An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government
02-03-2009 Tatyana Kurtiyakova
It is common knowledge that without general rules any game will turn to chaos and disorder when everyone will behave as wishes to achieve a victory in what way soever. The most powerful “rules of the game” is the Constitution and the most important thing is to construe it correctly. More than 200 years the US Constitution remains the organic law of successfully developing state, which territory and population have increased many times over, and the political and economic life has changed radically. In the context of United States constitutional interpretation, invariability, political stability and fundamental nature of this law of the land are considered to be the most significant characteristics for each civilization. Although it is true, there is another concept of constitutional interpretation which suggests that the Constitution should be seen as continually evolving with the society that implements it. By all accounts, the society is changeable and requires constant perfection of laws which, however, should not be the results of lawmaking by some individuals and, contrariwise, must be passed in the lawful way. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the main typical features of two different interpretative positions. Obviously, the great importance of the US Constitution is that it has founded fundamentals of a political system and such principles in legal system of the USA as federalism, separation of powers and the checks and balances principle. What is more interesting, that any of these principles directly is not specified in the Constitution text! Though, each Americans generation considers this law of the land not only as historical, but also as the modern document potentially containing all legal principles, necessary for the current problems solution and it really carries out this role till now.
It is common knowledge that without general rules any game will turn to chaos and disorder when everyone will behave as wishes to achieve a victory in what way soever. The most powerful “rules of the game” is the Constitution and the most important thing is to construe it correctly. More than 200 years the US Constitution remains the organic law of successfully developing state, which territory and population have increased many times over, and the political and economic life has changed radically. In the context of United States constitutional interpretation, invariability, political stability and fundamental nature of this law of the land are considered to be the most significant characteristics for each civilization. Although it is true, there is another concept of constitutional interpretation which suggests that the Constitution should be seen as continually evolving with the society that implements it. By all accounts, the society is changeable and requires constant perfection of laws which, however, should not be the results of lawmaking by some individuals and, contrariwise, must be passed in the lawful way. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the main typical features of two different interpretative positions. Obviously, the great importance of the US Constitution is that it has founded fundamentals of a political system and such principles in legal system of the USA as federalism, separation of powers and the checks and balances principle. What is more interesting, that any of these principles directly is not specified in the Constitution text! Though, each Americans generation considers this law of the land not only as historical, but also as the modern document potentially containing all legal principles, necessary for the current problems solution and it really carries out this role till now.