Lecture 3

The System of Government &

Party System

Introduction

In this lecture, we are going to look at the basic system of American government & the general principles behind it.

We will also discuss the party system of America, which is known as the two party system. Besides, we will look at the 2 main parties in detail.

General Principles

The form of government is based on 3 main principles: federalism, the separation of powers & respect for the Constitution & the rule of law.

Each American is subject to 2 governments, that of his state & that of the Union, & each has its own distinct function.

The 2 GovernmentsThe state governmentThe state government has, under the Constitution, the primary

functions of providing law & order, education, public health & most of the things which concern day-to-day life.

The Federal governmentThe Federal government at Washington is concerned with foreign affairs & with matters of general concern to all the states including commerce between the states.

In fact, the Federal governmentthe Federal government has been active in the fields of social services, education, research of many kinds, & the ordinary productive processes.

Political Parties2 parties, Democrats & Republicans, dominate

the political scene. All elections must be looked at in terms of party,

& party influences the whole process of government.

But the 2 parties are very complex in their aims & in their basis of popular support, though they do provide means of keeping government close to the people.

Separation of PowersAt each level, in state & Union, there is a constitution which

defines & limits political power, & which provides safeguards against tyranny & means for popular participation.

In each state, power is divided between 3 agencies, with law-making power given to a legislature (usually of 2 houses, elected for fixed terms), an executive (the governor), & finally the judges of the State Supreme Court.

The Federal government also has 3 elements---executive (the President), legislature (Congress), & judicial, & the 3 elements are checked & balanced by each other.

The President(1)The President is the effective head of the executive

branch of government as well as head of state. In November each leap year (1800,1900,1976,1980…) a President is elected to serve for exactly 4 years from a fixed day in the following January. The 4-year rhythm has never been broken.

With the President, a Vice-President is elected, & if the President dies the Vice-President becomes President for the unexpired part of the 4 year.

The President(2)

The founders of the Constitution thought of the President as a replacement for the English king, & did not expect any President to resign, though the old device of impeachment was available for Congress to remove a President by a special kind of political trial.

A constitutional amendment of 1967 made new arrangements for the succession, so that if a Vice-President in office dies or resigns the Senate elects a new one.

The President(3): a Case Study(a) In 1973, while a Senate Committee was

discovering facts about President Nixon which were leading people to talk of his possible impeachment or resignation, it was found that Vice-President Agnew was involved in another scandal. Agnew resigned, but before he did so, Nixon had informally proposed that Gerald Ford, the Republican leader in the House of Representative, should be the new Vice-President in his place, & the Senate elected Ford without a contest.

The President(3): a Case Study(b)

Then in 1974, when Nixon resigned rather than face certain impeachment, Ford automatically became President. Nominated by Ford & appointed by the Senate, Nelson Rockfeller became Vice-President.

So from August 1974 to January 1977 both President & Vice-President held office without having been elected, but appointed through consultation.

The Vice-PresidentA person elected as Vice-President expects that he will

have no defined function(except to preside over the Senate) unless he happens to be thrust into the highest office through the chance of the President’s death.

Some few Vice-Presidents have been given real work to do (particularly Nixon under Eisenhower in 1952-60) & most Vice-Presidents during a second term regard the office as a useful base from which to try to win their party’s next candidature for the Presidency, as Nixon did in 1960.

Coincidence of Some Presidents

One of the 19 men elected to the Presidency between 1840 & 1960 were assassinated (John Kennedy in 1963) & 4 died in office, so 8 of the men elected as Vice-President before Ford acceded to the highest office (in May 1945 Vice-President Truman became President only 4 months after the 4-year period had begun.

Some Other Facts About PresidentsUntil 1951, there was no limit to the number of 4-

year terms for which a person could be elected as President.

Up to 1940, 8 had served for 2 full terms but none for a third. (Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Roosevelt,…)

In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt was elected for a third term, and in 1944 for a fourth, cut short by his death.

In 1951, a constitutional amendment set a limit of 2 terms, that is, 8 years.

AlphabetismThe American president and vice-president

have surnames starting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bush’s predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half.

The Congress(1)

The Congress is the law-making body.No federal taxes can be collected or money spent

without the approval of both houses.The President signs the laws. If he refuses, his

“veto”can be overridden by a 2-thirds majority in both house.

All treaties, & all the President’s appointments to high office are subjected to the Senate’s approval.

consists of the Senate (elected every 6 years) & the House of Representatives (2 years)

The Congress(2)

The Senate embodies the federal nature of the Constitution, with 2 senators from each state.

The House of Representatives has a fixed number of seats (435), & each state has one seat for every 1/435 share that it has of the whole US population---in 1970, one seat for every 480,000 inhabitants, approximately.

