The Constitu-tion of

the United States of America

Juhee ChoSimona Wang

Contents

• Separation of Powers– Article 1 The Legislative Branch– Article 2 The Executive Branch– Article 3 The Judicial Branch

• Federalism • Conclusion

Who is the most powerful per-

son in the world?

Separation of Powers

the Leg-islature

the Ju-diciary

the Ex-ecutive

Article 1 The Legislative Branch

What is Congress?

Article 1 Section 1: “All legislative powers

herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Repre-sentatives.”

What is Congress?

SENATE• Article 1 Section

3 : Represent the states : Each state gets 2 Senators : Chosen by state legislatures

House of Representa-

tives• Article 1 Section 2 : Represents the people : Elected directly by voters : Number of repre-sentatives determined by state’s population

Making of Law

Article 1 Section 7: “Every bill which shall have passed

the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law…”

* cf. Filibuster : An effort on the part of legis-lators to delay or block action on a bill by speaking for hours on end. A filibuster can be ended by three-fifths majority vote.

Making of Law

What kinds of bills can Congress pass?

: Congress has power to legislate on is-sues that couldn't be left to the states. Article 1 Section 8

: “The Congress shall have power...To regulate Commerce with for-eign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes...”

Making of Law

Article 1 Section 10: “No state shall enter into any

treaty, alliance, or confederation…”

The United States must speak with one voice in foreign affairs, the voice of the federal government

Making of Law

Article 1 Section 7: “Every bill which shall have

passed the House of Representa-tives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it…”

Making of Law

Article 1 Section 7: “If after such reconsideration two

thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law.”

Separation of Powers

• To protect individual liberty, sovereignty of state… check and balance

• Congress : Must enact the lawExecutive : Must enforce the lawJudicial : Must agree that the law is Constitutional

Separation of Powers

Has ‘Separation of powers’ worked out well?

• 17th Amendment– “The Senate of the United States shall

be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof…”

• Party system– a system of government where elected

officials belong to, and commonly vote with, a like-minded political bloc.

– Institutional loyalty vs. party loyalty– Too much/ too little checking and balanc-

ing

Article 2 The Executive Branch

Presidential Roles

• Enforce the Law• Hire/ fire federal officers

higher level position • Appoint federal judges• Conduct foreign affairs

treaties• Commander in Chief of the armed

forces conduct war (x declare war)

With agree-ment of the Con-gress

Who’s got the Power ?

Who’s got the Power?

• Congress : separation of its own power–Divided into two houses

(100 senators, hundreds of repre-sentatives)– Its own rule (ex. filibuster)

• Executive branch : concentrated in one person

many events of presidents expanding their presidential power

Expansion of Presidential Power

Abraham Lincoln• The blockade of

Confederation Ports• Suspension of writ of

habeas corpus• Emancipation of Slaves

(The Emancipation Proclamation)

Expansion of Presidential Power

Franklin Roosevelt • The Great Depression

New Deal policy• World World II

Harry Truman • Atomic bomb in

Japan• Sent troops to Korea

Steel Mills Seisure

Expansion of Presidential Power

• “If steel production stops, we'll have to stop making the shells and bombs that are going directly to our soldiers at the front in Korea.”

• The Youngstown case (Truman v. Steel industry)

framework to decide if a presi-dent has gone too far–Congress Approves/ Says nothing/

Declines–BUT…

: the problem of ‘party system’: disagreement between President and Congress

Article 3 The Judicial Branch

Supreme Court

• Cases that couldn’t be left to state courts

• Cases about federal law : Need ONE in-terpretation

• Cases that states courts cannot be im-partial about

• Cannot reach out for cases Passive–Weaker than Congress or the President

• Can strike down the law– Stronger than Congress or the President

Supreme Court

• “Will People Obey ?” : real test of the court's authority

• Earlier – not really respected : dispute between Cherokees and Georgia … the Trail of Tears

Supreme Court

• 1953, Brown v Board of Education• Court ordered states to desegregate

their public schools→enormous resistance →President’s intervention

Importance of Supreme Court

• Courts can actually make some ‘bad’ decisions

• But we obey with belief that they are made without outside influence.

