiction as some power was shared with local courts. They believed that strong federal court was a necessity so judicial branch of government could do it’s part of checks and balances on executive and legislative branches of government. Federalists provided all their arguments by writing federalists papers. These papers are written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay supporting their beliefs and arguments through 85 articles and essays. These federalists papers were very influential as they were able to gain support to ratify the constitution. Even though other states pro constitution North Carolina and Rhode Island held out until Bill of Rights
Chief among them being the ability to make laws. And they are the only ones that can do this. Sure, a president could work with a senator and preach his support for a bill and help it become law, but it still has to pass through the many committees and voting processes in both houses of congress. This gives congress the inherent ability to control the regulations that define the very fabric of society and the economy. They can control taxes (though a tax bill can originate only in the House of Representatives), regulate commerce, and can create federal law that governs the entire country. All these powers fall under this one power, and congress has many more. The ability to ratify treaties, declare war, create committees, impeach, and other enumerable powers are also relegated to Congress, cloaking it in immense power. And though the founding fathers wanted this, some feared it, such as James Madison, who called it an “impetuous vortex” in the Federalist Papers. This fear likely caused the reason for the branch to become divided into multiple houses in the Great Compromise, and granting the President the ability to veto (though also giving congress the ability to override said veto). Congress gave the most power to the branch that would take the most time to use said
Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes, regulate trade with states and foreign nations, establish laws and rules, regulate and coin money from states and foreign nations, declare war, establish roads and postal offices, raise and support the armies, the Navy and Militia, and make rules for the government and regulations of the land. Powers they have over the Executive Branch is to pass vetoed laws, reject the nominee for an government position, and can deny treaties the president has negotiated with other nations. Almost certainly, the founders intended Congress to have more important powers than the president. However, they placed many checks and balances on the legislature that have prevented absolute power in the hands of one
The framers had many goals for the constitution. One of their most important goals was protecting liberty by limiting the government. They were able to protect people 's liberty in many ways through the constitution. The Bill of Rights and grants and denials are just a few examples. The framers learn through mistakes of other countries as well as mistakes through the Articles of Confederation.
what they decided to do was build a system where the powers of each branch would be used to check the powers of the other two branches. With that being said, each of the houses of the legislature could check each other. What that means is both houses of congress must vote to enact laws, the president can veto legislation, and the Supreme Court can rule laws unconstitutional. The constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. Also, a three branch government was made that let the judicial branch handle disputes in the federal court, then the president headed an executive
In our countries government, Congress plays a major role in decision making. They’re primary role is to pass laws. These laws start off as bills. Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress. Although these bills only come from Congressman, there are many people who influence these bills. Such as the president, regular citizens, offices in the executive branch, and many others. The bills right off the bat do not have a very good chance of passage. Only one out of every ten bills even gets any attention at all. This is because they must go through many tests and hearings before they even have a chance of landing on the president’s desk. These steps in a bill becoming a law are very important, and make sure that all bills passed into law are the best of the best.
The United States government braces its power among three powerful branches, legislative, executive and judicial. These branches interact with one another to establish authority that is strong, yet equal to have power over the country. Each branch pursues certain responsibilities and duties to operate in an efficient and effective manner in which society upholds. The executive, legislative and judicial branches all interact amid each other to validate accuracy of the nation’s most powerful law of the land, the Constitution. It is important to know how these branches interact with each other to learn how a bill becomes a law. Reflecting on how the three branches promote a balance of power that is constructive to include the agendas and electoral roles that also plays a vast part in the government’s operation.