What are the characteristics of American federalism?

(1) the federal status is higher than the state. This principle is embodied in Article 6 of the Constitution of the United States, that is, the so-called "this Constitution and the laws of the United States formulated according to this Constitution, as well as all treaties that have been concluded or will be concluded according to the power of the United States, are the supreme laws of the country; Judges in every state should be bound by them, even if any provisions of the state constitution and laws conflict with them. " This clause is called "the highest clause". Although it mainly stipulates the supreme position of the federal constitution, the federal laws formulated according to the constitution and the treaties concluded by the federal regime in China, its significance lies in affirming the position of the Federation above the state. In addition, the powers in the fields of foreign affairs, national defense and currency belong to the federal government. Without the consent of the National Assembly, states may not conclude treaties and alliances, issue licenses to capture enemy ships, mint and issue paper money, impose tariffs, maintain troops in peacetime, participate in wars, conclude agreements, and so on. In the judicial field, lawsuits with the United States as a party, lawsuits between two or more States, and lawsuits between citizens of different States all belong to the jurisdiction of the federal judicial power. Although some American scholars believe that sovereignty is divided between state governments and national governments, from these terms, American States do not have the status of countries, so the so-called state power is not sovereignty in the sense of national sovereignty. As early as 18 19, Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, proved this point in mcculloch v. Maryland. Based on the theory of "people's sovereignty", he advocated that the people have the right to decide whether to approve or veto the constitution, and their actions are the final actions. Therefore, "when the constitution is adopted, it is a complete contract that determines the boundaries of national sovereignty." The American people claim that their constitution and the laws made according to it are supreme, then "this principle actually translates into the supremacy of the country."

(2) Decentralization between the Federation and the states. Generally speaking, the decentralization of American federalism adopts the way that the constitution lists federal powers and the rest are reserved by the States. The Constitution of the United States entrusts the legislative power, executive power and judicial power of the United States to the National Government, and itemizes 18 aspects that Congress has the power to legislate. In the Tenth Amendment, it is generally stipulated that "the powers that the Constitution has not granted to the United States or prohibited the states from exercising may be reserved by the states or people", that is, the powers of the Federation are "granted" item by item by the Constitution, and the powers of the states are generally "reserved". However, in the division of power, the scope of power of both parties is stipulated by the constitution, not granted and stipulated by either party.

The separation of powers between the federal and state governments in the United States is directly stipulated in the Constitution in the following situations: for the national government, there are powers endowed by the Constitution, for both the national and state governments, there are powers prohibited by the Constitution, and for the national government; As for the state governments, there are powers reserved by the states that are not granted by the Constitution, powers granted to the National Government but not prohibited from being exercised by the states (thus becoming "powers enjoyed by the National Government and the state governments"), powers prohibited from being exercised by the National Government and the National Government, and powers prohibited from being exercised by the State Government. In addition, in the practice of the American federal government, a kind of "implied power" was later developed, which Marshall also expounded in the judgment of "mcculloch v. Maryland". He pointed out that the national government not only has the powers listed in the Constitution, but also has the implicit powers. [3 1] Marshall's basis is that the Congress in Article 1 Paragraph 8 of the Constitution has the right to enact any necessary and appropriate laws to exercise the powers conferred by the Constitution on the Congress and all other powers conferred by the Constitution on the federal government. This is the "necessary and appropriate" clause, also known as the "elastic clause". This clause and Marshall's implied power theory have become an important basis for the expansion of American federal power.

Specifically, the division of power between the United States and the States gives the federal government the power to handle state affairs. In internal affairs, such as collecting national tax, borrowing and repaying national debt, minting and issuing currency, managing foreign trade and interstate trade, managing weights and measures, postal services, calming civil strife, managing state-owned land, etc. National defense and diplomacy, such as: establishing and maintaining an army, declaring war and waging war, accepting new countries to join the Federation, managing nationality, concluding treaties and alliances, etc. The power reserved by each state is mainly the power to decide and handle public affairs in the state, including the power to collect state taxes, borrow money with state credit, manage various industries, transportation, health, education, welfare, relief, public security, education, general civil punishment cases, and establish and supervise local governments.

(3) Solve the disputes between the federal and state on the division of power through judicial procedures. In order to prevent the federal and state from violating each other, the federal court, mainly the federal Supreme Court, decides whether the actions of the federal and state conform to the principle of federal separation of powers in the Constitution through the trial of specific cases, that is, the power disputes between the federal and state are resolved by law rather than by force, which is the "litigation in which the United States is a party" stipulated in the Constitution.

(4) The Federation and the states cannot unilaterally and arbitrarily amend the Constitution. With regard to the procedure of amending the constitution, the provisions of the American Constitution embody the principle that amending the constitution requires the participation and division of labor of the Federation and the States, that is, the Federation proposes amending the constitution and the States approve it. The specific procedure is: a constitutional amendment can be proposed after the approval of two-thirds of the members of both houses of Congress (according to the interpretation of the Supreme Court of the United States, "two-thirds of the members of both houses of Congress" means two-thirds of the members present, not two-thirds of all the members), or it can be proposed after the constitutional amendment meeting convened by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures. However, the latter method has never been adopted so far. After the constitutional amendment is put forward, it should be adopted by the legislatures of three-quarters of the states or by the constituent assembly convened by three-quarters of the states for this purpose within the specified time (the latter method has only been adopted once so far, that is, the 21st Amendment is adopted in this way). This constitutional amendment procedure means that the division of power between the national government and the state government determined by the constitution cannot be changed by ordinary legislative procedures, nor can it be changed unilaterally by the national government or the state government.

⑤ All states have equal status. Article 4 of the US Constitution stipulates that each state should have "full trust and respect" for the decrees, official documents and lawsuits of other states; Citizens of other States shall not be discriminated against, and citizens of all States shall enjoy equal privileges and immunities; Countries have the obligation to extradite fugitives to each other, and so on. In addition, the Senate is composed of two senators from each state, which reflects the equal representation of each state in the Senate. In theory, senators are still representatives of every state.

⑥ The National Government cannot change the state boundaries at will. Congress can decide to accept new States to join the Federation, but it has no right to change the state boundaries at will, which is an important feature of federalism different from unitary system. Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Constitution of the United States stipulates that "Congress may admit a new state to join the Union, but it shall not organize or establish any new state within the jurisdiction of any other state without the consent of the relevant state legislature and Congress; It is also not allowed to merge two or more States or merge parts of several States to form a new state. " There are 50 states in the United States. Among them, except for the original 13 states, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maine and West Virginia became independent with the consent of New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Virginia respectively, and joined the Union as new states. In addition, 32 states established territories or territories through war, purchase or westward migration, and were accepted by Congress to join the United States. After NSW joined, it was equal to the original state. The flag of the United States, the Stars and Stripes, reflects this principle. The American flag pattern consists of stripes and stars. The so-called "stripes", namely 13 red and white color stripes, symbolize the original 13 founding countries. The so-called "star" means the 50 stars in the upper left corner of the national flag, and there are as many stars as there are States. Every time a new state is accepted, one more star is added.

All landowners states have the right to choose their own form of government. According to the Constitution, the Federation should ensure that the states implement the * * * system of government, ensure that the states are not invaded, and send troops to quell the rebellion at the request of the states. The Constitution also prohibits states from conferring titles of nobility. Before Congress decides to accept a new state, it must be confirmed that the state has established a * * * government. But on this premise, each state can formulate its own state constitution and have the right to choose and organize any form of government. At present, all States in the United States have chosen the same political system of separation of powers. Each state has a governor, a state legislature and a state court, which are in charge of executive, legislative and judicial power respectively. But in fact, the specific system varies greatly from state to state. For example, the state legislature generally implements a bicameral system, and Nebraska implements a unicameral system. The term of office and authority of the governor are also different, and the government setting below the state is also very different. The state court is a court system independent of the federal court, with no subordinate relationship and only the division of jurisdiction.