In this essay I will give a short history of the government in United States of America (U.S.). Then I will describe each of the three branches of government in the U.S. and the relationship between them.

In principle, the U.S. is a democratic republic, they govern themselves by choosing their leaders by secret ballot, and these leaders in turn make the rules. Americans started "governing themselves" as a nation on July 4th, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia by representatives of the thirteen British colonies in North America. These states joined together formally in 1781 under a first "constitution," the Articles of Confederation. That loose union of the states was replaced by the Constitution of the U.S. in 1789. This document (amended 26 times) is still the political foundation of the U.S. Being based on a written constitution, the U.S. government is committed in principle to the rule of law. To guarantee the rights of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion etc. the first ten amendments, called the "Bill of Rights" were adopted in 1791.

The Supreme Court: "The Judicial power of the U.S. shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress from time to time may ordain an establish."(The Constitution states). All nine federal judges are appointed by the President and serve "during good behaviour," usually meaning for life. The judges cannot be removed from office except for criminal behaviour or malfeasance. This makes them less vulnerable to political pressure than they would be if they had to depend upon politicians or the voters for new mandates. The main feature of the independent role for the courts lies in their power to interpret the Constitution. They review the "constitutionality" of laws and executive orders. The number of justices is decided by Congress, and they can be impeached by congress. There are also Inferior Courts: One hundred District Courts and thirteen Courts of Appeals, all of them are created by Congress, with judges appointed by the President (with Senate approval). All federal courts hear cases involving federal law, involving state laws whose constitutionally is changed, involving the U.S., involving two separate states, and involving citizens of different states.

The president's major countervailing power in the legislative process is the power of the veto. The President must sign any proposed legislation before it becomes law; his failure or refusal to do so can thus stop any bill. If the President returns a bill to Congress with a veto on it, the legislature has the power to override the President's veto by re-passing the legislation by a two-thirds majority in both houses. Then the bill becomes law without the President's signature. (If the President does not wish to be associated with a bill but does not feel that it is worthwhile to prevent it from becoming law, he can demonstrate this by using a so-called pocket veto: he/she simply lets it lie on his/her desk for ten days without signing it or vetoing it, in which case it becomes law without the President's signature.)

G. T. Kurian, A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government, Oxford University Press, New York/Oxford

Having presented the three branches of U.S. government in broad strokes, I will now turn in to how the

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Approximate Word count = 1495
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)