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    The U.S. System of Government

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    Andrea Hunt
    The U.S. Is a Federal system = the power is divided between a central / national government and the states the legislative branch - the Congress has two chambers: The House of Representatives The Senate U.S.Congress on Capitol Hill 435 members the states have representation according to. The size of their population (e.g. Wyoming - the smallest state - 1, Delaware 2, California 52) Every two years only 1 / 3 of Senators is elected legislative process can start in either

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    The U.S. System of Government

    Uploaded by

    Andrea Hunt
    88 views21 pages
    The U.S. Is a Federal system = the power is divided between a central / national government and the states the legislative branch - the Congress has two chambers: The House of Representatives The Senate U.S.Congress on Capitol Hill 435 members the states have representation according to. The size of their population (e.g. Wyoming - the smallest state - 1, Delaware 2, California 52) Every two years only 1 / 3 of Senators is elected legislative process can start in either

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    The U.S. Is a Federal system = the power is divided between a central / national government and the states the legislative branch - the Congress has two chambers: The House of Representatives The Senate U.S.Congress on Capitol Hill 435 members the states have representation according to. The size of their population (e.g. Wyoming - the smallest state - 1, Delaware 2, California 52) Every two years only 1 / 3 of Senators is elected legislative process can start in either

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    88 views21 pages

    The U.S. System of Government

    Uploaded by

    Andrea Hunt
    The U.S. Is a Federal system = the power is divided between a central / national government and the states the legislative branch - the Congress has two chambers: The House of Representatives The Senate U.S.Congress on Capitol Hill 435 members the states have representation according to. The size of their population (e.g. Wyoming - the smallest state - 1, Delaware 2, California 52) Every two years only 1 / 3 of Senators is elected legislative process can start in either

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 21

    The U.S. is the oldest continuous democracy in the world It was established in ?

    1789

    The U.S. is a Federal system = the power is divided between a central /national government and the States

    The central government = Federal government

    Federal government

    Consists of three branches:

    Legislative

    Executive
    Judicial

    The legislative branch the Congress

    Has two chambers:


    The House of Representatives The Senate

    U.S.Congress on Capitol Hill

    The House of Representatives


    435 members The states have representation according to the size of their population (e.g. Wyoming the smallest state 1, Delaware 2, California 52) Representatives elected for two-year terms

    The Senate (the Upper House)

    100 Senators (two from each state equal representation) Elected for six-year terms Each of the two Senators representing a state is elected at another time Every two years only 1/3 of Senators is elected

    Legislative process

    Can start in either of the two Houses The Representatives or Senators introduce proposals for laws Laws must be passed by both Houses Proposals = bills Passed bills = laws

    The executive branch


    Represented by: The President The Cabinet

    The Federal Departments and Agencies

    The White House

    The Presidents Oval Office

    The President
    His office is more powerful and prestigious than e.g. That of a French, German or Czech President He has more influence on foreign policy than the Secretary of State He is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces (limited by War Powers Act 1973) He can serve a maximum of two fouryear terms (established in 1951)

    How the President is elected


    He is elected by the Electoral College (not directly, although the first stage is direct) Most states: A winner-take-all system = the candidate who wins majority of votes wins all of that states allocated electoral votes E.g. Wyoming is given 3 electoral votes = the winner in this state gets 3 votes (3 votes in according to the number of Senators 2 and Representatives 1)

    Different system in Nebrasca and Maine: Nebrasca 2 Senators, 3 Representatives - the winner automatically gets only 2 votes - The left 3 votes are allocated in accordance with how the candidate succeeds in component Congressional Districts (there are 3 of them in Nebrasca)

    E.g. 2008: winner Mc Cain 2 votes + he won in 2 Districts = altogether he won 4 votes Obama was the winner in one District = he was given 1 vote

    In Maine nearly the same: 2 votes automatically + 2 depending on how successful the candidate is in the component Congressional Districts (there are only two Districts)

    Altogether there are 538 votes and the winner must gain at least 270 votes (quorum) to become the President

    Try to guess how many votes Barack Obama was given

    365 !

    Is there a way how to dismiss the President his office?

    YES!
    By a formal process called Impeachment The word "impeachment" derives from Latin roots expressing the idea of becoming caught Article One of the United States Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power of impeachment and the Senate the sole power to try impeachments. Impeachment does not necessarily result in removal from office - Impeachment is only the first of two stages, and conviction requires a twothirds vote

    The judicial branch


    Consists of the Supreme Court with nine judges, called justices They are appointed for life by the President and confirmed by the Senate The Court interprets the Constitution If it says that a law is unconstitutional, the law cannot become valid, unless an amendment is added to the Constitution a complicated process, which has succeeded only 27 times in more than 200 years

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