自考0522英语国家概况基础班课程讲义全Chapter19.pdfVIP

Chapter 19 Political Institutions 本章重点： 美国的宪法 美国的行政 美国的立法 美国的司法 美国的政党 I.The U.S Constitution 1.The Background of adopting the U.S Constitution The American Constitution is the oldest written constitution in the world. It was draw up in 1787 and went into effect in 1789. When the War of Independence was won, the thirteen former colonies were like thirteen independent nations, not wanting to give up their independence to a strong central government. In 1781, the Second Continental Congress adopted a constitution, the Articles of Confederation, which provided that each state had one vote in Congress, a lawmaking body set up according to the Articles. But the Congress had no power to tax, could not control trade between the states and had no wayofenforcingitslaws.Therewasnonationalcourtsystem.TheweaknessoftheArticles became more and more evident and by 1787 many people agreed that something had to be done to overcome the weakness. In 1787,Congress called for a meeting of delegate from all the states to revise the Articles of Confederation. The new constitution was officially adopted on March 4, 1789. 2.The Federal System The Constitution set up a federal system of government which has two layers of rule. Thereisacentralorfederalgovernmentforthenationwhichalonehasthepowertoanswer questions that affect the nation as a whole. There are also state and local governments. Each layer of government has separate and distinct powers laid down in the Constitution. The government is divided into three branched: the legislative, the executive ,and the judicial. Each branch has part of the powers but not all the power. And each branch of government can check, or block, the actions of the other branches. The three branches are thus in balance. This is called “checks and balances.” This system is designed to prevent the government from misusing its powers. The underlying idea was,