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Implementation, administration, and regulation
- The federal bureaucracy performs three primary tasks in government: implementation, administration, and regulation. When Congress passes a law, it sets down guidelines to carry out the new policies.
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How did the US Constitution structure the government?
Why is the phraseology of the Constitution important?
How is the power of the US government constrained?
What was the main purpose of the Constitution?
While much of the Constitution consists of a general framework for the federal government’s form and functions, 21. a central, and perhaps counterintuitive, purpose of the Constitution is to restrain the government, by, among other things, immunizing certain values and principles from government interference. 22.
The cases that rely on state sovereignty to limit federal power are misguided, but we should give the devil its due. These decisions have managed to generate doctrine that is more manageable, more comprehensible, and therefore more likely to endure. The cases that define federal power in isolation have been a failure on almost any measure.
Oct 12, 2016 · The Constitution: What Does it Say? The Constitution of the United States contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates.
- 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]
3 days ago · Constitution of the United States of America, the fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government and a landmark document of the Western world. The oldest written national constitution in use, the Constitution defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
May 17, 2021 · Our vision and mission. As documented in the US Constitution, the people of the US, through our Government, seek to form a more perfect union by establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
May 3, 2012 · “But the importance of a service performed by the State does not determine whether it must be regarded as fundamental for purposes of examination under the Equal Protection Clause. . . . [T]he answer lies in assessing whether there is a right to education explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.” 14 Footnote 411 U.S. at 30 ...
