The United States Constitution, written in 1787, established the country’s political system and is the basis for its laws. In 200 years, the United States has experienced enormous growth and change. Yet the Constitution works as well today as when it was written. One reason is that the Constitution can be amended, or changed. Another reason is that the constitution is different at different times.
The United States has a federalist system. This means that there are individual states, each with its own government, and there is a federal, or national, government. Withing the national government, power is divided among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial.
The legislative branch consists of Congress which has two parts — the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Congress’s main function is to make laws.
The President is the head of the executive branch and the country. The executive branch administers the laws, decides how the laws should be carried out.
The judicial branch interprets the laws and makes sure that new laws are in keeping with the Constitution. There are several levels of federal courts. The Supreme Court is the most important.
Each state has its own constitution. Like the national government, state governments are divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. There are State senators and representatives and state court system. Just as the President is the leader of the national government, each state has a governor as its leader.
The United States has two main political parties — the Democratic and Republican parties. Many other smaller parties play little if any role.
Voters elect the president as well as senators, representatives, governor, etc. A voter can choose candidates from different parties, so the President does not have to be from the party that has a majority in Congress.
There are no clear differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. In general, the Republicans tend to be more conservative and to have more support among the upper classes, while the Democrats tend to be more liberal and to have more support among the working classes and the poor.
QUESTIONS
1. What does the Constitution of the USA establish?
2. What is the main peculiarity of the US Constitution?
3. How many parts are there in Congress?
4. What are the functions of the President?
5. How many political parties are there in the USA?
