Federal government branches, political parties, and presidential leadership 1870-1900

Branches of the Government

In 1787 leaders of the different states sat down to write down the constitution whereby the first section described the separation of the federal government. These three branches of the government are; legislative branch, executive branch and judicial branch.

Legislative branch consist of two houses of congress; the senate and the House of Representatives .the senate comprises of 100 members from each of the states who are elected in their states in a term that is six years long. The head of the senate is the Vice president but has no voting power. The senate approves the nominations that have been made by the Supreme Court, president of the cabinet, federal courts among other posts. On the other hand, the house of representatives comprises of 435 members with these numbers varying in every state depending on the population. The most important duty of this branch of the federal government is making laws which involve writing, discussion and voting of these laws in the congress (Pearson Education, 2000).

The executive branch is headed by the president and the main duty of this branch is making laws official. The president is elected through an election by the entire country and serves a four-year term. The president approves and executes the laws that have been passed by the legislative branch of the government. He has the power to appoint or remove the cabinet members and other officials. The executive also comprises of the vice president, and members of the cabinet.

The function of the judicial branch is overseeing the court system in the U.S. cases through various court cases this branch is able to give an explanation of the meaning of the constitution and the laws that have been passed by the congress. Its primary function is hearing cases that are challenging to the legislation or those which require some interpretations of that legislation. It consists of the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. The head of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court and it rules over anything whether constitutional or unconstitutional.

Political parties

There were several major political parties in the U.S. between 1870 and 1900. These parties were; Republican Party which appeared in the national ballot in 1856 for the first time .this quickly became the dominant force within the North and with the defeat of the party of confederates known as the party of victors. Republicans promoted industrial development through imposition of high tariffs .at the same time it advocated for moralistic policies which were on the basis of evangelistic protestant values.it was supported by farmers, catholic immigrants, workers and businessmen that opposed the civil war (Hartman, 2010).