Illinois Constitution V. Federal Constitution “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon,” is a famous quote from the first President of the United States, George Washington. An interesting fact about the Illinois and the Federal Constitution is how, Ilinois had 4 constitutions while the Federal government had only one constitution that can be amended. Another interesting fact is how the Federal Constitution has 4,543 words, while the Illinois Constitution has 34,362 words. The Illinois and the Federal Constitution have many similarities and differences, among the Legislative Branch, the lawmaking process, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch. First, the differences and similarities of the state legislative branch and …show more content…
Now, the differences of the state and federal constitutions for the legislative branch will be stated and explained. The first difference is how, “The Senate has 100 members: two from each of the 50 states… The House of Representatives has 435 members from various states (Federal)...There are 59 state senators...There are 118 state representatives (Illinois),” (pg. 16-58). It is important for the federal senate and house of representatives to have more representatives because _________________________________. The next difference is the qualifications. The qualifications for a U.S senator are how, “a senator must be at least 30 years old, a United States citizen for at least nine years, and a resident of the state he/she is representing,” (pg. 17). The qualifications for a U.S representative are how, “a representative must be at least 25 years of age, a U.S citizen for at least seven years, and an inhabitant of the state he/she represents,” (pg. 18). And the qualifications for an Illinois senator or representative are how, “each member, must be 21 years or older, a resident of the district for two years, and a citizen.” (pg. 58). The different qualifications serve an important purpose. Because the U.S …show more content…
The first similarity is how, “Lobbies are controlled by the law and most operate legally (Federal)...most of these lobbies operate legally under the laws controlling them (Illinois),”(pg. 22-58). This is very important because this shows that both of the governments have lobbies that almost all follow the law and are legal. The next similarity is how, “...it is sent to the president, who can either sign it or veto it (Federal)...the governor can then sign it or veto it (Illinois),” (pg. 20-59). This is a very important part in the lawmaking process (which happens to be the same in both constitutions), because it is what passes the bill to the judicial branch, or it is what makes the bill go back to the legislative branch. The last similarity is how, “In both houses of Congress, no business may be transacted without a quorum (Federal)... in the General Assembly a majority must be present or no decisions can be made (Illinois),” (pg. 20-59). It is important for a majority/quorum to be present in both constitutions because in order to carry out any bill, it needs to get a fair vote, 50% + 1. Now, the differences of the state and federal constitutions for the lawmaking process will be stated and explained. The first difference is how, “the two houses of Congress may try to override the president’s veto by a ⅔ vote in each house (Federal)...if
Article I of the Constitution lays out the basic format of the legislative branch. The document states that the power to create laws or change existing laws lies with Congress, a government body made out of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state, regardless of size or population, has two senators who are elected directly by the public according to the 17th Amendment. The House of Representatives, on the other hand, is dependent on population, and a state 's number of representatives is determined by the U.S. census every ten years. For example, Alabama 's state
The United States Constitution begins with the simple phrase “We the People”. Yet, with three simple words, the ideology it stands for has shaped the entire country (O’Connor et al., 2011). The short phrase signifies that the document, and thus, the government, is based upon the people themselves. The Constitution reflects the culture and ideologies of its citizens. Similarly, state constitutions reflect the people, albeit in a more specific locality. The key differences between the United States Constitution and that of local states are due to the distinctions between the scope and characteristics of the people they govern.
There are lots of similarities and differences between Iowa’s state Constitution and the united states Constitution. Some of the similarities are found in the structure of the Constitution, both have preambles and they both have articles. In the document structure there are differences. The states articles are much longer and they have many more than the US. Similarities and differences can also be found in the Government structure. Both the US and Iowa have three branches of government, they both also have bicameral legislators. Also having differences these include legislators have different names and jurisdiction in courts are different.
If there were too many differences, then the branches of government would be very chaotic because a lack of structure between the state and federal government. In the United States Constitution and Nevada constitution it outlines three structures of the government. They are both setup in the same and is broken into three different parts, The Legislature Department, The Executive Department and The Judiciary Department. In addition, both constitutions are broken up into articles and each article explains a general topic, but most important they both state in the preamble “We the People...” (THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEVADA). This quote is significant because when the constitution is brought up, it is always the document of the people and the rights of the people. So it is important that no matter what, both constitutions had this quote within them. The United States Constitution and Nevada constitution don’t have significant differences because it reduces redundancy. The government for the citizens of Nevada is ran and structured the way they are today because of these two important
Generally speaking, State constitutions perform different functions (generally limit plenary powers rather than grant enumerated powers), have different origins (from the people
Each constitution has its own laws and rules, constitutions have been around for years. Every government needs a constitution to survive, or it would be chaos. No one would have rules or laws to follow, which would be madness. Even though the Iroquois Constitution helped build the United States (U.S.) Constitution, it does not mean that they are identical. Both of these constitutions have some alikes and differences.
