Unit 4 The Political System in the United.pptVIP

Failure of the Articles of Confederation(联邦条款James Medison 1) After the War of Independence was won, the new nation of the United States was organized under the agreement of the Articles of Confederation with a weak national government called the Congress. 2) Each state had its own government, made its own laws and handled its internal affairs. The states did not cooperate with the Congress and with each other. 3) The Congress had no power to force any state to contribute money to the national government and the Congress could not tax any citizen either. As a result, the Articles of Confederation failed. II. the making of the U.S Constitution 1) The Articles of Confederation failed. The Congress decided to hold a constitutional convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. 2) The delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island refused to participated) gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 and end up in writing a new constitution and set a federal system with a strong central government. 3)The Constitution provided that an election of the president would be called for, federal laws would be made only by a Congress made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate and a Supreme Court would be set up. 4) This new Constitution was finally approved by the majority of the citizens in over 9 of the 13 states and was officially put into effect in 1787 ) 名词解释：a federal system III. the 3 branches of the U.S federal government --- the legislative branch is made up of elected representatives from all of the states and is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes and declare war or put foreign treaties into effect. It consists of a Congress that is divided into the House of Representative and the Senate. The House of Representatives has 435 / (437 now) members who serve two-year terms. The Senate comprises 100 lawmakers who serve six-year terms. Each state, regardless of population, has two senators. How a bill become a law A law begins as a proposal