United States Constitution Essays (Examples)

Filburn harvested nearly 12 acres of wheat above his allotment. He claimed that he wanted the wheat for use on his farm, including feed for his poultry and livestock. Fiburn was penalized. He argued that the excess wheat was unrelated to commerce since he grew it for his own use. The question in the matter was: Is the amendment subjecting Filburn to acreage restrictions in violation of the Constitution because Congress has no power to regulate activities local in nature? The Court Concluded: According to Filburn, the act regulated production and consumption, which are local in character. The rule laid down by Justice Jackson is that even if an activity is local and not regarded as commerce, "it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce, and this irrespective of whether such effect is what might at some earlier…

United States Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Great Compromise
The Articles of Confederation was the first document attempting to govern how the newly independent states were to act together in their union. However, the Articles of Confederation had significant flaws that rendered them an unrealistic tool for the government of the new states. While not all inclusive, the following are some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation: the federal government could not tax or regulate foreign and interstate commerce; each state had a single vote in Congress; there were no federal Executive or Judicial branches; Amendments required a unanimous vote; and a significant majority (9 of 13 votes) was required to pass legislation. The result of the Articles of Confederation was that the states engaged in constant bickering, which could not be resolved by the Federal government. The states failed to provide…

. But it is a shame that the ERA -- an amendment that is fair, appropriate, and necessary -- is attacked by right wing organizations using phony, absurd arguments to shoot down this amendment. Nevertheless, the procedure that Congress and the states must go through to amend the Constitution has stood the test of time. And in any event, the U.S. Supreme Court has had the authority -- and has used it often -- to interpret the Constitution, which is come cases is more drastic in terms of Constitutional changes than amendments themselves.
orks Cited

Chemerinsky, Erwin. "Amending the Constitution." Michigan Law Review. 96.6 (1998): 1-15.

Findlaw.com. "Twenty-Seventh amendment -- Congressional Pay limitation." Retrieved Sept. 3,

2011, from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment27/.

MacKay, Kathryn. "Equal Rights Amendment." Utah History to Go. Retrieved September 4,

2011, from http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/utah_today/equalrightsamendment.htm.

University of Missouri-Kansas School of Law. "The Origins of the Intermediate Scrutiny Test

For Sex Classifications…

1. What specific regulations/rules does the U.S. Constitution make about enslavement in America (article I: sect. 2 #1; article I, sect. 9, #1; article IV, sect. 2, #3)?  Article I, Section 2 includes the “three-fifths” clause, which helped slave states gain more Congressional representatives by allowing slaves to count as “three fifths” of a person. Article I, Section 9, Number 1 places a new tax on the importation of new slaves, essentially leading to the ban on the trans-Atlantic trade. Article IV, Section 2, Number 3 contains the Fugitive Slave clause. This clause mandates that anyone who apprehends a runaway slave return that person to the owner. Essentially, this clause makes it a crime to aid, assist, or house a fugitive slave. Source: United States Constitution
2. How specifically is the "3/5 compromise" a compromise between southern “slave states" (i.e., VA, SC, etc.) and northern “free-labor” states (NY, MA, etc.)?…

Bill of Rights
The United States Constitution was originally adopted at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, after the perceived failure of the colonies' first attempt at a foundational document for federal government, the Articles of Confederation. This is important to recall because in many ways the Constitution was written with an awareness of how such documents may fail in practice, and so its drafters included in Article 5 a set of provisions whereby the Constitution itself could be "amended" or changed in order to address anything that was not already covered in the existing text. Article 5 specifies that this may be done by Congress "whenever two thirds of both Houses deem it necessary." Yet there was not a slow and gradual trickle of such proposals -- instead, the first ten amendments that were actually made to the U.S. Constitution were all done at the same time, in 1791. Collectively,…

Second Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "A Well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Advocates of civil rights and civil liberties constantly demand unhindered freedom of press, of speech, and religious freedom. But when the issue of the Second Amendment arises, many shy away or shun the concept of the personal right to bear arms. Suddenly political correctness supersedes personal freedom and constitutional ascendancy. This is not to say that the Constitution cannot be adapted to suit the needs of a changing society; on the contrary, the whole concept of amendments is based on the flexibility and adaptability of the United States of America and its Bill of Rights. But no matter how often the courts or the lobbyists rally in favor of or against "the right of the…

Clause 3 of the United States Constitution -- was apparently originally intended to give the federal government and the U.S. Congress the authorization to tackle "certain economic issues" (Patterson, 2012). The economic issues that the Commerce Clause was intended to relate to was the power to: first, regulate commerce with foreign nations, and two, with Native American tribes. This paper delves into the Commerce Clause and finds that there has been some abuse of the clause by the federal courts.
The Commerce Clause

The Commerce Clause authorizes Congress the power "…to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes…" (Cornell Law).

