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Laws and International Laws

The US Constitution

The constitution is defined as a body of essential doctrines generated by the state or any organizations which are recognized to be administered. When The United States declared its independence in 1776, the 13 original states signed The Article of Confederation; this was the first governing document of America. The Article of Confederation was a weak document which provided full freedom to the states, and there was no centralized government. After much thought, the constitution of America was signed on 17th September 1787 in Philadelphia. The constitution contained only seven articles at first, the 1st ten amendments collectively known as the bill of rights were made in 1791. These amendments provide certain fundamental rights to its citizens. The constitution of America delineates the national structure of government and divides the federal government into three parts namely legislative, executive and judiciary. The constitution provides guidelines about how to make amendments in the constitution. It is believed that the constitution of The United States of America is very rigid and it is very difficult to make any amendments to it. So far only 27 amendments are made in the constitution of America. Political parties are key players in any political arena. The constitution of USA does not mention political parties; this is because many of the founders were of the belief that political parties it made will become too powerful. Federalist and Anti-Federalists were the first two factions to appear. They disappeared then the constitution was ratified. During the presidency of Washington the first real political parties emerged, the Federalists who were supporting Alexander Hamilton and the Democrats. Although the US constitution makes no mention of political parties, it is a fact that modern American political life revolves around democrats and republicans. These are the only two parties which have survived since 1980’s. There are many minor parties, but none have any seats in the Congress. Keeping this in view a question arises that why not we should amend the constitution to regulate the way political parties are organized and perform the functions they perform in day to day political life.

The first reason is that it is tough to amend the constitution of USA. Article 5 of the American constitution provides the outline for amending the constitution it is essential that the bill is passed with a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and House of majority or two-thirds votes by national convention summoned by Congress at the call of the legislature (Constitution). Keeping in view the conditions required for amending the constitution, it can be inferred that it is not an easy task to make amendments and required great efforts for this. It is seen that the two political parties are working efficiently without any mention of political parties in the constitution since 1800’s. The Democrats and the Republicans hold seats in Congress, so they don’t feel the need of making any amendments in the law. Another reason can be that if modifications are made in the structure, then many more political parties will begin to rise. They will be a challenge to the two dominant political parties. George Washington also feared that mentioning political parties in the constitution will make the political parties too strong and these parties can affect the freedom and equality of its nation. Another reason can be that political parties affect the role of the institution, it will change the election system. To become a president, the candidate then has to get the support of the more significant party (Colliard).

So it can be concluded that making amendments in the constitution of the USA for regulation of the political parties is not only a difficult task to accomplish but it will affect the political system of the country and the two major political parties who are in power and don’t want to lose the control.

Works Cited

Colliard, Jean-Claude. “The Influence of Political Parties on the Constitution.” French Politics, vol. 7, no. 1, 2009, pp. 32–41.

Constitution, U. S. “Amendments.” Google Scholar, 2009.

 

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