Chapter 4
We – the People

Dividing Power: The American System of Government
The Basics
• Americans have distrusted any concentration of political power ever since its founding • American form of government was written down in a Constitution o 1787, after thirteen colonies gained independence from Great Britain • “Tyranny” of King George III – the Americans wanted to make sure no person was allowed to have too much power • Representative democracy

o Elected representatives who could be regularly shifted out o Power rested with the people
• Federal system
o Individual states which give only certain specific powers to a central government o Federalism
• The separation of powers
o Divided the power into three
o No one is too powerful

Federalism
• The federal government can only do what it has specifically been given the power to do in the Constitution o Delegated powers by the states
• Reserved powers are for the states and the people
o State rights
• The states gave the federal government power over the following areas o Foreign affairs (treaties and relations with other countries) o Defense (defending the nation and declaring war)
o Monetary policy
o Trade (among states, between states and government, between the nation and other countries)

Separation of powers
• Breaking power into three
o The Executive (the President)
o The Legislative (Congress)
o The Judicial (Supreme Court)
• Main idea – power could never be combined under one man o Threaten people and democracy
• The Founding Fathers created the system of checks and balances o Each of the branches can limit the power of two

The Congress – legislative powers
• Two “chambers” – the House of Representatives and the Senate • The smaller states were afraid of being controlled of the larger states • The number of representatives each state got in the House of Representatives was based on the population of the state • In the Senate, each state was given two representatives no matter how small or large • Congress has the power to:

o Pass laws (legislation)
o Levy taxes
o Decide how federal money is used
• No one in the federal government gets paid nothing gets funded unless Congress has passed a “bill” approving the use of money • Members of the House of Representatives – Congressmen
o 435 members, all its members are elected every two years (democratic) • Members of the Senate – Senators
o 100 members, two from each state, elected for six years of the time (stable) • Checks on Congress
o The President can veto a bill by refusing to sign it
o The Supreme Court can declare laws “unconstitutional”

The President – executive powers
• The President is Head of State and represents the people of the US at home and abroad • The President is Chief Executive
o Heads all federal organizations, has a “cabinet” with political advisors • The President is Commander-in-Chief
o He is head of the armed forces of the only superpower in the world. Only Congress can declare war, but the President can ask Congress for the power to use “necessary force” • The President is Chief Diplomat

o Decides foreign and defense policy, appoints ambassadors, sets up embassies and negotiates treaties (only become law if two-thirds of the Senate approves) • The power of the President has increased since 1787, he leads three million people who work for this branch of the government • Checks ...

+1 000 1 10 100 16 1787 1996 2.4 2005 2008 269 270 3 34000 4 41 435 448.9 50 500 538 60 85306 abroad accept action activ actual ad address adopt advantag advisor affair afraid aggress agreement allow almost alreadi alway ambassador america american among amount anoth appear appli appoint approv area arm around ask assembl august/early author avoid away b back balanc balloon base basic becom belong benefici best better big bill billion block book bound branch break britain broad broke budget build businesspeopl c cabinet campaign candid carter cast center central certain chamber chanc chang chapter check cheer chief choic choos chosen citi citizen clear closest coalit coast collect colleg coloni columbia combin come command commander-in-chief committe complianc compromis concentr concern confer conflict congress congressmen connect consensus consequ conserv consist constitut contribut control convent cost could counti countri court creat creation crowd d.c day deal debat decid decis declar defeat defend defens degre deleg democraci democrat determin didn die differ dinner diplomat direct disadvantag discuss district distrust divid divis dollar done donkey doubl drawn e e-mail e.g earli earlier easili economi educ effort either elect elector eleph elit els embassi emerg encourag end equal etc even event ever everi every-man-for-himself everywher exampl except excit execut exhaust expect expens extrem failur father favor feder fifti fill final find first follow forc foreign form found foundat free freedom fresh fund fuzzi gain gap gave georg get giant give given goe good gop got govern governor gradual great group grown hand hard harder head held help highest histori hold home hous howev idea ideolog iii impeach import incorpor increas independ indirect individu inequ inexperienc influenc innov intend interest interpret involv iron issu januari jimmi job join judg judici june justic keep kept king know known laboratori land larg larger last late law lead leadership left legisl level levi liber life limit lobbyist local longer look lose lot lower made mail main major make man mani market matter may mean measur meet member men midwest might million mind minimum minor model moder momentum monetari money movement much must nation nationwid near nebraska necessari negoti neither never new nine nixon nomin nomine north/west noth novemb null number o offic offici often old one opinion oppos order organ over-repres overrid pac paid pamphlet paralyz parliamentari part parti pass pay peopl per person persuad platform play plural point polic polici polit politician poor popul popular possibl power practic present presid president/platform presidenti press primari problem proceed process profil program promis promot protect proud public put race ratifi reach real reason recent recommend reduc refus regul regular relat releas remov repres republican reserv resist resourc respect respons rest result rich rich/poor richard right rise ritual role rout rule run say scandal scare school season seat secret section seek seminar senat send sent separ septemb serious servic set sever shape shift shoot show sign sinc singl single-seat sit six skyrocket small smaller societi soft solut someon sourc south southern speak special specif speech spent split stabl stage stand start state state-wid statement statesman still straightforward strength strong stronger submit succeed suggest superpow support suprem sure suspici system take tax taxat team thing third thirteen threaten three ticket time togeth town trade tradit travel treati trend tri trust tuesday tv tv-ad two two-parti two-third tyranni unconstitut undermin unit unknown unless us use vagu valid vari variat varieti various ve versa veto vice void vote voter want war washington wast waterg way weaken welfar well well-known wide wild will win winner wise without woman won work world worri would write written year