The American Constitution: The Constitution Vs. Constitution

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There have been several documents that have been made to try to maintain order. For example, the United Sates has gone through several documents to try to find a strong national government and has finally found it with the Constitution. The Constitution plays an important role in the United States because it has helped maintain order by dividing the government into separation of powers and federalism to restrict the government from becoming a tyranny. Another system that has helped other countries that focus on industrialism is the Parliamentary system. This system is made to have only one party governing, distinct from the Constitution. Both systems are very similar yet different in their own ways but have had suitable results in their own …show more content…

Not only that, it is also a day that symbolizes the Declaration of Independence, thirteen separate states declaring independence. The United Sates has had many governing documents throughout the years, but all have lacked a strong unified central government. In 1776 the United Sates had to come up with a system that would substitute the British system. At the Second Continental Congress, a convention of delegates from the thirteen original states, in 1777 the Articles of Confederation was adopted but did not get ratified until 1781. In 1789 the Articles went into effect, but shortly after that, Americans agreed that the Articles were failing. The government was giving too much authority to the states, they discriminated against each others citizens, they refused to abide by the decisions of Congress, they imported tariffs on goods imported from other states (Paulsen and Paulsen 8), national government could not force the states to obey its laws, it did not have the power to tax or enforce laws, there was no system of national courts, and there were different currencies in each state. The government was a catastrophe to the point that leaders from states pressured Congress to modify the system. There are men that stood out the most were George Washington, the most influential and a leader in the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton, former chief and military aide and drafted a letter …show more content…

To form that that type of government the founding fathers combined the separation of powers with federalism, the most fundamental structures of the new Constitution. The separation of powers was intended to divide government powers into three branches; the legislature (makes laws), judicial (evaluates laws), and executive (carries out the laws). The legislative branch is congress, the judicial law is the Supreme court and finally the executive branch is the president. Each branch is independent from each other and is elected or appointed by Congress, the House of Representatives are chosen every two years and the senate every six years. No executive branch officer, like the President, can be part of the legislative branch. The president is chosen through the electoral college, a state-to-state basis (Paulsen and Paulsen 35) and may only be removed by impeachment or conviction for extreme crimes and violations. Distinct from the President, the judicial branch is elected for life, but both cannot have their salaries reduced. Unless two of the branches (often all three) approve the government cannot take action, a good way to show the Constitution’s power. Although, it states that all branches are co-equal it does not mean they have equivalent power.

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