According to the Cornell University Law School, the Commerce Clause has historically been seen as a "restriction on states' powers to regulate" and as a kind of "grant of congressional authority." In fact Congress has used the Commerce Clause as a justification…

Constitution of the United States was ratified after lengthy debate, mainly focused around issues related to the powers that would be bequeathed to the federal government. Although a gross oversimplification, the debate can be loosely qualified as being one between federalists on the one hand, and antifederalists on the other. Federalists, among them founding father luminaries from George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, believed that a strong central government was the key to forming a successful and resilient new nation in the immediate aftermath of the colonies' divorce from Great Britain. The federalist views permeated the discussions and debates at the Philadelphia Convention, at which the Constitution of the United States was hammered out, drafted, and eventually ratified into the law of the land. The Constitution of the United States replaced the Articles of Confederation, which called for a looser union of states…

I The institutional power that I believe to be the most important is the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The authority given to states by this amendment was to ensure that the federal government would never get to big—and yet over the years, this amendment has not proven to be a very good safeguard of states’ rights. So many states, for example, are dependent on federal subsidies that they will not assert themselves in many cases. However, there is still some sign that states recognize their autonomy. For example, in the case of the legalization of marijuana, many states have decriminalized its usage even though according to the federal government it is still a Schedule 1 narcotic (DEA, n.d.). Nonetheless, the federal…

The concept of universal human rights may have been seeded by the Magna Carta, but did not reach fruition until the United States Constitution had been drafted in the late eighteenth century. Built on the Enlightenment values of individualism and inalienable universal rights, the Constitution helped lay the groundwork for the French Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen in 1789. In fact, these two documents emerged almost concurrently, in light of the major ideological, social and political changes taking place in Europe and North America. Those attitudinal changes would later take root globally. The universal human rights espoused and made law in these two documents started a revolution that resulted in the creation of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Four rights found in all three of these documents include freedom, equality, and the subordination of the law to the dignity of the person,…

Competency 1 Historical problems were managed in the evolution of the U.S. Constitution through the working out of the system of rights that the states would have vs. the rights that would belong to the federal government. In the early days, it was very much a battle between those who wanted a strong central government (the Federalists) and those who wanted strong states (the Anti-Federalists). The Federalists were led by men like Alexander Hamilton, who wrote many of the Federalist Papers and warned Americans that if they did not adopt the Constitution, their nation would tear itself apart from the inside out; it would get involved in all kinds of foreign wars, and it would never be safe. The Anti-Federalists argued that a strong central government would quickly lead to a tyranny just like that which the Revolutionaries had opposed in the War for Independence. In the end the Federalists…

The Supreme Court is the most powerful body of men in the United States, contrary to what many people believe.
The powers of the three branches of government are enumerated in the three charters of freedom: The Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of ights. Together, these documents enumerate the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the United States, inherent by virtue of their citizenship; and they enumerate and limit the powers of the three branches of government in such a way as to create a system of checks and balances that cause the actions to be scrutinized by the other branches, and, if the office of the President, or the president, does not agree with legislation crated by the House of epresentatives, sent to the United States Senate for approval, the president can veto the bill containing the legislation. Likewise, the president's veto…

achievement of independence left the American statesmen in a serious institutional dilemma. The new state founded, what was to be its form of organization on the other hand, if decided on the federal organization, the statesmen obviously needed to decide both on the states' representation in the institutions, but also on what these institutions would be. James Madison's notes from May 30 are eloquent in describing the debates around these issues.
As it is suggested in the beginning of the note, there were generally three issues that needed to be addressed at Confederate level and upon deciding on the form of organization. These were "common defense, security of liberty & general welfare"

. On a scale describing the level of integration, one had to decide upon establishing a national government or leaving things at an inferior level of integration and achieving the three issues based on a common treaty between…

Constitution
The United States of America is a democracy, a form of government which is supposed to be controlled by the people of this country. It is not a true democracy where the people vote on every issue, but a representational democracy the citizens vote for other people who will be responsible for the running of the nation as well as for the creation and passing of most laws. On the federal level, the functions of the government are broken into parts, each responsible for different functions. America's government is composed of three separate branches: the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial (Greenberg & Page 2010). The separation of powers as written in the Constitution is designed so that each branch can give their attention to the functions of their branch and also prevents any of the branches from becoming too powerful which would then lead to the destruction of the democracy…

The Executive Branch (President and Cabinet) executes spending and Congressional instructions, makes appointments to certain governmental posts, and is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The Judicial Branch (Supreme Court) exercises judicial review over the constitutionality and interpretation of laws; determines how Congress meant the law to apply, and has a panel that serves for life (Constitutional Topic: Separation of Powers).
There are a number of criticisms focused on the actual level of democracy or even democratic representation in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. First, many governmental officials (Supreme Court justices, etc.) are appointed, not elected, and therefore may operate outside the will of the populace. Second, in order to be elected to a state or national office now requires a huge amount of funding; putting elected office outside the purview of most people. Thus, it is not necessarily the "best" people…

