Blog #5

The United States formed from the thirteen colonies which were ruled by Great Britain. After Great Britain taxed the colonies without their consent, the thirteen colonies revolted against England. They then gained independence from England and formed their own government. At first, the United States was ruled by the Articles of Confederation. The founding fathers were hesitant to give the national government too much power as they were afraid the government would become corrupt, similarly to Great Britain. Therefore, the Articles of Confederation had many problems such as Congress was unable to tax the states, each state only had one vote in Congress, and each state had to agree to amend the document. 

The failure of the Articles of Confederation lead to the creation of the Constitution which still governs our government today. The Constitution lies out the powers of both the national government and the state government. The Constitution has been successful over the years because of checks and balances. The Constitution restricts the power of the national government while ensuring no one branch of government becomes too powerful. There are three branches of government which all create checks and balances: the executive, legislative, and judiciary. The Executive branch can veto bills from Congress and appoint judges to the judiciary branch. The Legislative branch can override the President’s veto, impeach the President, and it can refuse the approval of judges to the Judicial branch. The Judicial branch can declare laws unconstitutional and can rule actions of the President unconstitutional. Through the use of checks and balances, the United States national government has been able to restrict power of the national government over the years.