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1 1 (May 20, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthaazve0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20443 Updated May 20, 2003 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web American National Government: An Overview Frederick M. Kaiser Specialist in American National Government Government and Finance Division Summary Power in American national government is decentralized, divided, dispersed, and limited. This distribution of power derives in part from the Constitution, through limitations imposed on the government, the system of checks and balances among the three branches, and independent bases of support and authority for each branch. This report, which examines these characteristics, will be updated as developments require. Introduction If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. James Madison, Federalist No. 51 In this passage from the Federalist Papers, James Madison, sometimes referred to as the Father of the Constitution, offers a rationale for the form of national government operating here since 1789. Power in the national government is dispersed, divided, and decentralized; it is also limited, directly and indirectly, by the Constitution. To protect certain individual rights and political liberties, this charter places explicit restrictions on the national government, principally through the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment. The First Amendment, for instance, mandates that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The Constitution also establishes checks and balances among the three branches of government - the executive, judiciary, and legislature - each of which has its own independent institutional base and its own enumerated and implied powers. The branches, moreover, share responsibility for policymaking at the national level. As a consequence of these characteristics, the Constitution issues an invitation to struggle over the direction of American public policy, as one of its foremost students, Edward S. Corwin, has observed. Congressional Research Service ** The Library of Congress