"..three asymmetric methods that could be used to exploit the Court: (1) misusing the Court's investigative processes, (2) filing questionable or fraudulent complaints, and (3) manipulating mass media (Austin, W. Chadwick, Kolenc and Anthony Barone, 2006, p. 291)."
Finally, the issue of how the court might deal with the problem of international terrorism is not well understood (Yarnold, Barbara, 1991). The court's authority to extradite and prosecute terrorists from third world countries needs to be better defined Yarnold, p. 1). The United States has not signed on to the ome Statute, and understanding the U.S. role of protecting its own, should the U.S. continue to reject

The ome Statute is becoming clouded by the strength and power of the international community and courts (Dietz, Jeffrey, 2004, p. 137). Under the powers of the ICC, any American prosecuted in the court would be denied the protections guaranteed Americans under the Bill…

The Second Amendment to the Constitution states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,” (United States Constitution). Because few contemporary gun owners would describe themselves as being part of a “well regulated militia,” the relevance of the Second Amendment becomes increasingly spurious. Mass shootings, firearm accidents, and other gun-related deaths are disproportionately high in the United States, but assessing causality remains one of the greatest policy challenges of the last century. Gun control advocates claim that revising the Second Amendment would help to reduce the number, frequency, and severity of violent deaths and especially curb instances of mass shootings. On the other hand, gun control detractors claim that guns themselves are not the problem; that existing legislation already controls firearm ownership, and that the Second Amendment must remain sacrosanct in…

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 epublic 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…

Mill and U.S. Constitution
None of the issues being raised today by the Occupy all Street (OS) movement are new, but rather they date back to the very beginning of the United States. At the time the Constitution was written in 1787, human rights and civil liberties were far more constrained than they are in the 21st Century. Only white men with property had voting rights for example, while most states still had slavery and women and children were still the property of fathers and husbands. Only very gradually was the Constitution amended to grant equal citizenship and voting rights to all, and even the original Bill of Rights was added only because the Antifederalists threatened to block ratification. In comparison, the libertarianism of John Stuart Mill in his famous book On Liberty was very radical indeed, even in 1859 much less 1789. He insisted that individuals should be left…

Economics in the American Revolution
as the American Revolution motivated primarily by economic factors? To the observer in 2014, who is surrounded with economically-oriented ideologues who have adopted the title of "Tea Party" for their movement, the interpretation is inescapable. e must ignore the tendentious and flimsy view of history advanced by the twenty-first century Tea Parties though (reminding ourselves that the former vice presidential candidate who styles herself one of their leaders could not correctly identify in 2011 what Paul Revere had actually done during the American Revolution) and look at the view of reputable historians. I hope by examining the work of three historians -- Charles Beard, Richard Hofstadter, and Gordon ood -- to demonstrate the extent to which the Founding Fathers were motivated by economic circumstances.

Any discussion of the economic factors motivating the American Revolution must begin with the work of Charles Beard. Beard, influenced to…

System of Checks and Balances
Power

The concept of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances is more or less the same thing. Both of these ideas were introduced into the government to ensure that one branch of the government does not have all the power. Another reason it was introduced was so that the responsibilities and duties are distributed among different areas to ensure that the government is doing its job perfectly. Separation of Powers is basically a model of government in which various parts of the government have different tasks. The three different branches of the United States government are Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Before we get into the history of separation of powers, it is only necessary to tell which branch is in charge of what activities.

The legislative branch is basically the Congress and its major responsibility is to approve acts and make them into laws.…

2nd Amendment to U.S. Constitution
Laws regarding the use and safety of weapons in the United States date back to

1837, when Georgia's ban on handguns was ruled unconstitutional. Subsequent legislation has been scrutinized by courts -- including the High Court -- and in numerous cases the rulings have supported a citizens' right to keep and bear arms except in certain cases. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the last decision offered

by the Supreme Court in 2007, a law banning handguns was struck down based

on the Second Amendment. How this ruling will ultimately affect states and local governments remains to be seen, but this paper carefully reviews opinions from the majority and minority on the Court. This paper also presents what the Court considers enumerated rights and how the gun lobby might be impacted by the ruling -- as well as those advocating for gun safety. Scholarly, peer-reviewed…

Domestic Terrorism

Since the days of the Old West, domestic terrorism has dug its roots into the United States. From Timothy McVeigh, whose motivations for the Oklahoma City bombing ranged from his complaints over the governments' dealing with certain political situations to his anger over the violence he witnessed during his stint in the military, to eco-terrorists and animal-rights activists who use violence in order to win others to their cause, the scope of terrorism is the United States is both large and diverse. While FBI agents search large cities for Al Qaeda terrorists in the United States, small town police arrest protestors who threaten to set fire to abortion clinics and make threats to far left and right wing organizations. Because a great deal of domestic terrorism centers around political ideas and activism, targeting domestic terrorism has become a rather controversial subject. Some argue that the demonstrations that often…

