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Explain the relationship between the federal state and local government
Structure of the american government
The structure of the American government
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The differences that we see between state governments and federal governments, are mainly because the two governments have completely different jobs to do.
The State of Colorado has a preamble that states:
“We, the people of Colorado, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, in order to form a more independent and perfect government; establish justice; insure tranquility; provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the “State of Colorado”.”
In The State Preamble some of the duties of the State Government are listed, such as establishing justice, insuring peace and safety, providing for the armed forces, and securing the right of liberty and freedom. These are things that the State Government is appointed to accomplish, with or without the help of the Federal Government.
The Federal Government has a preamble that is extremely similar, but the main difference is that the Federal Government is in control of the overall justice, peace, safety, and freedom of the entire country, not each state individually, but the country as a whole.
America was founded on a type of government called federalism, which means that power is split between the state (local) governments, and the federal government. Every state has its own Constitution, but it must match up with the US Constitution. The State Government is in charge of following through with the duties described in its particular Constitution, but it cannot be in disagreement with an amendment in the United States Constitution.
The Federal Government is split into three different branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The Sta...
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...nsibility for their parks and recreation services, fire and police departments, emergency medical services, housing services, municipal courts, public and private transportation service, and public works (sewers, snow removal, signage, streets, etc.). The Federal and State Governments share power in numerous ways (some of which are listed above), but the Local government has to be granted power by their state. Generally speaking the City councils, mayors, and other members of government in the municipalities, are directly elected by the people.
Most, if not all of the information given in this report are from the following websites:
Works Cited
http://www.netstate.com/states/government/co_government.htm http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/state-and-local-government http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/federalism.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
The United States Constitution begins with the simple phrase “We the People”. Yet, with three simple words, the ideology it stands for has shaped the entire country (O’Connor et al., 2011). The short phrase signifies that the document, and thus, the government, is based upon the people themselves. The Constitution reflects the culture and ideologies of its citizens. Similarly, state constitutions reflect the people, albeit in a more specific locality. The key differences between the United States Constitution and that of local states are due to the distinctions between the scope and characteristics of the people they govern.
...re than one government’s protection. The state governments protect their own states while the federal government protects the whole country.
An example of this would be that the federal government has control over the military, foreign policy, our postal system and the monetary policies. The state government has the responsibility for the police/law enforcement, road building and the schools.
Federalism plays an integral part in the growth and development of the United States of America and is a key factor in determining the basis of power in this country. Clearly, the term federalism can be understood in many different ways pertaining to each person's view, but it can be more broadly defined in terms of the separation between the state and federal government. Thomas E. Patterson defines federalism as, “the division of sovereignty, or ultimate governing authority, between a national government and regional (that is, state) governments. Each directly governs the people and derives its authority from them” (Patterson 74). He then goes on to give a more basic definition with, “American Federalism is basically a system of divided powers” (Patterson 74). But federalism is more than just a word with a definition. It is hard wired into the constitution because the framers knew how important this division of power would be for the development of America and to ensure power would ultimately reside with the people.
The U.S. Constitution is the framework of our government that defines its powers and limitations, and it describes the relationship between the citizens of the country and the government at national, state and local levels. The U.S. Constitution defines what government can and cannot do, but it does not, however, regulate the behavior of private citizens. Therefore, only government can violate the individual constitutional rights. The principle that only the federal, state, or local governments can violate constitutional rights is called state action. State action also refers to the indirect state involvement when activity is a public function or when private conduct becomes significantly involved with conduct by the government. State action is the main requirement for determining
It has been said that the U.S. Constitution is deliberately inefficient because of it forces the other branches to check the powers eliminating one becoming more dominant than the other two. The three branches of government are legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch enacts federal laws on a national level in Congress, which is comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The executive bran...
Neither level acting alone can change the bacis dividion of powers the constitution makes between them .although it can get quite complicated the overall system is rather simple . Federalism allows for local and state government to make laws that pertain to their people after all who knows them better than the political figures that deal with them on a day to day basis . While the national government makes laws that are for the entire general public . This compromise can be seen in our day to day lives . We pay taxes to the national government who then distributes the money to the different states to support programs like welfare, maintanince on highways and education
Some of the advantages of having a federal government are that the national level of government can work on the bigger picture tasks while the state government solve the local and specific issues, so that each departments time can be used wisely and efficiently. Furthermore, if citizens took their everyday problems to the national level, then the national government would be over worked and the citizen might have to travel far to even reach the states capital. Each side of the
Theoretically, in a Federal system the sovereignty is shared between the national government and the local government but the ultimate sovereignty lies on the people. The federal government does not have the power to be involved in the states laws as they are only able to deal with national security, taxation and foreign affairs. The States however, deal with public welfare, education and justice. For instance, in different States there are different laws in executing criminals implemented as such in California death sentence is applied. However, it differs in practice whereby in the recent events the federal government is heavily involved in the public welfare especially when it dealt with major crises.
National, Local, and State governments work together cooperatively to solve common problems rather than making separate polices. They work more on an equal level to get things fixed. This type of federalism is hard to tell where one type of government ends and the next one begins. National and state governments are independent and interdependent with an overlap of functions and financial resources. It is difficult for one to accumulate absolute power with this type of federalism.
The United States of America is one of the most powerful nation-states in the world today. The framers of the American Constitution spent a great deal of time and effort into making sure this power wasn’t too centralized in one aspect of the government. They created three branches of government to help maintain a checks and balance system. In this paper I will discuss these three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, for both the state and federal level.
Within the Federal Government there are three main branches; “the Legislative, the Judicial, and Executive” (Phaedra Trethan, 2013). They have the same basic shape and the same basic roles were written in the Constitution in 1787.
national government, Congress is the legislative branch. The Executive branch is led by the President and the judicial branch is run by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS). Each branch of the national government has power over each other and can check each other. Congress makes laws for the entire country. The president (executive branch) carries out the laws that congress makes. The judicial branch interprets how the law should be read. Each branch has separate jobs (separation of powers). For the state, governors have the authority to issue executive orders. This means that they can veto the legislation they enforce state laws instead of national laws. In the state, the legislation branch consists of two houses which are considered bicameral. The judiciary branch of the state government is the state courts. The state and national level of government basically check each other in the same ways at the legislative
Then there is the state government which are responsible for governing affairs within their borders, and carrying out federal laws and programs at the state level. They are governed by their own constitutions and retain any rights that the U.S. Constitution does not exclusively grant to the federal government. The state government is limited as they cannot form alliances with other states and must honor and respect the laws and institutions of the other states. And finally there is the federal government which is the central and highest level of government in the U.S. It is divided into three branches and each branch has its own rights and power to check and balance the powers of each branch. The federal government has the power to regulate taxes, establish federal welfare programs and make laws in the interest of the nation as a whole. There are also limitations set to the federal government’s authority, as they cannot ask local law enforcements agencies to do minor administrative jobs. Although all levels of government have their own responsibilities there are limits to interfering with other governments
There are two kinds of municipalities (city/town). General- Law powers are defined by the states Government code. City government establishes municipal policy and enacts and implements local ordinances. City governments are responsible for providing services which directly affect the lives of their residents like police ...