The Political System

The United States is an indirect democracy - that is, the people rule through representatives they elect. Over time, the vote has been given to more and more people. In the beginning, only white men with property could vote. Today any citizen who is at least 18 years old can vote.

The Constitution

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. (For example, the Fifteenth Amendment gave black Americans the right to vote and the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote.) Another reason is that the Constitution is flexible: its basic principles can be applied and interpreted differently at different times.

Federalism

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. The Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government, other powers to the state governments, and yet other powers to both. For example, only the national government can print money; the states establish their own school systems, and both the national and the state governments can collect taxes.

Three Branches of Government

Within the national government, power is divided among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

The legislative branch consists of Congress which has two parts - the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress's main function is to make laws. There are 100 senators (two from each state) and 435 representatives (the number from each state depends on the size of the state's population).

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). In addition to the President, the VicePresident, and their staffs, the executive branch consists of departments and agencies.

There are now 14 departments, including Treasury, State, Defense, and Health and Human Services. Each department has different responsibilities. For example, the Treasury Department manages the nation's money, while the State Department helps make foreign policy. The President appoints the department heads, who together make up the President's Cabinet, or advisers. The agencies regulate specific areas. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency tries to control polution, while the Securities and Exchange Commission regulates the stock markets.

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. It has nine members who are appointed for life.

The system of checks and balances, established by the Constitution, is meant to prevent any branch from having too much power. Each branch has certain controls over the other branches. For example, Congress makes the laws but the president can veto, or reject, a law and the Supreme Court can decide a law is unconstitutional.