1. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights illustrated two different sides of American political life.
2. The Constitution was adopted by Congress in 1789.
3. In 1791 two amendments were made to the Constitution.
4. The USA is a presidential republic.
5. There are 100 Senators, two from each state in the Senate and 435 members in the House of Representatives.
6. The President of the United States is elected for a term of four years by electors of each state, must be a native born citizen, resident in the country for 14 years and at least 35 years old.
7. The Supreme Court — the highest judicial organ of the state has the power of Judicial Review.
8. The two political parties in America act as coalitions and attempt to win elections.
9. Almost all elections in the United States follow the “winner-take-all” principle: the candidate who wins the largest number of votes in a Congressional district is the winner.
5. Выберите правильный вариант ответа.
1. What is the United States of America?
a) an absolute monarchy
b) a federation of states
c) a presidential republic
2. What does the Constitution of the USA consist of?
a) a Preamble, ten Articles, thirty Amendments
b) a Preamble, seven Articles, twenty seven Amendments
c) statutes, customs, constitutional conventions
3. How many branches is the Government in the United States divided into?
a) two
b) three
c) four
4. How is the legislative branch of the Government called?
a) Parliament
b) Congress
c) the Supreme Court
5. What branch of the Government has the responsibility to carry out the law?
a) the executive branch
b) the legislative branch
c) the judicial branch
6. What branch of the Government is the most powerful?
a) legislative
b) executive
c) judicial
7. What is the highest executive power in the United States?
a) the President
b) the House of Representatives
c) the Senate
8. What does the judicial branch do?
a) makes and passes laws
b) interprets and applies US laws
c) executes, enforces and administers laws
9. What party system does the United States have?
a) a one-party system
b) a multi-party system
c) a two-party system
6. Прочитайте, на каких шести принципах была создана конституция США, и назовите их.
Since the people give government its power, government itself is restrained to the power given to it by them. In other words the US government doesn’t derive its power from itself. It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.
In order to protect citizens, the constitution sets up the system of government with balanced powers to make compromise and consensus necessary. This system limits the duties of each branch and separates powers for each branch. Basically, each branch of government has a certain number of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful.
The US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power. Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws and to interpret the laws.
This principle is one of the most complicated foundations of the US. This is the idea that the central government doesn’t control all the power in the nation. States also have powers reserved to them. Central government exercises exclusively such powers as defence and matters of state security, whereas the regions exercise power over such things as planning, regional development and taxation. This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people. The Government of the United States is truly national in character and should be for the benefit of its citizens. If the Government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.
This power allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional. This was established with Marbury v. Madisonin 1803.