• Independent Judiciary - Article 3: “The judges, both of the supreme

and inferior courts, shall hold their of-fices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their ser-vices, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.”

Importance of Supreme Court

• Independent Ju-diciary … from Party system

• Gives uniformity in the interpreta-tion of federal law and the Constitution

• A third power center for the separation of powers

• Protecting rights

The federalism

王茜雯 Wang Qianwen

The Federalism Overview of Federalismfederalism in the constitutional basis

the states and federalism in practice

evolution of the federal government

Pro, cons and characteristic

overview

• three ways to organize power

necessity• a complex and ever-changing

network of relations between national, state, and local governments

• THE separation of the power between federal government and the states.

Federal governmentstates

a se-ries of coloni

es

execu-tion of

the Revo-lution

con-fed-era-tion

Confederation in USBackground

— The Articles of Confederation

original binding document supreme law

Confederation in US

①Regulation of continental congress and states

② Drawbacks —no power over trade/ tax/ enforce laws….

③calls of some federalist—Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay

④The concerns of anti-federalistUnited StatesCONSTITUTION

Federalism in US

1. Federal government powers • Article VI of the Constitution “supreme Law of the

Land” the supremacy clause. • the national government has

authority over the state governments.• four major types of power: expressed, implied, inherent, and

prohibited.

Federalism in US

Type Key Clause

Explanation Examples

Enumerated (Expressed)

Article I, Section 8

Powers explicitly granted to Congress

Declare war, coin money, levy taxes, regulate interstate commerce

Implied Necessary and proper (Article I, Section 8)

Powers that Congress has assumed in order to better do its job

Regulate telecommunications, build interstate highwaysMcCulloch v. Maryland

Inherent

Preamble

Powers inherent to a sovereign nation

Defend itself from foreign and domestic enemies

Prohibited

Article I, Section 9

Powers prohibited to the national government

Suspend the writ of habeas corpus, tax exports

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT’S POW-ERS

Federalism in US

2. State power a)overview —choose delegates to the Electoral

College —write their own constitutions and

pass their own laws three branches — current situationb) Reserved Powers

Federalism in US• b) Reserved Powers

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights)

reservation clause — police powers

• c ) Concurrent Powers

1• The power to levy

taxes2

• The power to bor-row money

3

• The power to charter corpora-tions

Federalism in US

d )The Full Faith and Credit Clause — state governments must respect the laws and

decisions of other state governments(Art. 4, § 1). — A state’s decision is binding on other statese) Local Governments—Constitution does not mention local governments at

all.—a multitude of types of local government.

approximately 84,000 local governments —granted some degree of autonomy to local

governments. home rule: a promise by the state government to

refrain from interfering in local issues.

Federalism in practice

• Federal government ＄ States

• Practice: certain mandates/ preemption

Federal Aid to the States —fiscal federalism

grants-in-aid

grants-in-aid 

Categorical grants

Project grants

Formula grants

Block grants

a fairly broad purpose

Evolution of Federalism• dual federalism "layer cake federalism" • 1790 to 1930

• Cooperative federalism• "marble cake federalism"• 1930 and 1960

• "picket fence federalism"• 1960 to 1980

Creative federalism

• “on your own federalism"• 1981—now

new feder-alism

Strengths and drawbacksAdvantages

① Fosters state loyalties： close ties to their home state

② Creates laboratories of democracy eg ： California③ Leads to political stability： removing the national

government from some contentious issue areas④ Encourages pluralism ： expand government on

national, state, and local levels, giving people more access to leaders and opportunities to get involved in their government.

⑤ Ensures the separation of powers and prevents tyranny

Strengths and drawbacks

•Critics argue that federalism falls short in two ways:

Prevents the creation of a national policy: The United States does not have a single policy on issues; instead, it has fifty-one policies, which often leads to confusion.

Leads to a lack of accountability: The overlap of the boundaries among national and state governments makes it tricky to assign blame for failed policies.

• Add more？

Influences • Checks and balances• Federalism•Human rights•…..

Thank you