Salient features of the American constitution.
1) Introduction
● A constitution means certain principles on which the government of the state organizes and determines the relations between the people and the government. The constitutions of the U.S are unique in nature and have provided inspiration to other constitutions of the world. The object of the constitutions is to provide justice and to take up against issues related to violation of rights
2) Definition of constitution
● A constitution is a set of fundamental principles according to which a state is governed
3) Main sources of American Constitution
Following are the main sources to American constitution
1) Legislation
2) Amendments
3) Interpretation by Judiciary
4) Conventions
5) Presidential actions
6) Decision by executive
7) State action
8) Party system
4) Salient features of U.S constitution
Following are the salient features of the U.S constitution
1. Written
● The American constitution is in written form. It is very brief constitution which is consisted of seven Article by now 26 amendments have been made in it
2. Enacted
● U.S constitution is an enacted constitution which has been given by convention and it officially has been adopted on March 4 1789.
3. Sovereignty of the people
● The preface of the U.S constitution empowers the people of the U.S and it starts with the words that, we the people of the united states have sovereign power upon constitution
4. Supremacy of constitutional law
● The constitution of the U.S is the basic law of the country. The constitutional law of the united states is being considered as supreme law of the land
5. Conventions
● Conventions played an important role in the development of the constitution and they are also basic feature of the U.S constitution e.g. the growth of the cabinet of American president is the result of conventions
6. Rigid
● The American constitution is a rigid constitution because it requires a special procedure to amend it. Every amendment which can be moved it needs three fourth 75% majority of the member for its modification
7. Republican
● The constitution of U.S asks to every state for formulation of republican form of government so keeping in view , the head of the state will be an elected by the state
8. Federalism
● The constitution of the U.S establishes a federal form of government. Federal has all constitutional powers and can exercise these powers as supreme authority of the state.
9. Presidential
● The U.S constitution provides a presidential form of government. The constitution gives all powers in the hand of the president of the U.S. He is elected by the people for the term of four years. He is not responsible for his acts and policies
10. Bicameralism
● The U.S Constitution has been created by bicameral legislatures and these are the Senate and the House of Representatives. All constitution are being made by both of these chambers and any amendment needs approval from both of these chambers
11. Secular
● America is a secular state. It has been stated that in U.S constitution that constitution will never make any kind of religious related law even not in favor of religion and not against the religion
12. Balanced government
● According to U.S constitution, American government is a very balance government because senate will check the activities of House of Representatives and House of
Representatives will check the activities of the senate. The two chambers will check each other
13. Separation of powers
● The U.S constitution is based on the doctrine of separation of powers. All branches of government as legislatives, executive and judiciary have been kept separate from each other. The personnel of each branch are chosen by different procedures. There function are also different and they don’t interfere in each other
14. Checks and balances
● In America there is a very strong check and balance system as president has veto power over the enacted laws by congress and congress has power to impeach him
● The president and senate elects the judges of the courts and judges has the power to interpret laws
15. Judicial review
● The United States, judicial review is the ability of a court to examine if any legal provision violates the provisions of existing law of the United States Constitution. The judicial review has power to refuse such provision
16. Independence of judiciary
● The U.S constitution gives protection to judges and judges are totally independent regarding their judicial decision. U.S constitution save judges from undue influence
17. Due process of law
● Another feature of the U.S constitution is due process of law. The federal government and the state are forbidden to deprive anyone’s life, liberty without any due process of law. It means if a person makes a mistake and violates the rules of the state he should be dealt with in the laws of the state and he will be punished according to law punishments
18. Bill of rights
● According to the U.S constitution the people of America has been given a number of rights. These rights were not written in the original draft of the constitution but by subsequent amendments these rights have been secured in first ten amendments
19. Dual citizenship
● The U.S constitution provides dual citizenship of their natives. An American is the citizen of the U.S.A as well as citizen of the state
20. Spoils system
● The American system is associated with the name of the President. According to it, when the new president takes over the charge of administration, the new president makes new appointments without taking any pressure etc.
21. Representative democracy
● The American constitution establishes a representative democracy. All matters of government are in hands of chosen representative
22. Different constitution for federation and the states
● The states which joined the American federation have their own constitutions, and they all are allowed to keep as before
23. Constitutional limitations
● Another outstanding feature in U.S constitution that a number of limitations on constitution due to which there are many things which neither government can nor state can in order to secure fundamental rights of the people of U.S.A
24. Omission
● There is an err in U.S constitution that it makes an omission in it which makes it flexible that for example, constitution says that house shall choose its speaker but its does not tell about the powers of the speaker
5) Conclusion
● The U.S constitution is the oldest written constitution in all the nations of the world. It establishes the form of government and defines the rights and liberties of the American people. It also lists the aim of government as well as methods of achieving them