Alicia Hightower
Daniel Lee
Caitlyn Tom
PS112B
April 13, 2018
“The People hold the Power”
If Bodin were alive today and were to examine the United States of America and its Constitution [using his theories on sovereignty]; he would come to several conclusions. First, the United States is a democratic or “popular” form of government. Second, sovereignty resides in the people as a “body”. Third, it is through the Constitution that the people delegate absolute and perpetual power over them [with conditions] to the three branches of government (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial); or what Bodin would refer to as magistrates, commissioners, trustees, or agents of the sovereign (the people). Furthermore, it is the conditions and limits of this
…show more content…
The United States is defined as a democratic state or commonwealth, according to Bodin’s qualifications. He argues, that we must first assess “who has sovereignty to know what its state is…. if all the people have a share than we will say the state is democratic…a democracy or popular state, is when the whole people, or greater part thereof, have sovereign power as a body” (Bodin II.1.89-90). Why is the U.S. considered democratic? Because the majority rule prevails; meaning positions of power in the United States, the right to make laws, the reformation of laws, and the enforcement of laws are put to a vote in a free and transparent manner. They are voted on and decided by the people (body) or “the greater part thereof”; these procedures reinforce equality or equal share for the commonwealth. Our government is elected through appointment, by the people, and is met with limitations provided by the Constitution as to not abuse their power, giving the people procedures for reformation and ratification if this should happen; and this is what makes our state …show more content…
He gives a list of the specific marks of sovereignty, and how whomever holds sovereignty owns these marks as the “principle” and delegates them to the “agent”. Some of the more important marks of a sovereignty as stated by Bodin include: declaring war or making peace, establish and remove principle officers of the state, power to grant pardons, the right to coin money, to give law to all, and the right of judging in last instance. For Bodin, The Constitution would be the “letter patent” or proof of transition of power from the people to its trustees; it details how the people want their absolute and perpetual powers divided among the three branches of government of the United States. The people give absolute power to the executive branch, giving the president the right to exercise the power to pardon criminals and enforce laws as stated by Section 1 of Article 2 of the Constitution, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United states of America” (Monk, pg.66) The people give Congress [the legislative branch] the power to make law in the best interest of the people; Article 1 of the Constitution states “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in the Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and a House of Representatives” (Monk, pg. 19). Furthermore, the people give the judicial branch the power of tenure, and the
The United States Constitution begins with the simple phrase “We the People”. Yet, with three simple words, the ideology it stands for has shaped the entire country (O’Connor et al., 2011). The short phrase signifies that the document, and thus, the government, is based upon the people themselves. The Constitution reflects the culture and ideologies of its citizens. Similarly, state constitutions reflect the people, albeit in a more specific locality. The key differences between the United States Constitution and that of local states are due to the distinctions between the scope and characteristics of the people they govern.
According to John Acton in 1887, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, meaning that if unlimited power is given to any one person, they can be corrupted by it. The framers of the Constitution recognized this and built in a plan to prevent this from happening and a result of this, the Constitution spreads power equally between the three branches of government: The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches. These built-in checks and balances are very important to our government, because they keep one branch from gaining too much power over another. This balance of power prevents any branch of our government from being “corrupted absolutely”. This thesis will argue that this part of the Constitution is as important today as it was when first
The Articles of Confederation set up a government that consisted of a one house body of delegates, with each state having a single vote, acting collectively, could make decisions on certain issues that affected all states. There was no president or judiciary so any decision required nine of the thirteen states’ votes. At this point in time the United States of America ... ... middle of paper ... ... o consider the charms of liberty as imaginary and delusive.”
If those in power do not obey the social contract, the commonwealth has the right to create a new social contract so the state of nature does not prevail. The sovereign is entrusted with unlimited power, but must always act in a way that protects the people. Laws from the sovereign allow the commonwealth to not constantly fear death. Like principalities, sovereignty is allowed ultimate rule. It is similar to a republic in which the ruler has to abide by the will of the people.
The character of the United States is illuminated by the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wanted to build a government where people are free and where the government “derives its power from the consent of the governed and it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” (Jefferson, 247). T...
It did not originally have the power of judicial review until 1803 in the case of Marbury vs. Madison (Young, 283), which then gave the Supreme Court the power to interpret the Constitution and overrule any law or action that was unconstitutional. As part of the political system, the selection of judges has choice of the President and confirmed by the Senate. Once appointed, federal Judges are in the seat until they resign or die and are independent of the President's influence. (Burns, 360-361) For example, the chief justice of the United States is appointed and holds tenure for life.
The founding fathers of the American Constitution divided the government up into the following three branches to prevent the majority from ruling with an iron fist; legislative, judicial, and executive. The three braches were created by the Constitution: Article 1, Legislative branch made up of the House and the Senate, collectively known as Congress; Article 2, Executive branch, or President; Article 3, Judicial branch, made up of the federal courts and the Supreme Court. This was done in efforts to distribute power amongst the three so that one would not have more power than the other. Each branch has the ability to check the power of the other branches. This power check of the other branches is referred to as the checks and balances, better known as the Separation of Powers. This was to prevent tyriny.
