American Government

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that many Americans overlook the distinction that the United States operates as an indirect or representative democracy, which means that a select group is elected by the whole to serve as representatives, in contrast to a direct democracy, which holds that all eligible members of a society can personally direct public affairs. The author points out that federalism developed out of necessity as prominent colonists recognized a need for some centralized control while maintaining the integrity of individual states; today, the U.S. continues to struggle with issues of state's rights. The paper reports that reforms in the presidential processes, such as the primaries should be more inclusive and the Electoral College should be eliminate, have been proposed.

Table of Contents
Representative Democracy
Federalism
The Presidential Process

From the Paper:

"The Articles of Confederation attempted to balance the powers of local and national government. They allowed the national government to coin money, manage the post office, declare peace, and select crucial military officials. However, the Articles of Confederation were lacking in many respects. The national government was not given power to tax. Additionally, state and foreign trade was not under its jurisdiction. Consent from nine of thirteen states was required to pass legislation and amendments were approved only with unanimous consent."

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