The Structure of the American Government

Most of the specifications for the executive branch in the Constitution, other than how he is to be elected, have to deal with the interactions between Congress and the President. The president can (fill in the blank) but only if (this part) of Congress approves. The powers of the president have been interpreted widely so that he has more power than I believe the Framers intended. They wanted him to be able to check Congress with veto power and be the head of the military. However, I think that presidents nowadays have too much power. They are active in trying force their policy agenda through Congress, manage foreign relations, and act as the administrative head of the entire nation. The textbook lays it out well in, "The vast size of the executive branch and the number and complexity of decisions that must be made each day pose a challenge for the White House.” (316) In order to deal with the stresses put on the executive branch, there are thousands of employees that work to give the president the information that he needs to make decisions. He has advisors, cabinet members, legislative liaisons; the list goes on and on, but he is the person who actually gets to make all of the choices. The President is limited in some ways and given more power in other ways by the structure laid out for him in the Constitution, and evolved to be what it is now.

The Executive Branch is run by the President who is commander and chief of the Military. It "carries out federal laws." (World Book 140). It will create regulations that back up the laws that Congress passes. The branch acts as the enforcer of the Government. The executive branch is separated into fourteen departments, each handling a specific Executive business. The head of each department is appointed by the President and approved by the senate. The collection of these departments makes up the Presidential Cabinet. The purpose of the cabinet and its members is as stated,

The executive branch of the Unites States government consists of the President, Vice President, Executive Office of the President (EOP), and the Cabinet (Citation). The President is the highest official of the Executive branch. The powers of the President are wide-ranging and highly substantial but were also drafted in the constitution to be limited by the other two branches of government. The remaining branches of government are the Legislative branch and the Judicial branch. There functions of all the branches are interrelated and the restraints on the amount of power each reserves are also coordinated. This correlation involves the system of checks and balances which was implemented by the framers of the Constitution. The President, as

The president, who is the head of the executive branch, is elected by the entire nation and serves four years. According to article II of the Constitution the president has the power of execution and enforcement of laws passed by the congress, choose cabinet members and officials, he is the head of state and the commander and chief of the armed forces. The vice president is also a part of the executive branch and is a position to take presidency in case something happened to the president. In contrast, the judicial branch officials are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. In article three of the constitution the judicial branch is established and to let the congress to determine the judicial structure, the jurisdiction of the federal courts and the number of Supreme Court Justices.

Executive power is vested in the office of the President of the United States. The President has the dual role of being the chief of state and the head of government. The President is also commander in chief of the armed forces. He issues executive orders, and appoints Supreme Court justices (with senate approval). The president is also called "the chief legislator" because he indirectly proposes many bills, considers all bills from Congress and signs them into law or vetoes them.

The Founding Fathers created the federal constitution during their time and this contained an intricate set of checks and balances between different levels and branches of government. This remains relatively unchanged within the US constitution. This set of checks and balances works in a way that makes the different branches of government still have independence and work on their own, but also requires them to work together interdependently. This creates better, stronger

The structure of our American Government was founded in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution was written to be the “supreme law of the land,” and produces a democratic republic, where citizens govern themselves (Our American Government, n.d). The purpose of our government, is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” (Our American Government, n.d.). For our country to accomplish this purpose our Founding Fathers created three principles, “inherent rights, self-government, and separation of powers” (Our American Government, n.d.). The government was developed to ensure order in society and protect its citizens, but with all systems, there is strengths and weakness, let’s examine those strengths and weakness. Let’s first look at the strength and weakness of the U.S. Constitution.

The Executive Branch is the second portion of the power sharing system and is headed by the president. It consists of his Executive Office, the vice president, and his Cabinet. The duties of the Executive Branch are covered in the second article of the constitution and establish the president as the leader of the armed forces, outlines his ability to make treaties, and develop a State of the Union address. The ability for the Executive Branch to enforce the regulations and laws imposed by Congress lies with the many departments that are delegated the authority to enforce them, for example the Department of Agriculture handles the many different areas of farming and the processing of the food Americans eat. There are many different organizations and the head of each one joins together to form the president's Cabinet in order to inform him on the important issues that may need government attention.

The power of the executive branch is vested by the President of the United States. This branch is the largest branch that operates with assistance from the Vice President, agencies and members to successfully lead the government. The executive branch mainly operates based on the responsibilities and duties of the President implementing and forcing laws written by Congress (Whitehouse.gov). However, the interactions that the executive branch has with the other branches productively endorse power. The interactions that the executive branch has with the legislative branch are carrying out and enforce the laws that

The powers executive has are being able to veto, or reject, a proposal for a law, and appoint federal posts. The executive branch has power, but it, as well as the others, has to be limited. The president has the power to make appointments, including to the Supreme Court, but his choices must be approved by the Senate, which leaves him not as powerful as it may seem.

When the Framers of the Constitution met in Philadelphia, they came together with one common purpose in mind. They needed to form a fair and solid system of government that would stand the test of time; one that was both fair for the people and would not involve a monarchy. Each of these men had their own ideas on what would constitute this system, however, so many compromises had to be made. Together, the men gathered in Philadelphia created a federal system of government and drafted a constitution outlining this government. They took care in developing three branches of federal government with a system of checks and balances so that no one branch would gain too much power, thus avoiding any

The Constitution was created so one person or group wasn’t able to get too much power. At first, the Articles of Confederation was made. The Articles of Confederation was not working because the central government didn’t have enough power to protect the nation. The Constitution was made in order to hold the states together and the people together, and make sure the government doesn’t gain too much power. The Constitution guards against tyranny. Tyranny is “The accumulation of all powers…in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many” (Federalism Paper #47). The Constitution guards against tyranny by separation of powers, creating federalism, and having checks and balances.

The president also has the power Veto laws passed by congress. The president has the power to make political appointment and negotiate treaties with foreign countries, however this power also requires the approval of the senate. The President is responsible for making a for appointing his cabinet and federal judges. The president is capable of calling congress in session and the power to adjourn congress.

After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the United States Government was reorganized under the Constitution. This gave the federal government far more power than did the Articles of Confederation, which invested power within the states. Basically, the Constitution created three branches of government (Executive, Judicial, and Legislative) which would work together to run the government. To make sure that there was an equal balance of power among the branches, a system of checks and balances was devised so that each branch could limit the power of the others. It is important to note that "the doctrine of separation of powers is not established by any constitutional provision [but] rather it emerges from he framers'

The constitution was established by men who had experienced the dictatorships of Europe and had escaped from its grasp. They sought to establish a form of government that would never allow a dictatorship or tyrant ruler to hold power over the people like in the places they had fled. With their creation of the foundation of what our government is today they created a system where 3 branches were all of equal power and each could be overruled by another which prevented any branch becoming superior of another. The separation of powers provides a system of shared power called Checks and Balances.(2) The three branches are legislative, judicial and executive and they each have specific powers to