THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

The American Government

The American Government

Introduction

There are three branches to the United States Government, the legislative, judicial and executive branches. Ideally, no branch is more powerful than the other two. They are all supposed to be equal and have certain powers as well as certain checks on powers. I will discuss these branches more in depth in the paragraphs to follow. I will also talk about the United States Constitution, which is the framework of the government.

The Legislative Department

Markoff (2001) mentions the Legislative Department consists mostly of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the two parts of Congress. The Senate has 100 members or two per state. The House of Representatives has one representative per 30,000 people in a state, currently 435, not including the one from Washington, D.C., who is not allowed to vote. This is called the "great compromise" because when the laws were first being written the larger states wanted to have a system like the House of representatives and the smaller states wanted an equal voice and liked the Senate system better. Finally, in a compromise, they decided to have both (Markoff, 2001).

Here are some facts on the House of Representatives: House of Representative members are elected to a two-year term; The minimum age to become a member is 25 years; In order to become a member, you must have been a citizen of the United States for seven years; Members must be a resident of the state they are elected by; the House of representatives has the 'power of impeachment' (Markoff, 2001). This means that the House can vote to put the President of the United States on trial before the Senate. The Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1867. When the Senate finally voted, however, he missed being removed from office by one vote.

Here are some facts about the Senate: Senators are elected to six-year terms. The minimum age for a senator is 30 years. You must have been a citizen of the United States for nine years. The Senate tries cases of Impeachment. Powers granted to Congress:

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States.

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and among several states.

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States.

5. To coin money, regulate the value of, and of foreign coin and to fix the standard of weights and measures.

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States.

7. To establish post offices and post roads.

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries.

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme ...