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The Constitution’s Deep Roots
Throughout British history, and particularly during the American revolutionary period, certain statutes were challenged on the ground that
they were ‘‘unconstitutional.’’ American political leaders, for example,
claimed that the Stamp Act, imposing a tax, was ‘‘unconstitutional.’’ By
this they meant that in their judgment the statute conflicted with basic
English liberties and should be repealed. Their appeal was to Parliament,
because the English courts did not have jurisdiction over such a claim. By
contrast, sovereignty in the American constitutional system is in the Constitution itself, which is declared to be the supreme law of the land. If a
party claims that a certain act of Congress is ‘‘unconstitutional,’’ not only
may he seek to persuade Congress to repeal the statute, but also he may
be able under certain conditions to take his case to court and obtain a judicial ruling on the question.
The English and American political systems are also distinguishable
on the basis of separation of powers. The English have a parliamentary
system of government, whereas the Americans have a presidential system.
Under both systems, the functions of government are separated into legislative, executive, and judicial branches, but there is no clear separation
of personnel under a parliamentary system. The real executive in the English system is not the King but the cabinet, which is made up of the
King’s ministers. Members of the Cabinet, however, also hold a seat in
Parliament. The Prime Minister, for example, actually holds a seat in the
House of Commons (the lower house) and is the leader of the majority
party of that body. The President of the United States, on the other hand,
is more independent of the legislature. He is elected by the nation at
large, not by the members of Congress. He may actually be a member of
a political party that is in opposition to the majority party in control of
one or both houses of Congress. Unlike in the English system, members
of the House of Representatives and Senate are forbidden by the Constitution from serving in the executive branch. How and why the Americans departed from the English example of separation of powers will be
the subject of later discussion.
In many other ways, how ]