The US Constitution. The US Constitution was proclaimed in 1787, it is the supreme law of the country, which protects the rights of all the people living in the USA

The US Constitution was proclaimed in 1787, it is the supreme law of the country, which protects the rights of all the people living in the USA. The constitution is based on three main principles:

- the first one guarantees basic rights such as right of freedom of speech and religion, right to have a trial and right to own a property;

- the second one tells about a government by the people – people can vote for their representatives and ask for new laws and changes;

- the third one tells about the three branches of the US government and their different powers: legislative, executive, judicial.

The Constitution includes the Preamble, 7 articles, 26 amendments, which help to make some changes or add some new things. The first 10 amendments are called Bill of Rights which must protect specific individual rights and freedom from government interference.

The Constitution sets up a federal system of government by dividing powers between the national, state and local governments. Two characteristics of this three-tier system of American government are fundamental. First, citizens elect officials to serve in the national, state and local governments. The authority of each level rests with the people.

Second, each level of government raises money through taxation from the citizens living in the area it serves. Unless each level of government can raise its own fiscal resources, it cannot act independently. The idea of separating powers among the various elements of government was designed to restrict governmental power and prevent its abuse. Wherever possible, the Founding Fathers (Отцы-основатели) built a system of "checks and balances" into the Constitution so that no one part of the government could supplant the other.

At the national level, the federal government is further divided into three autonomous branches.