The U.S.
Constitution and the Organization of the National Government
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U.S. Constitution created a system of checks and balances and three independent
branches of government.
The Legislative Branch
Article I of the Constitution
established Congress. The framers of the Constitution expected Congress to be
the dominant branch of government. They placed it first in the Constitution and
assigned more powers to it than to the presidency. Congress was given “all
legislative powers,” including the power to raise taxes, coin money, regulate
interstate and foreign commerce, promote the sciences and the arts, and declare
war.
The Executive Branch
Article II of the Constitution created
the presidency. The president’s powers were stated more briefly than those of
Congress. The president was granted “executive Power,” including the power
“with the Advice and Consent of the Senate,” to make treaties and appoint
ambassadors. The president was also to serve as Commander in Chief of the army
and navy.
In
delegate James Wilson's view, the presidency was "the most difficult
[issue] of all on which we have had to decide." Americans had waged a
revolution against a king and did not want concentrated power to appear in
another guise. The delegates had to decide whether the chief executive should
be one person or a committee; whether the president should be appointed by
Congress; and how long the chief executive should serve.
On
August 18, 1787, a Pennsylvania newspaper carried a leaked report from the
Constitutional Convention. It was the first word on the proceedings that
directly quoted a delegate. "We are well informed" of "reports
idly circulating, that it is intended to establish a monarchical government....
Tho' we cannot, affirmatively, tell you what we are doing, we can, negatively,
tell you what we are not doing--we never once thought of a king."
The
conflict with royal governors had made the public deeply distrustful of
powerful executives. Alexander Hamilton
argued for a chief executive to be given broad powers and elected for
life. Edmund Randolph of Virginia
thought executive power should not be put into the hands of a single person
since a single executive would be "the fetus of monarchy."
To ensure a check on presidential
power, Congress was given the power to override a presidential veto and to
impeach and remove a president. Congress alone was given the power to declare
war.
The Judicial Branch
Article III of the
Constitution established a Supreme Court.
The Constitution does not specify
the size of the Supreme Court. Over the years the designated size of the
supreme court has varied between six, seven, nine, and even ten members. Nor
does the Constitution explicitly grant the courts the power of judicial review--to
determine whether legislation is consistent with the constitution.
Today,
no other country makes as much use of judicial review as the United States.
Many of our society’s policies on racial desegregation, criminal procedure,
abortion, and school prayer are the product of court decisions. The concept of
judicial review was initially established on the state level and in the debates
over the ratification of the Constitution.
In contrast to Britain, American judges to not wear
wigs. When the Supreme Court held its
first session in 1790, one justice did arrive wearing a wig. But the public
expressed derision at wig wearing, and the justice decided that republican
judges should not wear wigs.
Voting Rights
The Constitution included no property
qualifications for voting or office holding like those found in the state
constitutions drafted between 1776 and 1780. In a republican society, office
holding was supposed to reflect personal merit, not social rank.
The
constitution did not bar anyone from voting. It only said that voting for
members of the House of Representatives should be the same in each state as
that state's requirements for voting for the most numerous branch of the
legislature. In order words, qualifications for voting were left to the
individual states. The New Jersey
constitution allowed women to vote if they met the same property requirements
as men.