USA: Types of Government

History Of America

The governance systems in the American history

has a rich history that has seen three different types of governance systems rule the country with the American colonists under the British colonial governance system, revolutionaries under the confederation governance system and the citizens of new Republic under the constitution governance systems. Each of these had distinct characteristics and the positives and the negatives as will be discussed below.

The British colonial governance system was established through political and commercial interests as well as emigration movements into America. The British command of the seas saw the establishment of the control of America as an agricultural land and the government was controlled from Britain with the King and the parliament in Britain making the important decisions and passing them down to the governor who represented the King in America. It was a relationship that was quite exploitative since the minerals and the agricultural products that were accessed from America were shipped to Britain to benefit the land of the colonialist. Slave ownership was allowed and this carried into the post declaration of independence era until the end of slave trade in 1807 and abolition of slavery in 1833. The amount of work that was put into the fields and industries that were majorly found in the Northern America was not commensurate to the pay. There was no sense of equality and fairness since the King made all decisions from Britain and the locals were simply to implement the decisions made. The declaration of independence in 1776 saw the significant turning point in the British colonial governance system. However, the British government dismissed the declaration and it was until the 1783 that Britain recognized USA as a sovereign and independent nation (U.S. Department of State, 2015).

With the exit of the British from America, there was contested interest with the North insisting that the U.S.A. remains as one and some southern states rebelling from the Union and instead forming a confederation government of eleven states in the 1860-1861. However, the Union refused to recognize the confederation government. The main reason for the secession from the Union by the eleven states during the civil war was based on the difference in ideology over the right to own slaves, the North wanted a total abolition of slave ownership, yet the southern states that seceded pushed for the right to choose what to do with their slaves, to right own or to set free was to be left in the hands of the individual owners. The North under Abraham Lincoln went to war with the southern states under Jefferson David and there were heavy casualties in the south and destruction of property. Davis formed his government in the South with the presidential terms going for six years, it also forbade foreign slave trade but allowed internal slave ownership. Davis had a highly centralized government as opposed to Abraham's laissez-faire approach, Congress was stopped from taxing any protective tariffs. The confederacy consolidated the control of arms as well as distribution of manpower which worked to their advantage. However, poverty was high in this government, money was scarce and it had heavy loans. Tough tax laws were passed to help raise funds, income tax was introduced and profit tax imposed on farm produce. The confederacy did not win the approval of the black population and indeed some black volunteers were rejected from the Southern forces hence making it even more unpopular hence the ultimate demise. The Southern armies were finally brought to their knees by the high defections and eventual defeat in war in 1863 (E&A Television Networks, 2015).