The US political system explained

The US political system is two centuries old, and it’s still working today. How it is and works, is something we need to know about the most powerful nation in the world.

Today, I want to speak to you about the US political system. It’s an important topic because we’re addressing the most influential country, so, the decisions taken in the US have a real impact on the rest of the world. That’s why we have to pay attention to its political system.

The political system has to do with the organization of society. It tells us how its structure is.

In this case, I’m going to discuss the US system to provide a big picture of it. To do so, I want to start with a brief historical introduction and set forth the main pillars of this system.

The US political system was chiefly the result of the colonial experience. Since the seventeenth century, colonists developed their political institutions. We find two different kinds of political organizations during this period.

First, those settlements in which a kind of representative government prevailed. In these cases, the English political tradition played a critical role. The idea of a government based on the consent of the people was fundamental. These colonies had their legislatures, courts, and executive officials, all formed by elected members of the community.

And second, we find those other settlements in which a form of direct democracy predominated. In these cases, the whole community made decisions in their local assembly, without intermediaries. They also elected officials who were under the imperative mandate. Hence, they enacted policies following locals mandates, and people’s assemblies could recall them. Power was distributed equally in the community and a plurality of assemblies with political authority. That’s the case of New Haven colony, Connecticut, and its “Fundamental Agreement.”

How was the political evolution of these colonies to end up founding a national government? The answer is deeply embedded in the events that led to the independence war. Let’s take a quick look at them.

After the Seven Years’ War, the British Empire took on the task of reorganizing its colonial domains in North America. The measures projected involved critical changes that affected the constitution of these settlements.

Until then, these colonies had considerable political autonomy regarding the metropolis’s influence. Indeed, they enjoyed self-government, and the crown’s governors were mere representatives of the Empire who depended on the colonists for all.

For instance, the average colonist might go through the year, or even the lifetime, without seeing an officer of the Empire. That proves the real autonomy of these settlements. For this reason, besides the distance of over 4,000 miles away from the metropolis, they experienced freedom. And, they weren’t annoyed by the tight controls of the Empire. Moreover, imperial officers limited their activities to enforce the Navigation Acts, but they didn’t harm the colonial economy.

Despite the parliament’s supremacy, colonists could avoid the enforcement of Acts approved in London. In reality, Americans could pass their laws in their local legislatures, and the parliament revoked just a few of them.

However, a severe change in the administration of the American colonies followed the British victory in the Seven Years’ War. It involved the presence of troops and the strengthening of the customs administration. The reason for these measures was the cost of the last war, and the inefficiency of the imperial administration to collect taxes. Conflict arose when the parliament started to legislate directly for the colonists. At this point, those ideas that had inspired the English constitutional system turned against the British Empire.

Americans challenged the authority of the parliament by resorting to the idea of consent, namely, the cornerstone of the representative government. The slogan “no taxation without representation” summarized this idea.

It’s well-known the course of events that led to independence. So, here I want to focus on the idea of consent and the representative government. However, to understand the US political system is essential to differentiate it from other similar systems.

Insofar as Americans considered the parliament’s impositions a severe grievance, they stressed the importance of the consent as the basis of the government. However, MP’s contemplated the American possessions as mere colonies. Therefore, they didn’t have the same status as any English county.

Americans based their vindications on the political theory of John Locke and put forward their reasons to revolt against the British rule. They firmly believed the government had failed to protect natural rights, that is to say, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So, the rebellion was fair to set a new and legitimate government. The Declaration of Independence is very clear in this respect. Literally it states “… Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

For this reason, the first government of the Confederation was small and limited in its powers. It was subordinated to the States and their respective legislatures. Nevertheless, that experience was short, and years later, they adopted a new constitution that set the current US political system.

I don’t want to go into the details of the second constitution. Rather than that, I want to address the main aspects of the US political system. More specifically, I want to analyze their pillars. These pillars are the consent of the governed and the separation of powers.

About the consent of the governed, I already said something.

However, I want to expand my explanation a little bit more. In this respect, I have to mention the importance of Congress as a representative institution. It’s formed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, and its function is the approval of laws. In this way, it provides government actions with legitimacy. It recreates in a very different context the logic of the English constitutional system.

Besides the idea of consent, the separation of powers is another pillar of the US political system. It’s essential because it’s designed to avoid any concentration of power. If the consent of the governed exists to limit the power of the government, the separation of powers aims to prevent the government from becoming a Leviathan.

The US Constitution set the architecture of the federal government. Its design follows the principle of checks and balances in which each branch has power to limit or check the other two. That creates a balance of power between the three separate branches of the government. This principle induces one branch to prevent either of the other branches from becoming supreme, thus be eternally confronting each other and, in that process, securing political liberty. It fosters the government self-control. Moreover, each branch must have the constitutional means to defend their own legitimate powers from the encroachments of the other branches. In this way, all branches have the same level of power, so they can limit each other, avoiding the abuse of power.

That leads us to speak about the three branches of the government, what they are, and how they work. And even more important, how their relation has evolved. That’s something I’ll explain in the next occasion.

Question of the day

Question of the day! Do you think current representative institutions are protecting natural rights? Post your opinion in the comments section below, and I’ll check it out.

Bibliography used:

Sabine, George, A History of Political Theory

Morgan, Edmund, The Birth of the Republic

Locke, John, Two Treatises of Government

Nelson, Dana D., Commons Democracy: Reading the Politics of Participation in the Early United States

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