United States Congress:
The legislature of the United States was established in 1789 under the country's constitution and divided structurally from the judicial and executive arms of the government. This legislative arm in separated into two houses which are the Senate and the House of Representatives. hile the Senate requires that each state is represented by two senators regardless of its size, the House of Representatives consist of members who are elected on the basis of population. The Congress was created by the pioneers of the American Constitution on the basis that a huge portion of the powers of the government needs to be on the legislative branch. hereas the two Congressional chambers are separate and distinct, they tend to have an equal role in the enactment of legislation in most cases. Representation, lawmaking, oversight, service to constituents, conflict resolution and public education are the six basic functions of the…

Viewpoint

Discriminatory practices were encouraged, such as the Jim Crow laws that supported segregation. However, the push for segregation led to increased inequities borne by the Negroes. Many southern states encouraged segregation, as well. The original Civil ights Act of 1957 had a limited scope, which impinged upon the rights of others.

Pros & Cons

During this time, many discriminatory cases were in the spotlight, and this was no exception. The case heightened awareness, as well as the flaws of the law. Civil ights bills were evolving, as this case ruling was a milestone in history. Conversely, many Negroes lost their lives to the cause, thus paving the way for a more equitable justice system.

elevance Today

Although not as prevalent today, prejudice and discrimination is still experienced by many. Civil rights are no longer reserved for race, but it has extended to other protected classes, such as gender, religion,…

However, this Court also recognizes that mental illness oftentimes differs from other immutable characteristics, such as mental retardation and age, in that a defendant oftentimes has the ability to control mental illness through medical interventions. hile there is tremendous evidence of Panetti's deteriorated mental state, there is very little evidence to support Panetti's assertions that he was insane at the time of the murders. Though there are serious questions regarding Panetti's competency to stand trial, much less his competency to represent himself in that trial, there simply does not appear to be any evidence that he was insane at the time of the murders. Panetti engaged in preparations that were rationally aimed at accomplishing the murder of his in-laws, but was able to refrain from killing his wife and child. In addition, he engaged in a stand-off with police that resulted in him escaping the stand-off without being killed and…

United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent body of the federal government that is mandated with the responsibility of providing postal service in America. The agency was known as the U.S. Post Office Department in 1971 when it was totally managed by the United States government. In addition to be referred to as Post Office, Postal Service or U.S. Mail, USPS is one of the few agencies of the government that are clearly authorized by the U.S. Constitution. Since its inception, the United States Postal Service has developed to an extent that it is the largest post in the world since it provides more mail to more addresses in a bigger geographical region. The success of this organization can partly be attributed to its strategy to fulfill or realize its mission, organization design and structure, and its organizational culture and its cultural values.
USPS Mission and Strategy

The United…

In cases of treason accusations, the testimony of two additional parties, or an open court testimony of the defendant is required: "No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court" (Section 3).

Democracy

- No national or international party is exempt from following the legislations and all those who break the laws will as such be trailed in front of the Supreme Court or other inferior courts: "The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; -- to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; -- to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; -- to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; -- to…

Article III describes the judicial branch of government, including the Supreme Court. It establishes that there is one court, the Supreme Court, however Congress may create lower courts, although judgements and orders may be reviewed by the Supreme Court. The trials of all crimes, except those involving impeachment, shall be by jury and held in the state where the crimes were committed, but if not committed within a state, the Congress will decide where the trial will take place. The judicial power extends to all cases arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which may be made, under their authority. No one can be convicted of treason without the testimony of two witnesses to the same act, or on confession in open court. The Congress has the power to decide the punishment of treason.

Article IV establishes the relationship among the states, and…

The truth is that the forefathers were actually quite surprised at the effect that the signing of the Constitution had created in America; at the democratic society and government that resulted after the ratification of the Constitution.
The ratification in itself was a long one, and it involved in essence the perusal of the written Constitution by each state for ratification purposes, for which each state was required to create an independent ratifying committee headed by special delegates. The discussions of the advantages and the disadvantages of the newly written constitution of America began almost immediately after it was signed, and the two opposing factions of the Federalists to whom the majority of the forefathers belonged, and the Anti-Federalists who formed the opposing group brought these forth. The situation in America at the time of the writing of the Constitution was that of pro-democracy. The political as well as the…

Anti-Miscegnation Statutes in the United States
Anti-Miscegenation Statutes in the United States

Previous to Loving v. Virginia, there were several cases on the subject of miscegenation. In Pace v. Alabama (1883), the Supreme Court made a ruling that the conviction of an Alabama couple for interracial sex, confirmed on the plea by the Alabama Supreme Court, did not disrupt the Fourteenth Amendment. Interracial marital sex was considered a felony, whereas adulterous sex ("infidelity or fornication") was just a misdemeanor. On plea, the United States Supreme Court made a ruling that the illegalization of interracial sex was not a defilement of the equal protection clause since whites and non-whites were penalized in equivalent amount for the wrongdoing of involving in interracial sex. The court did not see the need to sustain the constitutionality of the prohibition on interracial marriage that was likewise part of Alabama's anti-miscegenation law. After Pace v. Alabama,…

