《英语国家社会与文化入门》（２）美国部分 Unit 4 The Political System in the United States 1

The Articles of Confederation邦联条款 1 The Articles of Confederation邦联条款 1. The Background (1) After the War of Independence was won, the new nation of the United States was organized under the agreement of the Articles of Confederation with a weak national government called the Congress. (2) Each state had its own government, made its own laws and handled its internal affairs. (3) The Articles of Confederation failed. 2. The reason for its failure (1) The states did not cooperate with the Congress and with each other. (2) The Congress had no power to force any state to contribute money to the national government and the Congress could not tax any citizen either.

II. The Making of the U. S Constitution 1 II. The Making of the U.S Constitution 1. The Constitutional Convention制宪会议 (1) The purpose The Articles of Confederation failed. The Congress decided to hold a constitutional convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. (2) The contents a. The delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island refused to participated) gathered in Philadelphia in 1787. b. The president of the meeting was George Washington. (3) The achievements a. The Convention end up in writing a new constitution and set a federal system with a strong central government. b. A federal system is one in which power is shared between a central authority and its constituent parts, with some rights reserved to each.

II. The Making of the U. S Constitution ２ II. The Making of the U.S Constitution ２. The Constitution 宪法 (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 1787. (2) The Constitution provided that an election of the president would be called for, 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. (3) There are 27 amendments to the Constitution. (4) In order to protect citizens from tyranny, a “Bill of Rights” was added to the Constitution in 1791.

III. Three branches of the U. S Federal Government 1 III. Three branches of the U.S Federal Government 1. Legislative branch立法机构 (1) The components The legislative consists of a Congress that is divided into the House of Representative and the Senate. a. The House of Representatives The House of Representatives has 435 members who serve two-year terms. Each member represents a district in his home state. The number of districts in a state is determined by a count of the population taken every 10 years. b. The Senate The Senate comprises 100 lawmakers who serve six-year terms. Each state, regardless of population, has two senators. (2) The functions The legislative branch is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes and declare war or put foreign treaties into effect.

III. Three branches of the U. S Federal Government 2 III. Three branches of the U.S Federal Government 2. Executive branch　行政部门 (1) The presidency　总统的任期 a. The chief executive is the president, who is elected to a four-year term. b. A president can be elected to only two terms according to an amendment passed in 1951. (2) The functions a. The president can propose legislation to Congress. b. He can veto any bill passed by Congress. The veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses. c. He can appoint federal judges as vacancies occur. d. He is the commander in chief of the armed forces. e. He has other broad authorities in running the government departments and handling foreign relations.

III. Three branches of the U. S Federal Government 3 III. Three branches of the U.S Federal Government 3. Judicial branch　司法部门 (1) The components a. The judicial is headed by the Supreme Court with a chief justice and 8 associate justices. 最高法院是最高司法部门；由一名首席法官和八名副法官组成。 b. The Congress has established 11 federal courts of appeal and 91 federal district courts. 司法部门还包括国会设立的11个联邦上诉法院和91个联邦地方法院。 (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. 最高法院有权决定国会法案或行政法令是否违宪；这种职能被称为司法复审权。

IV. Checks and balances三权分立的制约与平衡机机制 1 IV. Checks and balances三权分立的制约与平衡机机制 1. The origin The idea was first provided in the Federalist Papers. 制衡原则最初见于“联邦党人文集”。 2. The purpose (1) It is a way of restricting government power and preventing its abuse.制衡原则的目的是防止专制和权力滥用。 (2) In the three-part national government, this system of “checks and balances” works in many ways to keep serious mistakes from being made by one branch or another. 在三权分立的国家政府中，制衡原则是为了防止各部门铸成严重错误。

V. The Bill of Rights 权力法案 1 V. The Bill of Rights 权力法案 1. The components It consists of the first 10 amendments which were added to the Constitution in 1791. 2. The purpose Another basic foundation in the U.S 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, 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 and so on.

VI. Political Parties Today, the United States has two major political parties. One is the Democratic Party. The other is the Republican Party. 1. The Democratic Party (1) It evolved out of Thomas Jefferson’s party and was formed before 1800.民主党是从托马斯.杰佛逊在1800年前成立的党演变而来的。 (2) The symbol of the party is the donkey. (3) It is thought to be more liberal. (4) In the 1930’s, President Franklin Roosevelt started the “New Deal” in order to solve the Depression. Democrats set up government programs that provided paid employment for people building dams and roads and public buildings and Social Security社会保障制度.

VI. Political Parties 2. The Republican Party (1) It was formed in the 1850’s by people in the states of the North and West. (2) The symbol of it 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.

VI. Political Parties 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 (美国人想要投票或竞选公职并不一定要加入政党，但是如果没有钱和政党所能提供的选举活动者们，想要竞选职位是很难的) (2) Everyone votes in secret.选举是以不记名方式进行的。 (3) Many Americans question whether, after election, the officials will feel beholden to the groups which gave them money than to the people they represent.许多美国人质疑，当选的官员可能只对赞助他们的利益集团负责，而不为他们所代表的人民谋利益。