A Brief Introduction to Britain and America

Unit 4 The Political System in the United States

 Revision The peace treaty of 1783 recognized the independence of the United States and the former 13 British colonies became 13 states of the new nation. They were not very clear about the future political system of the United States and about the relationships between the states and the government of the new nation. A constitution was badly needed.

Contents The Articles of Confederation The making of the US Constitution The three branches of the federal government Political parties

 The Articles of Confederation

1. The background When the War of Independence was over, the Unites States was not one unified nation as it is today. Each new state had its own government and was organized very much like an independent nation, although during the war, there was a plan of cooperation was called the Article of Confederation.

2. The reasons for its failure (1) The states did not cooperate with the Congress or with each other. (2) The Congress had no power to tax any citizen or to force any state to contribute money to the national government.

 The making of the US Constitution

1. The Constitutional Convention (1) The purpose The Articles of Confederation failed. The Congress decided to hold a constitutional convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.

1. The Constitutional Convention (2) The contents ① The delegates from 12 states (RI refused to participate) gathered in Philadelphia in ② The president of the meeting was George Washington.

James Madison was called the Father of the Constitution because of his important contribution to the formation of the Constitution.

(3) The achievements ① At the beginning of convention, the question was whether they should merely revise the Article of confederation or should make a new constitution. ② The Convention ended up in writing a new constitution and set a federal system with a strong central government. ③ A federal system is one in which power is shared between a central authority and its constituent parts, with some rights reserved to each.

2. Introduction to the Constitution (1)The constitution was finally approved by the majority of the citizens in over 9 of the 13 states and was officially put into effect in (2) The Constitution specified the power recovered for the states. It provided that an election of the president would be called, federal laws would be made only by a Congress made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate and a Supreme Court would be set up.

2. Introduction to the Constitution (3) There are 27 amendments to the Constitution. (4) To protect citizens from tyranny, the “Bill of Rights” （修正案） was added to the Constitution in 1791.

 The Bill of Rights 1. The components It consists of the first 10 amendments which were added to the Constitution in The Purpose As another basic foundation in the Constitution, it was passed to prevent tyranny and to guarantee freedom and individual rights.

3. The contents (1) It guarantees freedom of religion, of speech and of press. (2) It provides the right to assemble in public places, to protest government actions and to demand change. (3) It guarantees the right to own weapons, to a speedy trial if accused of a crime, and so on.

3. Features of the Constitution The first distinct feature of the United States Constitution was its division of power divided between central government and state government. The second distinct feature was the division of power is among the three branches of the federal government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. It is called the check and balance system 制约与平衡.

 Checks and balance 1. The origin The idea was first provided in the Federal Papers. 2. The purpose (1) It is a way of restricting government power and preventing its abuse. (2) In the three-part national government, this system works in many ways to keep serious mistakes from being made by one branch or another.

单击此处添加标题 Goverment separation of powers executive headed by President ， independent of the legislature judiciary Supreme Court lower federal courts legislature the Senate House of Represent atives Checks and balance

 The three branches of the federal government

1. Legislative branch (1) The components The legislative consists of a Congress that is the bicameral 两院制 legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

① The House of Representatives  It comprises 435 lawmakers who serve two-year terms.  Each member represents a district in his or her home state. The number of districts in a state is determined by a count of the population taken every 10 years.

② The Senate  It comprises 100 lawmakers who serve six- year terms.  Each state has two senators.

1. Legislative branch (2) The functions The legislative is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes, declare war, put foreign treaties into effect.

Group discussion How a Bill becomes a law?

2. Executive branch (1) The presidency ① The chief executive is the president, who is elected to a four-year term. ② A president can be elected to only two terms according to an amendment passed in 1951.

(2) The functions ① The president can propose legislation to Congress. ② He can veto any bill passed by Congress. The veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses. ③ He can appoint federal judges as vacancies occur. ④ He is the commander in chief of the armed forces.

⑤ He has other authorities in running the government departments and handling foreign relations. ⑥ The power to pardon, or release, criminals convicted of offenses against the federal government. 赦免权 赦免权 The President may be impeached by a majority in the House and removed from office by a two- thirds majority in the Senate for “treason [`tri:zn] 叛国, bribery [`braibәri] 行贿, or other high crimes and misdemeanors [misdi`mi:nә] 品行不端.

The forty-fourth and current president is Barack Obama.

3. Judicial branch (1) The components ① The judicial is headed by the Supreme Court, which is composed of 1 chief justice and 8 associate judges. Federal judges are appointed for life or voluntary retirement, and can only be removed from office through the process of impeachment( 弹劾 ) and trial in the Congress.

3. Judicial branch ② The Congress has established 11 federal courts of appeal and 91 federal district courts.

3. Judicial branch (2) The functions The Supreme Court has the function of determining whether Congressional legislation or executive action violates the Constitution, which is called judicial review. ( 司法复审权 )

 Political parties

The Democratic Party ( 民主党 ） The Republican Party （ 共和党 ）

The United States has a two-party system. One is Democratic Party and the other is Republican Party. Only the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans have the chance to win the general election and control of Congress. In 1874, the famous American artist Thomas Nast drew a political picture with a donkey representing Democratic Party and an elephant representing Republican Party.

1874 年，美国著名画家汤姆斯 · 纳斯特创作 了一幅政治漫画，用驴表示民主党，用象 表示共和党。从此，驴和象便成了两党的 标志。 每当大选之年，两党分别以这两种动物作 为自己的党徽进行竞选，故被世人称 “ 驴、 象之争 ” 。 美国民主党以驴子为标志的起源，可追溯 至美国第七任总统杰克逊在 1828 年竞选总 统时，当时他的对手称他为 Jackass （笨蛋 或公驴的意思），他就索性借用驴子的形 象，刊于其竞选海报上。

驴子首次在政治漫画中被用来代表民主党 是在 1837 年，当时也是用来描绘已退休的 杰克逊。 后来政治漫画家一再用驴子代表民主党， 到了 1880 年，驴子成为被大众接受的民主 党标志，民主党的刊物都采用驴子的形象 ，并宣称驴子代表谦虚、亲切、聪明、勇 敢和可爱，民主党总统候选人都被漫画家 描绘成骑驴竞选。

Democratic Party Republican Party

1. The Democratic party ① It evolved out of Thomas Jefferson’s party and was formed before ② The symbol of the party is the donkey. ③ It is thought to be more liberal ④ In the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt started the New Deal in order to solve the Depression. Democrats set up many government programs including the program that provided paid employment for people building dams and roads and public buildings and Social Security.

2. The Republican party ① It was formed in the 1850s by people in the states of the North and West. ② The symbol of the party is the elephant. ③ It is believed to be more conservative. ④ Republicans place more emphasis on private enterprise and often accuse the Democrats of making the government too expensive and of creating too many laws that harm individual initiative.

3. The Election ① Americans do not have to join a political party in order to vote or to be a candidate for public office. However, running for office without the money and campaign workers a party can provide is difficult. ② Everyone votes in secret. ③ The high cost of campaigning for public office has aroused great concern in the public. ④ Many Americans question whether, after election, the officials will feel beholden to the groups which gave them money than to the people they represent.

Homework Explain the items (1) The Bill of Rights (2) the Pilgrims (3) Mayflower Compact (4) The Continental Congress

Homework Answer the questions ( words ) (1) In what way did Puritanism influence American culture? (2) What was the significance of the American War of Independence?