Fresia's contention that the United States failed to live up to its revolutionary democratic promise and instead was captured by the powerful plutocratic elite has appeal, it oversimplifies the process by which the elite take and retain control over resources and governmental power. In reality, at the time of the American evolution, there was little dispute that the outcome of the evolution would be to give greater power and freedom to those leading the evolution; the founding fathers. While the promise of democracy was offered to common men, it was members of the ruling elite of the colonial Americas that made the decisions to declare America independent from England and drafted both the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the Constitution does not engage in the type of re-distribution of wealth that Fresia appears to believe is necessary in order to establish a…

b. Civil -- Civil cases involve disputes between two parties. In these cases the person or entity who files the suit (the plaintiff) claims that the other person or entity (the defendant) has failed to fulfill a legal obligation to the plaintiff. The plaintiff may request the court to require the defendant to either fulfill the obligation or make monetary restitution.

III. Federal Court System

a. Jurisdiction -- The jurisdiction of federal courts is limited to what is provided in the Constitution. Typically, these are cases involving:

i. Cases in which the United States is a party

ii. Cases involving violation of the U.S. Constitution or Federal Laws iii. Cases between citizens of two different states if the amount is greater than $75,000

iv. Bankruptcy, copyright, patent, and maritime law cases.

b. Organization of Federal Court System -- There are three basic levels of the federal court system. These are…

Hernandez vs. Texas and its Importance to Latinos in the U.S.
Studies conducted in the past have clearly indicated that some racial groups are overrepresented in the U.S. criminal justice system. There have been claims that some stages of the criminal justice system disadvantage some groups, with some of the disadvantaged groups being Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans. This text largely concerns itself with the U.S. Supreme court ruling of Hernandez vs. Texas, a landmark Court ruling that has had a significant impact on the civil rights of Mexican-Americans. In so doing, it will, amongst other things, speculate on the relevance of this particular court ruling to Latinos in the U.S.

Overview

In basic terms, the Hernandez case "involved the exclusion of Mexican-Americans from serving as jurors, which, like voting, is a primary duty and privilege of U.S. citizenship" (Soltero, 2009, p. 38). Accused of murdering Joe Espinoza, Hernandez was indicted…

Stress: Regulation of etlands in the United States
Regulation of etlands in the United States

Defining etlands and their Value

A wetland refers to a place where water covers the soil. A wetland is a saturated land that comprises of swamps or marshes. Lewis defines a wetland as, "an ecosystem that depends on constant or recurrent, shallow inundation or saturation at or near the surface of the substrate" (p.3). He further ascertains that the minimum necessary qualities of a wetland are sustained inundation, saturation or recurrent at or near the surface and the existence of chemical, biological and physical facets that reflect recurrent, saturation and sustained…

CONFEDEATION & CONSTITUION
Confederation & Constitution

The author of this report is charged with answering several questions relating to the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. The original Constitution was hard enough to pull off but the Articles of Confederation were also a challenge and were in response to the economic challenges of that day. Different issues and weaknesses that came up were the Western problem, the slave vs. slave states, eastern vs. western states, Sherman's Plan, the Great Compromise and so forth. The debates that raged with the Federalists and the anti-Federalists will be covered as well as how the Bill of ights debate developed. Finally, the relative success of the Bill of ights will be summarized. While no single constitutional document is going to placate all sources and address all problems that could come to pass, the compromises and debates that raged about these two major parts of…

This as an important moment in the history of the Cold War because it marked the start of a new series of talks between the Palestinians and the Israeli side. This moment also proved the importance of the State Secretary in relation to the issues of foreign policy and the international community.
At this moment, some of the most important cabinets in the executive concern issues such as internal affairs and job security. These are essential portfolios from the perspective of internal and external factors. The homeland security refers in particular to aspects which take place inside the borders of the U.S. And tackle the threats that are visible on the U.S. territory. There are several departments inside the Homeland Security portfolio. These concern issues of counterterrorism, border security, immigration, or cybersecurity

. Counterterrorism measures are crucial at this moment, especially given the national security advisory which changed to orange…

These liberties are those on which this country was formed and have been upheld for many years as absolute certainties.
The Patriot Act has put a lot of doubt on whether these liberties are still protected guarantees. With this act giving the Government the power to use wiretaps to spy on people, search warrants to look for things that they don't even have to tell you about and the ability to look at ones private computer records it makes you wonder what this country is coming to. How is it that we the people have allowed it to come to this? What has happened to the guts on which this country was built? Back then this type of act would never have been passed and put into practice. Although it can be argued that this is because times are so much different now than they were back in the day,…

American Revolution
Slavery in the United Stated lasted as an endorsed organization until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. In 1619 twenty Africans were brought by a Dutch soldier and sold to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia as indentured servants.

