Fed Gov

Veronica Laverdure
Global Issues
1/30/12

Responsibilities of Our Federal Government

Without the Federal Government, where would the people of the United States of America stand today? The Government keeps everything in order and protects the citizens of our country. Governments exist in a variety of forms but most perform every essential function to hold a nation together. The United States government is a federal system, where the federal and state governments share power. There are many responsibilities that the Federal Government has to maintain.

The Federal government has many responsibilities to keep up with in order to keep our country in order. The main function of the U.S. federal government is creating and enforcing laws to ensure order and stability within society. The U.S. Constitution outlines the nation's law-making process and establishes institutions to carry out this function. The law making powers are separated into three branches, which are legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, create laws. The executive branch enforces laws under the leadership of the president. The judiciary, which includes a federal court system headed by the Supreme Court, decides the constitutionality of these laws. This separation of powers prevents one branch from gaining influence over the others. The Federal Government also has the big responsibility of foreign policy. This duty is increasingly important as countries become more interconnected in the modern international system. The Constitution divides the authority for making foreign policy between the legislative and executive branches. The State Department maintains a network of embassies in countries around the world under the direction of the president. Diplomats send and receive messages to foreign heads of state on behalf of the president and negotiate treaties and trade agreements. These are some of the more important duties of the Federal Government.
There are also other things that the Federal Government has to attend to. Another main thing the Federal Government does is controls the National Economy. Under the Articles of Confederation, states could print their own currency, which led to economic chaos. The Founding Fathers sought to combat these problems by creating a national currency and placing it under the control of the federal government. A final responsibility of the Federal Government is to ensure National Security. Throughout history, war has been a main component of international relations. A major responsibility of any government is protecting its citizens. The Constitution places national defense in the hands of the federal government. It divides war powers between the president and Congress. By giving Congress the power to declare war and the president the power to wage war, the Founding Fathers ensured that one branch could not gain complete control over the nation's armed forces. These are a few of the many responsibilities maintained by the United States Federal Government. The government of the United States of America is the federal government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that constitute the United States, as well as one capitol district, and several other territories. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive and judicial, which the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, vests powers and the federal courts. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court. The Federal Government makes laws, controls the National Economy, and ensures National Security. If it weren’t for the Federal Government, the whole nation would be fighting over whom exactly makes the decisions and we would basically be living in chaos. Ya feel me?