The Constitution: Principles of the Constitution.

What are the principles of the Constitution?

The Constitution can be said to be based on three principles: 1) Separation of powers. 2) Checks and balances. 3) The federal division of power. The first two must be understood together as the one is a corollary of the other.

How does the executive check the judiciary?

1) Appointment of judges. 2) Pardon.

What are checks and balances?

A system of government in which each branch - legislative, executive and judicial - exercises control over the actions of the other branches of government.

What is separation of powers?

A theory of government whereby political power is distributed among three branches of government - the legislature, the executive and the judiciary - acting both independently and interdependently.

How has the idea of federalism been able to change since the creation of the Constitution?

All this the Constitution did, but what it failed to do - and wisely so - was to lay down any definite line between the concurrent powers of the national and state governments. This means that the concept of federalism has been able to develop over the subsequent two centuries.

What are states' rights?

Are literally the rights, powers and duties of the state governments, but the term is often used to denote opposition to increasing the federal government's power at the expense of that of the states.

How does the legislature check the executive?

1) Amend/delay/reject the president's legislation. 2) Override the president's veto. 3) Control of the budget. 4) Senate's power to confirm numerous appointments made by the president. 5) Senate's power to ratify treaties negotiated by the president. 6) Declare war. 7) Investigation. 8) Impeachment, trial, conviction and removal from office of any member of the executive branch, including the president.

How does the judiciary check the legislature?

1) Judicial review: the power to declare Acts of Congress unconstitutional.

How does the judiciary check the executive?

1) Judicial review: the power to declare actions of any member of the executive branch - including the president - unconstitutional.

How does the executive check the legislature?

1) Recommend legislation. 2) Veto legislation. 3) Call Congress into special session.

How does the legislature check the judiciary?

1) Senate's power to confirm appointments made by the president. 2) Initiate constitutional Amendments. 3) Impeachment, trial, conviction and removal from office of any member of the judiciary.

How does the Constitution divide the federal powers?

Nowhere are the words 'federal' or 'federalism' to be found in the American Constitution. It is written into the Constitution by: 1) Articles I, II and III, which lay out the powers of the national government. 2) Amendment X, which guarantees that all the remaining powers, "are reserved to the states and to the people". What the Constitution does do is to: 1) give certain exclusive powers to the national (federal) government. Only the national government can, for example, coin money, negotiate treaties, tax imports and exports, or maintain troops in peacetime. 2) give guarantees of states' rights. So, for example, the states are guaranteed equal representation in the Senate, that their borders will not be changed without their consent and that the Constitution cannot be amended without the agreement of three-quarters of them. 3) make clear that there are also states' responsibilities. Each state must recognise the laws of each other state by, for example, returning fugitives.

How does the Constitution separate the powers?

The Constitution drawn up at Philadelphia in 1787 divided the national government into three branches based on what is known as the doctrine of the separation of powers. The three branches of government are: 1) the legislature: Congress, which makes the laws. 2) the executive: headed by the president, which carries out the laws. 3) the judiciary: headed by the Supreme Court, which enforces and interprets the laws.

Why did the Founding Fathers want to separate the powers?

The framers of the Constitution believed that only be these kinds of institutional structure would tyranny be avoided. It was in their view of vital importance that law making, law executing and law enforcing be carried out by three independent yet co-equal bodies whose personnel was entirely separate. Thus was introduced what might be called the separation of personnel - that the legislature, the executive and the judiciary should all be separately manned: that not person be permitted to be a member of more than one branch at any one time. Hence in January 2009: 1) Barack Obama resigned from the Senate to become president. 2) Joe Biden resigned from the Senate to become vice-president. 3) Hillary Clinton resigned from the Senate to join Obama's cabinet as Secretary of State. All three resigned from the legislature in order to join the executive. And when in 2010 the US Solicitor General Elena Kagan was appointed to the Supreme Court, Ms Kagan resigned from the executive in order to join the judiciary.

Are the powers of the branches of government really separate?

The functions of these three branches are not completely separate. Indeed, the term 'separation of powers' is rather confusing for it is not the powers that are separate but the institutions. As Richard Neustadt has stated: "The Constitutional Convention of 1787 is supposed to have created a government of 'separated powers'. It did nothing of the sort. Rather, it created a government of separated institutions sharing powers". So the theory is more accurately described as a theory of shared powers than 'separated powers'. The institutions - the Congress, the presidency and the courts - are indeed separate. The personnel of these three branches are separate but their powers are shared. This sharing of powers is what we call checks and balances.

What did the Founding Fathers hope to achieve by separating the powers?

The idea of the Founding Fathers was that these three branches would: 1) be independent yet co-equal. 2) be separate in terms of personnel. 3) operate checks and balances on each other. 4) promote the much desired concept of limited government - as Thomas Jefferson (one of the Founding Fathers) put it: "that government is best which governs least".

What is decentralisation?

The principle by which government and political power are vested not only in the federal government, but also in the state governments.

What is limited government?

The principle that the size and scope of the federal government should be limited to that which is necessary only for the common good of the people.

What is the federal division of powers?

The third principle upon which the Constitution is base is the federal division of powers. Federalism involves a certain level of decentralisation. As already explained, it is a compromise between a centralised form of government on the one hand and a loose confederation of independent states on the other. In other words, it is a compromise between the two experiences America had before 1787 - government by Great Britain and government by the Articles of Confederation. It is an appropriate form of government for a country as large and diverse as the USA. It allows for national unity as well as regional and local diversity.