This would be the first of many visits up and down the American eastern seaboard. At this time, most slaves were being purchased by white men, though some Native Americans and free blacks were also detained. Slavery was spread to the areas where there was a high-quality soil for large plantations of important crops, such as cotton, sugar, coffee and most prominently tobacco. Even though the endorsed practice of enslaving blacks occurred in all of the original thirteen colonies, more than half of all African-Americans lived in Virginia and Maryland. The three highest-ranking North American zones of importation throughout most of the…

Constitution of the United States was a highly important and significant document that was adopted on September 17, 1787, and ratified by conventions.
Eleven states participated in the ratification, and the Constitution officially went into effect on March 4, 1789.

The Constitution of the United States is important for many reasons, including keeping order and law and guaranteeing basic freedoms for the American people. Without the Constitution, it would be much easier for lawmakers to make changes that might not have value to the people of the country and that could cause them harm by taking away some or all of the rights that they have come to expect. Overall, the U.S. Constitution is a document that can be changed and adjusted but that does include guarantees for specific rights that will not be lost even if those changes and adjustments are made.

The U.S. Constitution was written by Governor…

United States of America has a long driven history where two political parties ruled the territory and its people since it assumed independence. Several presidents with different political and moral beliefs/views have come into power, which largely influenced the policies and strategies that they employed to run the country. Liberalism is one of the prime political beliefs found in America's political system that promotes freedom. On the other hand, the opposite political idea that has long existed in America is termed as Conservatism (Lipsman, 2007).
Liberalism that is presently promoted as progressivism by its supporters believes that citizens can do nothing without the assistance of their ruler. It encourages a governing system that allows the leaders to control the lives of its entire populace. Moreover, it supports the idea of benefitting the country by granting social power and rights to its people (Lipsman, 2007).

On the other hand, Conservatism deems…

United States to Respond to a WMD Attack Within Our orders?
The objective of this study is to answer how prepared the United States is to respond to a WMD attack within its borders and to answer whether there is enough capability to effectively respond to such an attack. This study will further answer as to whether the response plan and command control structure clearly understandable and whether everyone has a role or if there are gaps or redundancies. Finally, this study will answer as to how intelligence supports this response with restrictions imposed upon intelligence operations within our borders.

The challenges to an effective response to a WMD attack within U.S. borders are diverse in nature. Some of the challenges are technology related while others relate to communication among agencies and operation teams. In addition, there is presently funding issues relating to effective management of homeland security initiatives making…

United States of America initially adopted an isolationist stance After the American War for Independence in 1781.
Why did the United States of America initially adopted an isolationist stance After the American War for Independence in 1781.

In 1775 the thirteen British colonies in North America rose up against their parent country Great Britain. The war was known as the American evolution and was seen by the British Crown as an affront to its rule, as a result it increased its strangle hold upon the colonists (Anonymous, 2002).

From this attempt to rule by an iron hand forced the colonists to officially declare war upon the British and form a new government with their own Constitution. The war ended in 1781 and America was recognized as an independent nation by the British Government in 1783 (Anonymous, 2002).

However, in 1778, before the end of the war America had already signed…

United States singled a shining democratic governance;, U.S. system governance immune criticism. Scholar One of the critiques of democracy discussed within the articles for this assignment is greatly associated with the role that private property and wealth plays in democratic societies. Specifically, within Santas' "Plato's criticism of democracies in The epublic," the author alludes to the fact that the influence of these two external aspects of government -- the private property and wealth of the individual chosen to govern in a democracy -- has the innate potential to corrupt and to subject the needs of the masses who are governed to those of the individuals who are governing.
There is a great possibility that the author is correct regarding this point of criticism. One of the points of validity for this notion is the fact that it is found in literature and is one of the chief points of disparagement…

Jefferson asked Lewis to fully explain to the Indians that the white explorers were interested in trade, not in seizing their lands (Ambrose 154). This showed that Jefferson used a steady hand and smart policies regarding the estern frontier and that he understood diplomacy with the Native Americans, whom he respected very much.
The Civil ar: The fact is, most Americans probably believe that the only issue that precipitated the Civil ar was slavery, and though slavery was at the center of the north-south feud, it was not alone as a spotlighted issue. The bottom line issue that tore the country apart was state's rights; in other words, did states have a right to go against the will of the national government? Could a Southern state continue to keep slaves in bondage because their cotton crops (hence, their economic power to survive) depended on slave labor? The answer of course…

Models of Media and Politics

A review of media / political models sheds some light on why the United States' cultural themes have been such a dominant dynamic in Europe, among other global venues. In describing the three models of media and politics, Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini report that the media in Southern Europe (the "Mediterranean" or "Polarized Pluralist Model") is "an institution of the political and literary worlds" more than it is market-driven (Hallin, et al., 2004 90). The North and Central European model is called the "Democratic Corporatist Model" -- and is certainly more market-driven and far less politically driven; and the third model is the "North Atlantic" or "Liberal model" of media and politics (Hallin 87).

