Great Britain had operated the American colonies under an economic concept called mercantilism. Under mercantilism, Great Britain expected the colonies to export raw materials such as food, timber, and furs at low prices while importing finished products at higher prices. Mercantilism worked best for Great Britain if the colonies were prohibited from trading with other countries. The colonies, how…
The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia on 25 May 1787 with the intention to revise the Articles of Confederation. After much debate and compromise, the framers decided to create a stronger central government with three branches--legislative, executive, and judicial. The framers based this structure on the separation of powers, a concept developed by the eighteenth century philosopher Mo…
Article I of the Constitution created the legislative department, also known as Congress, comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate contains 100 members, two from each of the 50 states. While originally elected by their state legislatures, senators today are elected by the people and serve six year terms, with one third of the Senate up for reelection every two years. Th…
Article II of the Constitution vests the executive power, the power to enforce the law, in the President of the United States. The only legal requirement for the positions that one must be a natural born citizen over 35 years of age who has resided in the U.S. for at least 14 years. The president serves a four year term and is limited by law to two such terms. Although the nation votes on election…
The Articles of Confederation had not created a national judiciary. Instead, state courts heard cases involving federal law, resulting in inconsistency and confusion. The framers rectified this by vesting federal judicial power in the Supreme Court and "such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." By statute Congress has created a three-tiered judicial system w…
Although not created by the Constitution, independent executive agencies sometimes are called the fourth branch of the federal government. They arose in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and typically are charged with regulating areas of big business. Congress creates independent agencies with legislation, and the president selects the agency head with the advice and consent of the Senate. Unl…
Separation of powers is not the only defining concept in the Constitution. The framers also were concerned with the potential for abuse of the power they divided. To limit such abuse, they built checks and balances into the system. Each branch thus serves as a watchdog over the others. The president checks Congress in many informal ways, such as refusing to use power delegated to the executive bra…
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