If an issue raises between states Articles states to use the system of negotiation. Now the federal court deals with state to state issues. With passing laws before the Constitution, the Articles wanted 9/13 to pass any law. After it states 50%+1 of both of the houses plus the president needs to sign it. Also in the Articles term limit for legislative office is no more than three out of every six years. In the constitution there isn’t a term limit. The Chair of legislature is the president according to the Articles but in the constitution, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Vice President of the Senate.
I found this unit to very interesting because although I knew that each state had its own constitution I did not realize some of the similarities and differences that they shared. It is important to understand your states constitution because we have more contact with state and local governments on a daily basis than we do with the federal government. Above I made this table that visually shows us the United States and Georgia Constitution so we can compare and contrast them. As we can see the United States Constitution has seven articles and was only ratified once in 1787, while the Georgia Constitution has eleven articles and had been ratified 10 times with the more recent in 1983. Looking at my table I bolded the similarities between the
The simple difference between the Articles of Confederation and US Constitution is that the articles were not strong enough to hold our young nation together. The articles operated the US as separate states. Under the articles, it was very difficult to pass laws since the requirement of 9 out of the 13 states ' approval was needed for ratification. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The members of the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787 in
Constitution as well as the Missouri Constitution are similar because they both can be amended by the process of proposal and ratification. They are very similar in that majority of votes are needed for the amendment to take place but they are very different in that the U.S. Constitution is much more difficult to amend than the Missouri Constitution. The U.S. Constitution requires two-thirds of the House and Senate then followed by a ratification of three-fourths of state legislatures in three-fourths of the states. The Missouri Constitution can be amended easily as it is by simple majority vote. The citizens of Missouri vote every 20 years as required by the Missouri Constitution to see if a convention is needed to revise or amend the constitution or simple majority vote of the House of Representatives and the Senate can propose an amendment then put it on the ballot for the people to vote on it and that vote is also determined by simple majority. The U.S. Constitution requires an extra-large majority of votes, also defined as ?supermajority?, and this is what makes the U.S. Constitution much more difficult to amend then the Missouri
The California state constitution and the U.S constitution has many similarities and differences. California’s constitution is significantly longer than the federal constitution, as it has 35 articles as compared to the 7 federal articles. There is a similar setup of the government in both documents as well; Both establish a three-branch government and bicameral legislature. State constitutions tend to be more open to amendments and focus more on limiting powers rather than granting them. California has specific guidelines for such state responsibilities as transportation, education, and other areas that the federal constitution doesn’t cover.
The U.S Constitution and Federalist paper 68 are both very important documents and valuable too. The U.S Constitution is broken up into sections and articles. The Federalist paper 68 was an essay explaining about ideas related to the president and our government with society. Together, they mean a lot to the United States of America.
These 435 seats are divided among the states every ten years. Representatives serve for two years at a time, and every second November there is a new election where they are chosen by the people in a direct election. (1) The House is required to choose a Speaker for itself who is in charge over the proceedings of the House and is the highest position in the House leadership. Other leadership positions are the Majority and Minority Leaders, and the Majority and Minority Whips. The Minority Leader would generally be the Speaker if his party were the majority.(1) The whips act as a median between the leadership and the other House members. The Senate is the Upper House and its members are called Senators. The qualifications for Senators are similar to those of house representatives, he or she must be 30 years old or older, must have been a U.S. citizen for nine years, and must live in the state they plan to represent.There is again no restriction of sex, race, class, social standing, or any other classification, for both a Senator or House representative . Each state has two Senators, no matter what the size of the state happens to be. A Senators term lasts six years and like the other house members every second November there is a new election. The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate but he is a non-voting member unless a vote of the Senate ends in a tie which causes him to cast the deciding vote. If the Vice President is not available
When the government first achieved independence from England there were thirteen individual governments. They had an agreement called the Articles of Confederation that specified how each would interact with the others and manage the states. Despite the ratification by every state the agreement soon became problematic. What ensued was the meeting of state delegates, known as the Constitutional Convention, who planned to revise the problems. As a result the U.S. Constitution was fashioned to take its place. The idea was to ultimately federalize the States. That means each State remains an individual government but also agrees to be part of a Union. Thus created a federal government that would handle those things that are best controlled by a central government, which acts on behalf of the many States. An example would be the Navy and Army. The Federal Government has the right to raise and maintain a full time standing military. The Federal government is not limited to just the enumerated powers granted to Congress. It was also arranged that the national government would have powers not specifically stated in the Constitution, called implied powers. Although popular
If you try to compare the Articles with the new Constitution, you realize that the former was full of drawbacks, while the latter had answers to all these drawbacks. The Articles was subjected to severe criticism for the very fact that it centralized all the powers in the hands of state government, and left the national government with no major powers at all. As opposed to the unicameral system which was facilitated by the Articles of Confederation, the US Constitution introduced the bicameral system of governance, which was divided into the upper house and lower house. Yet another difference between the two was pertaining to the number of votes each state had. While the Articles had a provision of one vote for every single state irrespective of its size, the US Constitution had the provision of one vote per representative or senator.