The Party Policies

Simple-majority electoral systemSimple-majority electoral system, like the American one, tend to cause a nation’s politics to be dominated by competition between 2 parties.

The 2 great American parties are Republic Party & Democratic Party.

Humorous Sayings About the 2 PartiesIt has often been said that the 2 great Ameri

can parties are like 2 bottles, both empty, one labeled “Republican”, the other “Democrat”. & if the bottles do have anything in them, some ingredients change curiously from one to the other; so any attempt to describe either party needs endless & complex qualification.

A competition between “elephant” & “donkey”. （象驴之争）

History & Development of the 2 PartiesBefore 1820, there was a “Republican” party in

America.After 1820(Around 1850), the Republican party

was divided into 2 parties: the Whigs & the Democrats.

The old Democrats tended to support state autonomy against the central government.

In 1854, a northern alliance of people determined to abolish slaveryabolish slavery founded a new party, which they called “RepublicanRepublican” (reviving an old name). It rapidly absorbed the WhigsWhigs.

The Republicans(1)

Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the first Republican President in 1861-65, and the Republicans were identified with the northern fight in the Civil War for a Union free of slavery. Afterwards, they represented the main stream of developing northern industry & free private enterprise.

The Democrats(1)The Democrats represented the south in the Civil War.

They are mostly owners of big plantations in the south of the States & the owners of slaves.

Outside the south, the Democrats attracts the support of the groups who felt themselves to be outside the dominant system: around 1900 the less favored immigrants from eastern Europe & Ireland, & as time went on other non-insiders too, whether poor or Jewish or intellectuals or Catholic or Negroes. As labor unions grew up, most of them supported the Democrats.

The Democrats(2)

Since 1933, the Democrats have been clearly the party of the left---outside the south. The 1932 election was fought in the midst of the worst economic depression ever experienced. Franklin Roosevelt won & led the Democrats with his “New Deal” program, involving federal & state intervention in the economy & the beginnings of government social services.

The Democrats(3)

In the next 40 years, the Democrats pushed these policies further, particularly during the Presidencies of Kennedy & Johnson. In 1976, they were at last talking seriously of plans for a national health service.

The Republicans(2)

During the same period, the Republicans have shown more qualities associated with the right: not too much government intervention in the economy; little enthusiasm for new social programs; patriotic language(but in practice a cautious foreign policy); much talk about the responsibility of the individual, & about state& local autonomy. They are generally supported by business interests.

Southern Politics(1)Southern politics are different. Because of its origin, the

Republican Party could gain no support at all among the dominant southern white population.

For many decades there was only one party in the south, the Democrats. All political contests were between factions of the Democratic Party---& the most conservative factions usually won. So in the US Senate & House of Representatives the southern states were represented always by Democrats, often more conservative than any Republicans from the north.

Southern Politics(2)

Conservative southerners tried to secure the choice of conservative politicians as Democratic candidates for the Presidency. For some decades they sometimes succeeded, but in every election from 1928 to 1972 they failed.

By 1976, changed conditions had made it useless to defend the white supremacist （南方白人至上主义） “ traditions of the South”.

Southern Policies(3)

In the 1960s, in Presidential elections Republican candidates have won in the south; every southern state has elected a few Republicans to Congress; several have had Republicans as governors.

Democratic domination & factionalism may survive at local level, but the national politics of the south are moving towards a full two-party system.

A Special Rule of American PoliticsThe complexity of the parties, & of the innumera

ble sections of the people, has produced the rule: however great the local variations, only a person who seems to be moderate can win the Presidency. If the enthusiasts in either party coalesce（联合） to produce a far-left or far-right candidate he will lose the election.

The Republicans made this mistake in 1964, when they chose the strongly conservative Senator Goldwater as their candidate. He lost every state outside the south except his own (Arizona). Johnson from the Democratic Party won.

InconsistencyEach party is liable in different places to adopt a

line of approach which seems to be inconsistent with the policy of the same party in another place, or even with the policy of the same party in the same place at another time. The differences may be due to the inclinations of the people who happen to have gained control over the party machine for a time, or due to calculations about the best way of winning votes.

Richard Nixon began his political career as a man of the right, but long before 1968 he had built up a new reputation for being moderate.

a Nature of American Party Policy

Famous Presidents: George Washington (1732-1799)

Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution & 1st President of the U.S. 1789-1797)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

3rd President of the U.S (1801-1809) & author of the Declaration of Independence. The son of a wealthy planter in Virginia, Jefferson was well educated & trained as a lawyer. A man of many interests, he was also an architect, an inventor, a naturalist, a linguist, father of the University of Virginia, & a patron （赞助人） of learning & the arts.

