Politics of the Nation |
Rewritten Article:
Hop onto this FastTrack guide through American democracy, an elaborate dance that's kept the nation functioning for over two centuries, thanks to a system called checks and balances.
The Constitution's design of a government with three coequal branches – the legislative, executive, and judicial – is the bedrock of this system. It's a system that's been engineered to avoid a concentration of power in one person's hands. John Carey, a Dartmouth College professor specializing in American democracy, explains this concept: "The framers were hyper-aware of competing interests, and they had great distrust of concentrated authority. That's where the idea came from."
The 45th President, Donald Trump, tested these checks and balances like never before in his first 100 days, signing a slew of executive orders, diminishing government agencies, and disrespecting judges who've ruled against him. However, this age-old system has generally managed to prevent power from falling into the clutches of a single individual.
Let's dive into some historical examples:
A tussle over Jefferson snubbing Adams' appointments
The foundation for checks and balances swirling conflict: In 1801, President John Adams made last-minute appointments, only for his successor, Thomas Jefferson, and Secretary of State James Madison to disregard them. William Marbury, an Adams' justice of the peace appointee, appealed the decision, leading to the Supreme Court's landmark 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison.
Chief Justice John Marshall decided that Marbury's commission became legitimate upon Adams' signature, making Jefferson and Madison's actions illegal. However, Marshall stopped short of forcing an action, as Marbury had sued under a 1789 law granting the Supreme Court trial powers which the court later deemed too expansive.
Hamilton, Jackson, and national banks
In 1791, Congress and President George Washington established the First Bank of the United States, a national bank that Federalists, led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, backed for a strong central government. Anti-Federalists, led by Jefferson and Madison, wanted less centralized power and argued that Congress lacked the authority to charter a bank.
President Andrew Jackson, a populist, despised the bank, believing it a wealthy plaything. In 1832, Congress voted to extend the charter with provisions to placate Jackson. Abraham Lincoln's predecessor, however, vetoed the bill. Congress was unable to overturn the veto, as it couldn't muster the required two-thirds majority.
Lincoln, due process, and habeas corpus
During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus – a legal process allowing individuals to challenge their detention. This move enabled federal authorities to arrest and detain people without due process. Lincoln argued it was a "public necessity" to protect the Union.
Congress ultimately backed Lincoln through retroactive statutes, while the Supreme Court, in a separate 1862 case, endorsed the president's wartime powers argument.
Reconstruction: Johnson vs. Congress
After the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination, Congress, spearheaded by "Radical Republicans," wanted penalties for seceded states, the Confederacy's leaders, and combatants. They also advocated for Reconstruction programs to uplift formerly enslaved people. President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessean, was lenient on Confederates and tough on formerly enslaved people. Congress, wielding the power of appropriations, established the Freedmen's Bureau to aid newly liberated Black Americans. Johnson, with his pardon power, repatriated former Confederates and limited the Freedmen's Bureau's authority to seize Confederates' assets.
Spoils system vs. civil service
For about a century, federal jobs were mostly political appointments rotating through administrations. In 1883, Congress introduced the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, revolutionizing hiring by replacing political maneuvering with examinations. Trump, now trying to dismantle the civil service system, aims to reclassify tens of thousands of government workers, transforming them into political appointees or workers subject to dismissal.
Wilson's League of Nations
Following World War I, the Treaty of Versailles proposed an international body to bring nations together and prevent war. President Woodrow Wilson advocated for the League of Nations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Republican Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, brought the treaty to the Senate with amendments to limit the League's influence. However, the Senate fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to ratify the treaty and join the League.
FDR and court packing
Franklin D. Roosevelt tackled the Great Depression with extensive federal programs and aggressive regulatory actions. A conservative Supreme Court struck down parts of the New Deal legislation, claiming they exceeded congressional powers. Roosevelt responded by suggesting expanding the nine-seat court and putting pressure on justices to retire, a move critics labeled "court packing." However, even the Democratic Congress didn't fully entertain Roosevelt's idea.
Presidential term limits
Roosevelt violated the unspoken rule, established by Washington, of serving two terms. He clinched third and fourth terms during World War II, upsetting even some allies. Soon after his death, a bipartisan coalition pushed the 22nd Amendment to limit presidents to only two elected terms.
Nixon and Watergate
In 1972, the Washington Post and other media uncovered ties between President Nixon's aides and a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters, the Watergate Hotel. By summer 1974, the story had grown into congressional hearings, court battles, and impeachment plans. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Nixon in his claim that executive privilege exempted him from turning over evidence, including Oval Office recordings.
Nixon resigned in 1974, after a cadre of his fellow Republicans informed him that Congress was on the brink of removing him from office.
Leaving Vietnam
From John F. Kennedy to Nixon, American involvement in Southeast Asia during the Cold War escalated. However, Congress never declared war in Vietnam. A 1973 deal, under Nixon, ended official American military involvement. But complete withdrawal didn't occur until more than two years later – a period during which Congress reduced funding for South Vietnam's democratic government.
The Affordable Care Act
In 2010, a Democratic-controlled Congress overhauled the nation's health insurance system, birth the Affordable Care Act. One of its components aimed to compel states to expand the Medicaid program for children, disabled individuals, and some low-income adults. However, the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that Congress and President Obama could not compel states to expand the program through threats of withholding other federal funds already promised to the states.
- The War of Currents, a battle over electric companies, tested the checks and balances within the American business sector, as President Theodore Roosevelt exerted influence to favor alternative current over Thomson-Houston's direct current, eventually resulting in General Electric's dominance.
- The landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, a significant event in American politics and policy-and-legislation, highlighted the judiciary's role in upholding justice and challenging segregation in schools, a crucial part of the general-news during President Eisenhower's tenure.
- In the realm of health policy, the Hyde Amendment, signed into law in 1976, restricted the use of federal funds for abortions, demonstrating the complex interactions between the legislative, executive, and political branches in shaping important legislation.
- The Watergate scandals led to the establishment of the Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency tasked with enforcing high ethical standards in government, symbolizing the ongoing evolution of the public's expectations around transparency and accountability in politics.
- The Spygate controversy, involving allegations of political surveillance by the FBI targeting the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, challenged the decades-long trust between law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the executive branch, testing the system's resilience during a tumultuous period in American politics.
- The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, introduced in 2012, allowed certain undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children to temporarily avoid deportation and receive work permits. Multiple court battles and the threatened elimination of the policy by the Trump Administration demonstrated the interplay between the courts, Congress, and the executive branch in shaping immigration policy and the lives of millions of young people in the United States.
