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3.9: Federal, Confederate, and Unitary Government. Page ID. Figure 3.9.1: Political scientists have identified three types of governments. When governments are formed over large geographic areas or nations, it often becomes necessary to create smaller regional governments (states) as well.
Apr 3, 2024 · Confederation, primarily any league or union of people or bodies of people. The term in modern political use is generally confined to a permanent union of sovereign states for certain common purposes—e.g., the German Confederation established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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- Overview
- Key points
- The structure of US government: separation of powers
- The structure of US government: checks and balances
- What’s important about separation of powers and checks and balances?
The power of US government is constrained by the separation of powers and checks and balances between branches.
•The Framers of the US Constitution structured the government so that the three branches have separate powers. The branches must both cooperate and compete to enact policy.
•Each of the branches has the power to check the other two, which ensures that no one branch can become too powerful and that government as a whole is constrained.
By the late 1780s, it had become clear that the first governmental system of the United States, the Articles of Confederation, wasn’t working. The central government under the Articles lacked a strong executive and a method for resolving disputes at the national level.
But adding a strong executive branch to the US government might pose the opposite problem. Would an executive, wielding the power of the army, become too powerful? Would a federal government with more power overall soon become tyrannical?
At the Constitutional Convention, the Framers debated these issues. Their ultimate solution was to separate the powers of government among three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—so that each branch had to cooperate with the others in order to accomplish policymaking goals. For example, although the executive branch commands the military, only the legislative branch can declare war and make funds available to pay and provision the army. Therefore, both the legislative branch (Congress) and the executive branch (the president) must consent for the United States to go to war.
Accordingly, each branch of government has unique powers. As the branch most responsive to the will of the people (who elect its members), Congress has the power to pass laws, declare war, ratify treaties, and levy taxes. The executive branch conducts foreign affairs and commands the armed forces. The judicial branch interprets the laws of Congress and the actions of the president to determine whether they are constitutional.
Check your understanding
Which of the following is the best definition of separation of powers?
In addition to separating powers among the branches, the Framers gave each branch the power to check, or stop, the actions of the other two branches in meaningful ways. For example, the president has the power to veto, or reject, laws made by Congress. But Congress can balance out that power in its turn by overriding the president’s veto with a two-thirds vote.
This system of checks and balances keeps each branch of government from overstepping its bounds, and consequently, the federal government itself from becoming too powerful.
Check your understanding
Which of the following is the best definition of checks and balances?
Choose 1 answer:
Choose 1 answer:
How does the structure of US government affect its citizens?
First, the separation of powers in the government means that making law is a long, complex process. Although this slows the pace of policymaking considerably, the Framers intended for it to be difficult for the government to act. The positive consequence of this system is that it gives people many opportunities to influence law as it travels through the policymaking process from initial idea to final implementation. For example, if Congress passes a law that a citizen disagrees with, that citizen can work to persuade the president to veto that law.
Second, checks and balances ensure that the government is working for the people’s interest and following the law. Government officials who commit crimes or abuse the power of their office may be impeached. Impeachment is the process of making formal charges against a public official. An official who is impeached undergoes a trial, and if convicted, he or she is removed from office. This process demonstrates that in the United States, no one is above the law, not even the highest public officials.
[Notes and attributions]
(ID: 31ddb728e9e943f6a75f55f7cba69813) Learning Objectives. By the end of this section, you will be able to: Describe the steps taken during and after the American Revolution to create a government. Identify the main features of the Articles of Confederation. Describe the crises resulting from key features of the Articles of Confederation.
In a confederation, authority is decentralized, and the central government’s ability to act depends on the consent of the subnational governments. Under the Articles of Confederation (the first constitution of the United States), states were sovereign and powerful while the national government was subordinate and weak.
Example: The United States, Mexico, and Canada operate under federal systems. These states have a mix of national and state governments that share power and policymaking responsibilities. Confederate Systems. A confederate system sits at the other extreme in terms of centralization.
Oct 13, 2022 · confederation–decentralized governmental power; group of separate entities share power. decentralization–power is divided or shared between vertical levels of government. federal–balance of power between centralized national authority and decentralized state and local authority
