THE USA

di Maurizio Angelo Volpe

The USA is a federal republic. The government in divided into three separate groups: the Federal Government, the State government and Local Government. The Federal government based in WC decides questions regarding the whole country such as relationships with the other countries, national defence, citizenship and finance.
The American constitution divides the power of the Federal Government into three branches: the executive, headed by the President; the Legislative, headed by both House of Congress(the Senate, the House of Representatives) and the Judicial which is headed by the Supreme Court.
The USA is a presidential system where the powers are separate: the executive and the legislature cannot hold office in both branches. Each branch serves as a check on the actions of the other.
Other governmental activities are the responsibility of the individual States. Each State has its own government with a governor at its head and its own constitution and law(e.g. death penalty)
Within each State there are countries, townships, cities and village, each with its own elected Local Government which provides local services.

The American Constitution
The US Constitution is the oldest written document, it adopted in 1790.
The Constitution has two main sections: the document and the amendments. The document has never been changed, it list because the Constitution was written and specifies the basic form of government and outlines the powers and duties of each federal branch ok government, along with other powers and duties belonging to the states. The Constitution limits the role of each branch to prevent any one branch to gaining undue power.
Amendments have been added to the Constitution to guarantee specific rights and to solve problems. At the present there are 27 amendments and more can be added, for this reason is called ‘a living document’. It is able to adapt to changing situations.
The Constitution is called ‘supreme law’ because no other laws may contradict any of its principles and no person or government is exempt from following it.

The President of the USA
He/she is the chief executive of the Federal Government and is elected by the people.
According to the Constitution all natural-born citizens of the USA who have lived in the country for at least 14 years and are 35 or over, may run for president. Presidential elections occur every four years and each president may not serve more than two terms. Political parties chose the candidates in the months before the General Election. The major political parties are the Democratic and the Republican Parties.

The New President is inaugurated on January 20 and receives his powers from the Constitution and the Congress, he can put forward people as Ambassadors, Justices of the Supreme Court and other high Government Officials but the Senate, however, can vote to reject his suggestions.