KEY FEATURES OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

This article will be discussing about the salient feature of the Constitution of United States of America       

 

AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

The supreme law of the United States of America is its constitution.  In 1787, the Philadelphia Convention adopted the United States' current constitution. In 1789, it became operative. It came into force in 1789. It consisted of only 7 articles.

 

FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

 

The salient features of American Constitution are as summed below.

 

1.  Written Constitution:

 

The constitution of United States of America is the first written constitution in the world and it was enacted by the Constituent Assembly. It consists of 7 Articles. It is the shortest constitution of the world.

 

2. Popular Sovereignty:

 

The basis of the American Constitution is popular sovereignty. As per Article 1 of the Constitution of America people are the source of supreme power. Representatives of the people framed the constitution and dedicated to themselves by the people.

 

3. Supremacy of the constitution:

 

According to Article 6 of the American constitution “The constitution shall be the supreme law of the land”. It means that all other laws and treaties of the country must be in accordance with the constitution and if any of them is not in accordance with the constitution, the Supreme Court can declare it null and void.

 

4. Representative Democracy: 

 

Representatives chosen based on adult franchise carry out the state's administration. Without any discrimination, every adult male and female has the right to vote.

 

5. Limited Government:

 

The framers of the American constitution have framed that the federal government and the state governments are both constrained within their respective spheres The rights of the individual have been incorporated in the constitution which limit the powers of the govt.

 

6. Federal polity:

 

United States of America is the first modern federal state in the world which has the following federal features in its Constitution;

                    i.            Written constitution

                  ii.            Rigid constitution

               iii.            Supremacy of the constitution

                iv.            Dual polity

                  v.            Double citizenship

                vi.            Double constitution.

 

7. Rigid constitution:

 

American constitution is the most rigid constitution in the world. The proposal of amendment requires the approval of both houses of the Congress separately by 2/3 majority and ratification by 3/4 state legislatures.

 

8. Presidential form of government:

 

United States of America is the oldest and most successful Presidential form of Government in the world. Followings are the presidential features that all American Constitution possesses;

                          i.            The Real executive head President.

                         ii.           Separation between executive and legislature.

                      iii.            fixed tenure of the executive.

                       iv.           members of the cabinet are responsible to the President.

                        v.          tenure of the congress is fixed.

 

9. Double citizenship:

 

Every American citizen having two types of citizenship i.e., citizens of the nation as a whole as well as of their individual states.

 

10. Bill of Rights:

 

Rights of the American citizen were incorporated in the constitution by first 10 amendments. United States of America is the first country to include Rights of the citizens in the constitution.

 

11. Separate constitution of the state:

 

Every state has its own separate constitution. Federal constitution is concerned with the composition and powers of the federal government and the constitution of the states are concerned with the organization and powers of the state governments. But the constitution of the state must be in accordance with the federal constitution and it is obligatory to provide Republican government in every state.

 

12. Republican form of government:

 

The office of the head of the state is not based on hereditary rather he is elected indirectly elected by the people for a fixed term of four years.

 

13. Separation of powers:

 

The three organs of government are separated from each other. Article 1 of the constitution gives legislative power to the congress Article 2 gives executive power to the President Article 3 gives Judicial power to the Judiciary.

 

14. Doctrine of checks and balances:

 

To ensure that no organ of the government may become despot, the principle of checks and balances on different organs have been adopted.

 

 

15. Judicial Supremacy:

 

Judiciary has been granted supremacy over other organs of government in United States of America because Judiciary interprets and protects the constitution and also resolves the disputes between Centre and States.

 

16. Judicial Review:

 

The judiciary has the power to reject the bills passed by the congress and treaties concluded by the President if it is against the constitution. The Principle Judicial Review for the first time emerged by the American Supreme Court in the case of Marbury vs. Madison on 1800.

 

17. Bi Cameral Legislature:

 

Bi cameral legislature means two houses. Federal Legislature of America has two Houses. The lower house is House of Representatives which represent the people and the upper house is Senate which represent the federating states.

 

Above mentioned features are the key features of the Constitution of United States of America.