The North Atlantic or Democratic Corporatist model, according to Mark a. aker II encompasses Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the "Low Countries" and Scandinavia, and can be broken down into three…

4 trillion and $3.6 trillion, an impressive boost to the U.S. economy in those years, the IPC explains. A study conducted by Arizona State University determined that when a person has a bachelor's degree that person earns about $750,000 more over the course of a lifetime of earning than a person with just a high school diploma earns.
The data from that study indicates that as of 2006, those working without a high school diploma earned approximately $419 per week and had an unemployment rate of 6.8%, the IPC explains. Those with a bachelor's degree earned approximately $962 per seek and their rate of unemployment was only 2.3%; over their careers college graduates earn "in excels of 60% more than a high school graduate, and workers with advanced degrees earn two to three times as much as high school graduates" (IPC, p. 2).

The Dream Act would remove the uncertainty…

Integrating women into the military, like with African-American men, would also contribute to more cohesive fighting units again serving to promote a united, strong U.S. military organization.
Anti-female bias in the military

The struggle for equality in the military for women parallels that of African-American men in many other ways. As a direct result of the need for additional "manpower," women's push for better treatment in the military, and a desire for a larger, stronger military, in 1948, the Women's Armed Services Integration Act was enacted. This act made it possible for women to become permanent members in the military.

Once again, as with African-American men, that act alone was not enough to ensure integration thus leading to a multitude of policies designed to accomplish that end. Almost immediately following this act, in 1949, it was changed to eliminate women with dependent children. This was not changed until the 1970's.…

United States operates as an indirect or representative democracy meaning that a select group is elected by the whole to serve as representatives while attending to public matters. This is in contrast to a direct democracy which holds that all eligible members of a society can personally direct public affairs. This distinction is often overlooked by most Americans who believe that the term democracy has no qualifications.
In order to fully grasp American government, it is essential to understand the Framers of the Constitution referred to it as republic in form. Their intention was to have representatives direct government operations. In other words, voters select representatives who in turn carry out government business. The reasons for this procedure are manifold. Most notably, the Framers foresaw the electorate making poor decisions based on transitory emotions thereby leading the country in an unwise direction. Given such predispositions, the Framers felt that minority…

United tates is a nation of laws. We use laws to determine what is and is not criminal behavior. We then use the application of judicial principles to try people accused of crimes, and we use laws to determine what the punishment will be for those who are found guilty of a crime.
Our judicial system has multiple layers because individual judges can make mistakes. When a convicted criminal feels a mistake has been made, he or she can appeal their conviction to the appellate courts. Appellate court rulings affect every courtroom under their jurisdiction, and those rulings can be used in other appeals in other jurisdictions, so appellate rulings can have a profound effect on our prison system.

One ruling by an appellate court has had a profound and widespread effect on prisoners, and that is the ruling that required prisons to make law library facilities available to prisoners.…

Temperatures and tempers are soaring in Iraq, and every day the news flashes tell the stories of one, two, three, or more American soldiers who died in combat. hether it was justified or not, the actual war to seize power from Saddam Hussein came and went in a matter of weeks. On a high note, the United States public rallied behind the President and imagined throngs of joyous happy smiling Iraqi men, women, and children. The mews media has cooperated gracefully, and CNN, Fox, NBC, and every other major news network delivers exactly what the hite House wants us to hear: that Iraq is better off with the Americans in control. Granted, Saddam was a dictator. He and his minions grew fat off his nation's main natural resource: petroleum, while most Iraqi citizens lived without some basic human rights and freedoms. Hussein and his regime also systematically persecuted whole ethnic…

U.S. And Supreme Court
Contrast the U.S. Circuit Courts with the U.S. Supreme Court in terms of their authority to strike down an act of congress or of the states?

The United State Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of the U.S. The Circuit Courts on the other hand are the intermediate courts which make rulings before an issue reaches the Supreme Court. There are nine circuits which divide the country. Each state belongs to one of those nine circuits.

hereas the United States Supreme Court has the ability to review any law brought before them, the circuits can only review laws which affect the states under their jurisdiction. A circuit court may rule a law unconstitutional-based either on the constitution of the state or based on the national constitution. Both bodies have the ability to review any legislation created to check its lawfulness.