At first glance, it seems implausible the word democracy isn't written in the United States Constitution, or in the Preamble of the Constitution, or even in the Declaration of Independence. One would assume a concept so paramount to modern American culture would surely be derived from one of its oldest and most endeared documents. Alas, it is not. The Constitution only specifically mentions two entities, the government and “We the People”. Defining government is an easy enough task, but who are “We the People”? Originally consisting of only white male property owners, eventually adding in other races, income classes, women, and astonishingly, corporations, the definition of “We the People” has evolved numerous times. Corporation is another key term the architects of our government failed to define for us, perhaps that is why it found its way into the phrase “We the People”. A grave dilemma lies in this fallible defining of terms. Granting corporations person-hood legislatively shifts the power of democracy from human interests to corporate interests. This corrosion of human interest can clearly be noted when examining the battle over corporate power highlighted in the court cases of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and United States v. Sourapas and Crest Beverage Company.
In 1791, the Bill of Rights, consisting of 10 amendments, was ratified into the constitution. The document’s purpose was to spell out the liberties of the people that the government could not infringe upon. Considered necessary by many at the time of its development, the Bill of Rights became the cause for a huge debate between two different factions: The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists were those who thought that there should be a new Union created with a strong centralized government and individual regional governments. They felt that it was not necessary for there to be a bill of rights because it was implied that those rights the Constitution did not specifically state would be handed down to the states. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists were opposed to such a form of government on the grounds that the Constitution, in which it was outlined, lacked clarity in the protections of the individuals. The Anti-Federalists—whose memory of British oppression was still fresh in their minds—wanted certain rights and guarantees that were to be apart of the constitution (Glasser 1991). A clear demonstration of the Anti-Federalist attitude was performed by Samuel Bryan, who published a series of essays named the ‘Cenitnal Essays,’ which “assailed the sweeping power of the central government, the usurpation of state sovereignty, and the absence of a bill of rights guaranteeing individual liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion (Bran 1986).” Of course, the freedoms stated above are a portion and not the whole of The Bill of Rights. Ultimately, The Bill of Rights was adopted to appease the Anti-Federalists, whose support was necessary to ratify the constitution, and who believed that without the liberties granted therein, the new constitution—that they thought was vague and granted too much power to the central government—would give way to an elite tyrannical government.
America's Democracy The United States of America is a republic, or representative democracy. Democracy, a word that comes to us from Greek, literally means the people rule (Romance, July 8). This broad definition leaves unanswered a few important details such as who are the people, how shall they rule, and what should they rule on (July 8). Defining the answers to those questions means defining a model for a democratic system.
The United States of America is one of the most powerful nation-states in the world today. The framers of the American Constitution spent a great deal of time and effort into making sure this power wasn’t too centralized in one aspect of the government. They created three branches of government to help maintain a checks and balance system. In this paper I will discuss these three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, for both the state and federal level.
(A History of the Constitution) This was included in the Executive Branch. The President is allowed two four year terms, if re-elected, to be in office. The Executive Branch says that President is the commander over the military and that the President has the power to veto legislative bills. The delegates decided that the President would be chosen by an electoral college. This meant that the states would vote for electors that would then elect the President. However, the Judicial Branch has a limited amount of powers. The Judicial Branch has a Supreme Court, which is the top dog of all other courts. This branch has the power to change laws through a judicial review. Then there is the Legislative Branch which controls all the other courts. These branches balance our
Their long term in office liberates judges from partisan burdens and inhibits attacks on judicial power by the executive and legislative branch. Independence gives the judicial branch the ability to guard the Constitution and the rights of the people against the legislature. That means that he believes that the judicial branch is less likely to abuse a person's as compared to the executive or legislative. He felt that judges should have independence from the sanction of the executive, legislature, and the individuals so they can satisfy the judicial qualities defined in the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution offers that federal judges are selected to life term thru good behavior, so the courts can remain independent from the other two
The term democracy comes from the Greek language and means "rule by the people."(Democracy Building 2012) The democracy in Athens represents the events leading up to modern day democracies. Like our modern democracy, the Athenian democracy was created as a reaction to a concentration and abuse of power by the rulers. Philosophers defined the essential elements of democracy as a separation of powers, basic civil rights, human rights, religious liberty and separation of church and state. The most current definition of a democracy is defined as a “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”(Dictionary.com). The American democracy was greatly influenced by the Athenian democracy. The Founding Fathers of the American democracy borrowed ideas from the Athenian way of governing. Presently, Americans live in a democracy that is much different than that the Athenian democracy, and what the Founding Fathers of the American Democracy envisioned. Although there are some commonalities between Athens and what our Founding Fathers intended, there are major differences as well. Differences between the modern American democracy the Athenian democracy and what the Founding Fathers envisioned are size of the democracies, the eligibility of a citizen to participate in the democracy and how a citizen participated.
A memorable expression said by President Abraham Lincoln reads, “Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Democracy, is a derived from the Greek term "demos" which means people. It is a successful, system of government that vests power to the public or majority. Adopted by the United States in 1776, a democratic government has six basic characteristics: (i) established/elected sovereignty (where power and civic responsibility are exercised either directly by the public or their freely agreed elected representative(s)), (ii) majority rule(vs minority), (iii) (protects one’s own and reside with) human rights, (iv) regular free and fair elections to citizens (upon a certain age), (v) responsibility of