More Information About Jefferson

He was born into a wealthy family. His father was an army colonel & large landholder, his mother coming from an old & prominent family in Virginia. The considerable wealth of the family made it possible for him to be educated far better than most Americans of his age. He began to learn Latin, Greek, & French when 9. At 18 he graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

He was an expert in agriculture, archeology, & medicine. He practiced crop rotation & soil conservation a century before these became standard practice, & he invented a plow superior to any other in existence then. He influenced architecture throughout America, & he was constantly producing devices for making the tasks of ordinary life easier to perform.

Of his many talents, one is central. He was above all a good writer. His complete works fill more than 50 volumes.

When Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, he left his countrymen a rich legacy of ideas & examples. American education owes a great debt to him, who believed that only a nation of educated people could remain free.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

16th President of the U.S. (1861-1865)Famous and admired

because of his leadership during the difficult period of the American Civil War and the liberation of Negroes from slavery.

More Information About Lincoln

Of all figures from America’s past, Lincoln is dearest to the hearts of the American people. Lincoln is America’s ideal of a great leader. He had many of the qualities of leadership that Americans admire.

First of all, Lincoln’s career fits a popular American belief that every child can dream of becoming President. (The American Dream) Americans admire those self-made （靠自己奋斗而成功） persons who, with neither money nor family influence, fight their own way to the top.

Lincoln was born of poor parents. His mother died when he was young. He had little opportunity for schooling. His early study was done alone at night by the light of a fireplace. He did hard manual labor through the day---splitting rails for fences, taking care of livestock, working on a riverboat or in a store. But as he grew older he studied law in his spare time & became a lawyer. He was a good speaker & student of political philosophy. His ability finally made a name for him & eventually he became President.

Lincoln had many personal qualities that made him dear to the hearts of his countrymen. He had infinite patience & tolerance. He was generous to his opponents. Since generosity towards a defeated opponent is admired by Americans, he fitted the national ideal of what is right.

Shortly after the Civil War ended, Lincoln was shot while attending a play in a Washington theatre. He died within a few hours. The uncontrolled emotional reaction of the nation to his death was almost unbelievable & demonstrated people’s deep esteem for him. Newspapers were edged with black; religious leaders gave praise of him instead of their prepared sermons; his funeral procession in Washington was miles along; when his body was taken by train back to his former home Springfield, Illinois, citizens lit torches along the railroad track to show their last respects.

The circumstances of his death set Lincoln apart from other American leaders. Had he lived, it may well be that his postwar policies would have brought criticisms upon him that would have tarnished his popularity. Instead, an assassin’s bullet erased in the minds of Americans any faults he had & emphasized his virtues.

American Presidents

1 1789-1796 George Washington

2 1797-1800 John Adams (father)

3 1801-1808 Thomas Jefferson

4 1809-1816 James Madison

5 1817-1824 James Monroe

6 1825-1828 John Quincy Adams (son)

7 1829-1836 Andrew Jackson

8 1837-1840 Martin Van Buren

9 1841 William H. Harrison (grandfather)

10 1841-1844 John Tayler

11 1845-1848 James K. Polk

12 1849-1850 Zachary Tayler

13 1850-1852 Millard Fillmore

14 1853-1856 Franklin Pierce

15 1857-1860 James C. Buchanan

16 1861-1865 Abraham Lincoln

17 1865-1868 Andrew Johnson

18 1869-1876 Ulysses S. Grant

19 1877-1880 Rutherford B. Hayes

20 1881 James Abram Garfield

21 1881-1884 Chester A. Arthur

22 1885-1888 Grover Cleveland

23 1889-1892 Benjamin Harrison (grandson)

24 1893-1896 Grover Cleveland

25 1897-1901 William Mckihley

26 1901-1908 Theodore Roosevelt

27 1909-1912 William H. Taft

28 1913-1920 Woodro Wilson

29 1921-1923 Warren G. Harding

30 1923-1928 Calvin Coolidge

31 1929-1932 Herbert G. HooVer

32 1933-1945 Franklin Roosevelt

33 1945-1952 Harry S. Truman

34 1953-1960 Dwight D. Eisenhower

35 1961-1963 John F. Kennedy

36 1963-1968 Lyndon B. Johnson

37 1969-1974 Richard M. Nixon

38 1974-1976 Gerald R. Ford Jr.

39 1977-1980 James Earl Carter Jr.

40 1982-1988 Ronald Wilson Reagan

41 1989-1992 George Bush

42 1993-2000 Bill Clinton

43 2001- George Bush. Junior