However, a decision made by…

, 2005). At no time is any state obligated to comply with the federal guidelines for federal highway fund eligibility or to give up any sovereign rights established by the Tenth Constitutional Amendment. Furthermore, there is no issue of "withholding" or "withdrawing" any federal funds from states that choose not to comply with federal guidelines pertaining to the drinking age eligibility. Those monies are supplemental to any other federal funds and would not be offered except as an incentive to follow federal recommendations about the minimum drinking age. States do not have to comply if they prefer to lower the drinking age.
Reason # 3 -- Adults Younger than 21 are not as Responsible as Adults over 21

At the age of 18 or 19, most young people lack the fundamental abilities to make good decisions, especially about things such as taking risks and considering all of the consequences of…

Patriot Act
The U.S.A. Patriot Act was passed because of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. e realized that our current body of laws did not completely address the task of finding terrorists before they take action. The Patriot Act was passed to make it easier for us to protect ourselves from future terrorist acts. The Act has been controversial because although most people recognize the need to effectively prevent future attacks, some people feel the law has gone too far and infringed on civil liberties. Other critics contend that the law doesn't give government enough power (Doyle, 2002).

The Patriot Act makes various actions by the government when trying to identify who might be a terrorist easier to execute. It extends wiretapping to email, provides for nationwide permission to use wiretapping and related investigatory techniques rather than having to get those permissions on a…

U.S. Foreign Policy
American foreign policy occupies a unique place in the world. American foreign policy regarding interacting with other nations is a non-homogeneous mixture of politics, economics, and the unique American culture which believes that both the success of political and economic agenda's cannot be separated from the ways which a country treats it's people. To be specific, American has a difficult time forming positive relationships with nations that oppress, imprison, or otherwise trample their people's basic human rights to life, liberty and the individual pursuit of happiness. As he stated during his administration, President Jimmy Carter described the connection between human rights and American foreign policy this way.

Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood."

American foreign policy is also seen as a function of the president, and the president must take the lead…

Patriot Act
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, the government passed legislation designed to protect the country. Included amongst these was the Patriot Act which has become the center of debate by parties who are either in favor of or against the legislation. There are many provisions to this act and the ones that are most debated include: reducing certain limits on law enforcement, giving additional powers to the Secretary of the Treasury, and giving law enforcement the ability to arrest, detain, or deport any immigrants who are suspected of involvement with terrorism (Schulhofer 2005). After 9/11, America was in a frenzy of fear and patriotism which allowed laws to pass which have seriously infringed on the civil rights of citizens as well as allowing for unlawful activity to be performed by members of the government who claim they are doing it for the good of the country. In…

Sealing Up the Cracks
Security in a Post-9/11 World

On September 11, 2001, America was changed forever. From out of the ruins of the World Trade Center, and over the unmarked graves of nearly three thousand innocent people, a new world took shape. It was a world in which the citizens of the United Sates found themselves suddenly vulnerable to the murderous plots of a handful of fanatics. A trip to the mall, a drive over a bridge, a meeting at the office: an everyday event could spell disaster. Americans were discovering for the first time what so many around the globe had known for years, that the scenes of daily life could become the settings of terror. ut what was to be done? Were the people of the United States to spend their lives looking over their shoulders? Was the free and open society so cherished by each and…

Clearly, Bakke was discriminated against and rejected on the grounds of no more than his race. The matter was decided on 29 June 1978.
This case holds particular interest for education, as it sheds light upon an interesting issue arising from the equality drive. Clearly the University of California was driven to diversify its campus by offering opportunities to minority students. However, the fact that they did so in favor of minority students with lower qualifications and abilities than the white male, Bakke, was indeed a form of discrimination based upon race. It brought to light the fact that true equality in education can only be achieved when giving a truly equal and fair opportunity for everyone, regardless of race, to enter the program.

Similar cases were heard by the Supreme Court concerning the University of Michigan. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the issue is the Law School's policy of commitment…

independent United States shed colonial past begin a direction, politically
Political and Economic Unity

In order to properly understand the methodology employed by the newly independent United States used to effectively shed its colonial past and begin a new direction politically and economically, one must first understand how the country operated on these two fronts as a series of British colonies prior to the waging of the Revolutionary War. Politically, the colonies existed as an extension of the British crown, were governed by the monarchy which ruled the foreign kingdom, and had little say in matters that were mandated by Britain. The colonists preferred a form of salutary neglect in terms of British involvement with their daily political lives, but when Britain intervened (particularly in the years leading up to the revolution) in the daily affairs of the colonialists, there was little they could actually do about it -- save…

postwar relationship United States Japan.
Unfortunately, the postwar relationship between the United States and Japan has mirrored the relationship of the United States with the vast majority of countries that it has dealt with in the ensuing decades that followed orld ar II. Veiled, shadowy secrets, duplicity, and outright deception have characterized the vast majority of these relationships; numerous exchanges between the United States and Japan have indicated that the relationship of these countries was no exception to this proclivity. hat may be most appalling about the situation between the U.S. And Japan during the postwar epoch, however, is the degree of complicity that Japan was virtually forced to take on in the relatively brief amount of time that existed since it engaged the U.S. On the battlefield.

A prime example of Japanese compliance that seems particularly unsettling, of course, is in regards to the assistance it provided America with…