The constitution established what kind of government

A document that is so difficult to amend can become obsolete over time, if it is too detailed and inflexible. For the most part, however, the Constitution is written in terms general or abstract enough to retain a core set of values yet be amenable to changing interpretations as called for by the times.

The Structure of the Federal Government. Legislative Branch. Article I of the Constitution vests the legislative power of the Untied States in a bicameral Congress. The Congress is composed of the House of Representatives, the members of which are elected for two-year terms and represent districts of equal numbers of people, and the Senate which is composed of two senators from each state who serve for six-years terms.

Senators were originally chosen by the state legislature, but are now directly elected. The composition of the House and Senate represented a compromise between the larger states, which wanted a legislature based on population and the smaller states, which wanted equal representation for each state.

A majority of both houses must pass all bills, and if the President vetoes a bill, a two-thirds majority of both houses is required for the bill to become law. The powers of Congress are listed in Article I, Section 8, and Congress may not exercise any not power listed there. But those powers encompass many areas, including taxing and spending, coining and borrowing money, controlling interstate and foreign commerce, maintaining an army and navy, and declaring war.

Congress also has broad authority to delegate many of its powers to the President and to administrative agencies. Executive Branch. The power of the executive branch is vested in the President.

The President is elected for a four-year term, not by direct election but by the electoral college. Under this system, each state has a number of members of the electoral college equal to the number of members of the House and Senate. The candidate who receives the largest number of votes in a state gets all the electoral votes of that state. The candidate with a majority of the electoral college becomes the President. If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the winner is chosen by the House of Representatives.

To be eligible to be President one must be thirty-five years old and a natural born citizen of the United States. Under the Twenty-second Amendment, no person may serve as President more than twice. The powers explicitly granted to the President in Article II are quite important, but limited in number.

The President is the Commander in Chief of the Army. He also has the power to grant pardons and reprieves and has the power, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, and to appoint federal judges, ambassadors, and other public Officers of the United States.

The power to conduct foreign affairs has been held to be inherent in the office, but the Supreme Court has been less willing to extend inherent powers in the domestic area. The President is subject to control by Congress in several ways. The Judicial Branch. The Constitution grants the judicial power of the United States to one Supreme Court and other inferior courts that may be created by Congress.

It is a democracy because people govern themselves. It is representative because people choose elected officials by free and secret ballot. It is a republic because the Government derives its power from the people. The purpose of our Federal Government, as found in the Preamble of the Constitution, is to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Skip to main content. The practical result of this complicated process is that legislation almost never passes in its original form, but is revised constantly until a sufficiently broad consensus can be reached. This helps to make sure that legislation benefits and appeals to large portions of the country rather than favoring one region or interest over the others.

To become law, the bill must still go to the White House. The President can approve and sign the bill or can veto—reject—the bill. It takes a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate to overturn a Presidential veto.

If Congress adjourns within ten days after sending a bill to the President, the President can decide not to act on it, neither signing nor formally vetoing it. This is called a pocket veto, which kills the bill, as Congress is out of session and cannot vote to overturn the veto. Presidents will often use the threat of a veto to convince Congress to pass a bill more to their liking. Presidents whose own party controls the majority in Congress will veto bills far less frequently than Presidents who face opposition majorities.

Gerald Ford, who had spent decades in Congress as the Republican leader of the House, issued many vetoes during his Presidency to establish more legislative control over a Congress with large Democratic majorities. In times of national emergency, the President can call the Congress into special session. This was a critical feature during the nineteenth century, when Congress met for just a few months each year, but it became unnecessary in the twentieth century, when Congress began meeting year round.

During wartime and periods of economic crisis, Congress has tended to give the President much more room to act, passing legislation quickly and with less second guessing.

During that period, members of Congress found themselves voting for bills on which they had held no hearings and sometimes had no chance to read in advance. In contrast to those who view the Constitution as expansive, there are others who see the role of the federal government as far more confined and insist that all powers not expressed in the Constitution belong to the states.

Tom A. Coburn, a medical doctor who was elected first to the House of Representatives and then to the U.

All other powers are reserved for the states. I always found it ironic when my Republican colleagues would deliver passionate speeches criticizing the judicial branch for not respecting the Constitution when they were gladly joining their colleagues in the legislative branch in violating the very same document. The next time a member of Congress criticizes the Supreme Court for not respecting the Constitution they should be prepared to offer legislation rescinding about half of the federal budget that is used for purposes never envisioned by our founders.

Once the struggles between Congress and the President have ended and the bill becomes law, it is still subject to judicial review. In one of the most significant of the New Deal cases, the Supreme Court rejected the National Recovery Administration, which set production levels and wages for various industries, on the grounds that Congress had improperly delegated its own constitutional powers over commerce to an executive branch agency.

Many other Presidents were frustrated by court rulings that ran contrary to objectives. This is why Presidents take such care in making judicial appointments, and why the Senate so often resists Presidential choices.

Other than creating the Supreme Court, the Constitution said less about the judiciary than any other branch of the government. The Constitution left it to Congress to set the number of justices on the Supreme Court and to create the lower federal courts. Congress did this with the Judiciary Act of Over the next two centuries the federal judiciary has grown larger, more influential, and more controversial.

The U. Although federal law is supreme, state constitutions and courts are free to recognize rights beyond those included in the federal Constitution. Some federal judges have taken a more active approach to the law than others, striking down federal and state laws as unconstitutional.

Both approaches weigh the accumulated court rulings and precedents and attempt to maintain some consistency in how the laws are interpreted. Sometimes the courts will dramatically reverse earlier rulings, declaring them to have been in error. This was especially notable in when the Supreme Court unanimously declared school segregation unconstitutional, sixty years after a previous court had upheld racial segregation.

Most cases dealing with federal laws are heard in the lower federal courts and only a few cases reach the U. Supreme Court each term. Once a case reaches the Supreme Court through the appeals process, the Court can review, uphold, or overturn the decisions of other federal judges. In addition to the three branches, the federal government has also created a number of independent regulatory commissions that straddle the division of powers, performing quasi-administrative, legislative, and judicial functions.

Beginning with the Interstate Commerce Commission in and continuing with the Federal Trade Commission in , Securities and Exchange Commission in , and later agencies, these commissions combine executive, legislative, and judicial functions in an effort to resolve complex economic issues outside of the political arena.

Congress created these agencies under the commerce clause, which grants Congress the right to oversee interstate commerce, a justification that the federal courts have accepted as constitutional.

This complex system of independence and interdependence among the branches of government also includes a system to punish those who act improperly and violate their offices.

Each house of Congress is authorized to discipline its own members, whether censuring or condemning them by a majority vote or expelling them by a two-thirds vote. In order for an impeached officer or judge to be convicted, the Senate must hold a trial and cast a two-thirds vote. If this happens, the person is removed from office. The Vice President presides over such trials, except when a President has been impeached, in which case the chief justice of the United States presides.

Impeachment is a rare occurrence. Most executive branch officials accused of crimes either resign or are fired before impeachment proceedings can begin, but federal judges serve lifetime appointments and cannot be fired. In the s, three federal judges were impeached and removed from the bench for crimes ranging from tax evasion to bribery. There have been three impeachment efforts against Presidents. Both were acquitted in the Senate. In , President Richard Nixon resigned in the face of an impeachment that would likely have led to conviction in the Senate.

Impeachment stands as a reminder that no federal official, even the President, is above the law and all can be brought to justice.