Discuss ways in the modern political institutions (President, Congress and Supreme Court) are different from those described within the US Constitution.

It is outlined within Section One of the US Constitution that in the case of the removal of the President from his office, whether it be from his death, resignation or unable to return to his duties. In which case Congress may declare who shall then act as President, and for how long. However, if the president is temporarily unable to serve, the 25th Amendment, passed in 1967, sets out the replacement procedure- the Vice- President shall become President in the removal of the President from his office. Another important difference in the US presidency is that under the 22nd amendment in 1951 the number of terms a president can serve is limited to two.

Overall, there are not that many key differences in the modern political institution of US Presidency and the Presidency outlined in the Constitution. Qualifications for the Presidency have all remained the same apart from the modification in the 22nd Amendment in 1951, of limiting the number of terms a President can serve to two. The powers of the President have all remained the same throughout the history of the Constitution and Hart states “The Constitution itself is still an important basis of presidential power...” (Singh, 2003: 173).

Conclusion

Americans have always seen their President as the hub of US politics. But few actually understand the impact of the fragmented and pluralistic structure of American government (Hart, 2003:169). The American President is subject to constraints by Congress quite frequently. However, the US Presidency has remained the same in terms of the powers and duties of the President. As laid out in the Constitution the Presidents duty is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Congress

The US Congress is the “first branch” of government under Article I of the US Constitution (Lowi et al., 2006:95). Once the USA gained its independence the Founding Fathers were determined to design a system that would stop one person from holding too much power, like the British system under the King who they saw as largely unaccountable. The way to achieve this was to place all the law-making authority away from the executive branch of government (Presidency) and putting it into the hands of the Legislative branch (Congress). This was expected to make Congress the most important and powerful branch of government, which is why its powers and responsibilities are outlined in the first article of the Constitution. (Storey, 2007:234).  The framers of the Constitution provided for bicameralism, that is a legislative body consisting of two chambers- The House of Representatives and Senate. It is laid out in the US Constitution that Congress shall assemble at least once a year and that meetings shall be on the first Monday of December. Modern day Congress now assembles still at least once a year, but at noon on the third day of January and this was modified in the 20th Amendment in 1933. The most recent change to the US Constitution in 1992 states that no law can change the compensation that Senators and Representatives receive, until an election of representatives have intervened. Before this amendment was ratified senators and representatives received compensation decided by law and out of the United States treasury. Some limits of Congress are different now in the modern institution than they were when the Constitution was first adopted.  It states that no capitation or other tax shall be imposed unless in proportion to the census, however this statement was modified by the 16th amendment that states Congress have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes without regard to any census.

-The House of Representatives

Not much has varied from Section Two of the US Constitution to the modern day institution of The House of Representatives. Today the House has 435 members and its members are elected directly by the people. The House has a shorter term in office of two years to the Senates six years. Within the original document no one could become a representative of the house if they were less than twenty five years old and been a citizen of the United States for seven years previously. This rule was modified under Section Two of the 14th Amendment in 1868 which changed the age from twenty five to twenty one years old.

-Senate

Section Three in the US Constitution declares that the senate of the United States shall be created of two Senators from each state and will be chosen by the legislature of each state. According to the 17th Amendment ratified in 1913 the Senate will still be composed of two Senators from each state, but the Senators will be chosen by the people of that State and not the Legislature. Therefore since the 17th amendment was passed in 1913 Senators have been elected to the Modern Senate by the people. Also in the 17th Amendment it states when vacancies happen in those representing any States in the Senate, the executive authority of that State shall issue a formal written order of election to fill such vacancies, whereas before this amendment if any vacancies happened the executive of that State could have made temporary appointments until the next meeting.

Conclusion

The balance of powers and restraints of the United States Congress has remained largely unchanged since the Constitution was ratified in June 1788. Only three significant changes have occurred since. (Storey, 2007:235). The 17th Amendment passed in 1913 was the most considerable change in the history of Congress. It enabled Senators to be directly elected by the people instead of by state legislatures. Also another large change in Congress was the number of representatives in the House was set at 435 in 1929. Finally the 20th Amendment, passed in 1933 laid down that Congress would start its new session on 3rd January, after each Congressional election. However, the use that Congress has made of its powers, and its relationships with the other branches of government, has changed substantially over the past two hundred years. (Storey, 2007:236).

 

Bibliography

Hart, J. (2003): The Presidency. In Singh (2003) p.168-188

Hodder-Williams, R. (2003): The US Constitution in Singh (2003) p.53-74

Lowi, T.J., Ginsberg, B., Shepsle, K.A. (2006): American Government. W.W. Norton &Company Inc. New York

Singh, R. (ed.) (2003): Governing America: The Politics of a divided Democracy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Storey, W. (2007): US Government and Politics. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh