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ANGLAIS : THE AMERICAN CONSTIT

WEEK 1:  A BRIEF RECALL OF HISTORY

The colonial period extends from 1609 to 1776.

Many immigrants moved to the US, mainly from Europe, for various reasons: starvation, political reasons, religious persecutions.

The immigration led to the making of 13 colonnies, each led by a governor (thus there are 13 gov). They brought their own code of laws: the brit law, which changed depending on the different needs of the colonies (diff from a state to another).

Col extracted goods on their territory which they shipped to England. But they had to pay taxes imposed ny the King of England. But the colonies no longer wanted to pay, so -> conflict of interest which lead to the indep war (1776-1781)

The indep war was led by two leaders: J. Adams + T. Jefferson: both lawyers (=educated and rich). They read the French philosopher's pieces, especially Montesquieu's L'Esprit des loi. The philosophers' books contained the idea of Republic= balance of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary.

The indep war was won by the colonists which led to the capitulation if the King od England -> rupture between America and Europe.

But the US weren't created overnight.

It's creation needed to organize the country: 1st attempt of Organization: the articles of confederation on 1781 .

But pbs of this first attempt: -absence of executive power, which wasn't wanted bc the States wanted to remain independent

-legislative power was very limited.

Both problems led to a difficulty of implement, so the delegates decided to meet in Philadelphia : The Philadelphia/Constitutional Convention 1787 -> it's goal was to amend the articles that didn't work.

The delegates agrred upon the Great Compromise signed between small and bigger states; bc the small states feared to be forgotten and the big ones feared that the system would be too based on the population's voice.

In this compromise: the legislative power was based on two chambers: House of representative (number of members based upon the State's population) + Senate (number of senators based on equal rpz°, regardless of it's population)= 2 senators per State.

There was a debate upon the executive power: make it strong or no? So they decided there'd be a single rpztant of the executive: the president.

The C° is a compromise between those who feared to lose their indep and those who believed that a strong power of National government was required.

The Am C° was ratified between 1787 and 1790: = 14 years after the declaration of Indep (1773) to get to a concrete writing.

The reference to God is omnipresent in the US (everyday life, political life): no matter which god, he's always there.  Concrete example: the President takes an oath on the Bible. God has always been there, from the very first text of the C°, until today.

Also, mankind is refered to in every text (DDHC). Yet, the second paragraph “All men are created equal” only refers to the white men at this time.

THE CONSTITUTION contains all the roles of each power. Defect of the C° then: it forgot fundamental rights which were mentionned in the Declaration of indep.

In 1791: 10 amendments were added to the C° = THE BILL OF RIGHTS . It was first just limited to the federal gov , not to the States who didn't want to B submissie towards the national authorities.

During the second half of the XIX° century, the Bill of Rights began to be applied to the State government: 1876: change imperered by the 14th amendment.

The States also had to assure the liberties imposed by the BoR.

5 essential principles to the C°

  1. The idea that the govt is based upon the rpz° of the people.
  2. The C° promised a Republic bc the power resides in the ppl. The Rep should be responsive and responsible.
  3. Separation of powers between leg/exec/judic:

- executive: implementation of the law executed by the PRESIDENT

- legislative: making of the law ecexuted by the CONGRESS (two chambers)

- judiciary: interpretation of the law executed by FEDERAL COURTS

  1. A system of Checks and Balances: (cf annexe) one institution can check the works of the two others, in order to insure that not any single branch could become overpowerful. The C° required that many decisions must have the backing of more than one branch. A veto is an example of balance.
  2. The power of the gov is divided between the nationalgov and the state's gov= it's the definition of the federalism.

The idea of federalism also implied in the C°: article 6 paragraph 2

C° s     law of the land whichi needs to b protected. -> There is an evaluation of the constitutionality of the laws to prevent any violation of the rights granted by the C°. The American Supreme Court invalidated certain uncostitutional laws.

Although the States kept many of their powersn there was a sense of common values.

The C° created a republic (different from a democracy) in which the Govt was ruled by elected leaders: senators + representatives in the Chamber of the rpztatives + a president elected by an Electoral college

In fact, when voting, the American citizens don't vote to elect the president directly but they vote for a member of the Electoral college who's part of the Party they chose and is then going to elect the President.  (the number of members depends on the population of the state) .

The president is the Head of he states and the Head of the government. (his campaign funds are private)

The US are considered a democracy bc of the separation of powers. Framers of this: founding fathers who wrote the C° and didn't want to give power to any single part.

The prsdt can veto a law passed by the Congress.

Also, the judiciary power is limited by the executive and legislative bc:

1st: the president nominates the federal judges who have to be approved by the Senate

2nd: the Congress can change the number of judges in the Supreme Court. Those judges have a lifetime appointment at the congress but there's  a possibility to impeach this since they're federal workers.

...

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