Political Life in the US

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[Bearbeiten] The American Constitution

The American Constitution is the oldest written Constitution still in force. It reflects influences of the British parlamentary system (two chambers) and of English Common Law (principles of the Bill of Rights). Moreover it has served as a model for many other lands constitutions.

Basic ideas of the Constitution:

• government by agreement of the governed --> final authority belongs to the people
• belief in the fundamental rights of the people
• a representative democracy --> people elect representatives to rule the governments
• the federal system --> power is divided between the national an the state governments
• separation of the powers into three branches
  • legislative (Congress)
  • executive (President)
  • judicial (Courts)
• system of checks and balances of the three branches --> governmental power limited by constitutional law
• flexibility of the Constitution --> changeable through amendments and judicial reinterpretation

[Bearbeiten] The Bill of Rights

It is a document which includes the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights guarantees the rights of the individual against governmental powers. It secures important Freedoms and Rights

[Bearbeiten] The President

The President has to meet certain conditions. He must be a native-born American citizen, at least 35 years old and a resident of the USA for at least fourteen years.
He is elected for four years but can hold office for two terms. The President combines the powers of a German President or the British Queen and a Prime Minister or the german chancellor.
The President:

• is the head of state
• is the head of government:
  • proposes laws and governmental programmes to Congress
  • appoints federal judges with the consent of Congress
  • has to keep the Congress informed about the situation of the nation and the economy
  • prepares the federal government's budget
  • has to agree all bills passed by the Congress but has the Right to veto the legislative. This veto can be overruled by a two - third 's majority of the Congress
  • leads America's foreign policy
• is Commander - in - Chief of the armed forces
  • is allowed to send US troops into any part of the world -> risk of a war but only Congress can declare war
• is leader of his own party

Eingeloggt werbefrei.

Links

Originelle Geschenke und Geschenkideen online finden.