Every government that exists, or has existed, is the result of philosophical questions and the nature of mankind, giving to each the equality amongst others and the endowment of certain unalienable rights. In order for these to stay protected, “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The American Founders understood human nature and the idea of federalism to be the division of power between the National Government and the State Governments, giving to each a certain amount of power to make decisions for itself. This idea has played a significant role in the organization of each states’ government and has been transformed over the years in three different stages. Federalism allowed Texas to establish a constitution that implements a separation of powers between its branches of government and allows for the establishment of a political compact merely based on the judgement of the political community.
The first stage, the Articles of Confederation era (1781-1788) was created for the States in the attempt to form “a firm league of friendship with each other,” leaving each state able to retain “its’ sovereignty, freedom, and independence.” Its’ operation was for the states to send representatives to sit in Congress and relied on the states to enforce its laws, the National Congress was extremely weak and appeared as “a shadow without the substance,” and the States had too much power and influence—meaning they were able to ignore the requests made by Congress without the fear of punishment. The Government of the Articles of Confederation was made for and by the states, which made the states its citizens. Congress was passing laws for the States to abide by, but they could only compel states to obey by using force against them. The Articles failed because most of the power remained to the States and the government should have been able to enforce its laws against the people and not the states. James Madison began to document the problems of the Articles in his “Vices of the Political System” into two categories: external relations in vices 1-8, and internal relations in vices 9-11. As this happened, the Founders understood that a new government was needed—new principles needed to be introduced and old principles needed to be modified.
The second stage, The US Constitution (1788-20th century), was the solution and introduced the principle of partial consolidation, which does not consolidate all of America into one nation. This allowed the Federal Government to be supreme in certain areas, leaving the State Governments supreme in others. Both of these equally function as legitimate governments and are superior within their own legal jurisdiction, which defines where a government has an authority and what types of authority they have. Hamilton states, “the plan of the convention aims only at a partial union or consolidation,” to show the role that federalism played when dividing the powers of the National and States’ governments. The division of power took place and specific articles were given the authority to grant, deny, and reserve certain powers. Article 1, Section 8 grants powers to the Federal government and denies powers to the Federal and State Governments, while Article 1, Section 9 denies Congress the use of particular powers limiting their use of legitimate powers. Article 1, Section 10 denies specific powers to the States and Amendment X reserves any power not given exclusively to the Federal government or denied to the States. After the adoption of the Constitution, the States were no longer responsible for implementing the laws of the Federal government and retained much of their independence. The exact role of the States was for electing national officials, amending the constitution, acting as sentinels, building national unity and friendship, administering the government and practicing self-government.
The last stage, The Progressive era (20th century-present), transformed American politics by changing certain political principles. Their goal was to overturn Federalism, which reserved significant powers to the States and gave the Federal government more power. One of the Progressives, Theodore Roosevelt, claims that “the New Nationalism puts the national need before sectional or personal advantage,” and this is accomplished by using the Supreme Court to reinterpret two particular portions of the US Constitution: The 14th Amendment and The Commerce Clause in Article 1 Section 8. The 14th Amendment restricted powers of the States and added additional ‘No State Shall’ restrictions and The Commerce Clause increased the power of the Federal Government. In the court case Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court announced that federalism allows for each state to use its “political judgement” when establishing their constitutions, governments, and own policies. Over time, this allowed Texas to establish its several constitutions, and the last and current adopted constitution still remains in use. In specific, it organizes the branches of government in a way it sought was best for its citizens.
Article 3 of the Texas Constitution established the Legislative Branch, which is known as a Bicameral Legislature, “a legislative body that consists of two houses.” They are known as the Senate and the House of Representatives and share the legislative power. In order for a bill to become a law they must work together, but while bills are being considered they can act very independently of each other. The Texas Constitution and several others established specific qualifications needed to become a member of its legislature. For instance, in the Texas House of Representatives, a person must be 21 years old, a US citizen, a registered voter, a resident of the state for 2 years, and a resident of their district for 1 year. For the Texas Senate, all the same qualifications apply, the only difference is the person must be 26 years old and a resident of the state for 5 years. Like other states, Texas has one large legislative body with 150 members that serve for 2-year terms, which is known as the House of Representatives, and one small legislative body with 31 members that serve for 4-year terms, known as the Senate. Texas is also one of the several states that do not impose term limits on their legislators. In specific, these members make a salary of $7,200 per year, plus $190 per day while in the legislative session and these sessions are held once every 2 years, last for 140 calendar days, and begin in January of odd-numbered years. Each member of the legislature has their own leadership positions and obtain these positions in various ways. Within the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House is elected by members at the beginning of each session, the Speaker Pro Tempore is elected by the Speaker of the House; Meanwhile, the Senate has the Senate President, which is the Lieutenant Governor, and is elected in an independent statewide election and the President Pro Tempore, a member of the Senate, who is elected to the office by fellow senators. This branch’s overall purpose is to enforce the law-making process and that result in the legislature passing good, and appropriate laws for its citizens.
The Executive Branch, established in Article 4 of the Texas Constitution, includes the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and other branch officials that help enforce and implement the laws. The Constitution of Texas establishes a fairly weak governor, and this is a reflection of its political judgement. The qualifications to become a Texas Governor are to be 30 years of age, a US citizen, a resident of Texas for 5 years, the experience of a particular kind and should be familiar with the nature of an executive officer. The Governor serves for a 4-year term with a base salary of $153,750 and is provided with a house in Austin, a car, and an airplane. The governor does not appoint many of the most important other executive officials because they receive them in statewide elections, which makes his appointment power weak. This is because Texas is a good example of a plural executive system, “a system in which executive power is divided among several statewide elected officials.” The Governor of Texas is overall weaker than most governors when it comes to formal power, but in certain areas such as informal powers, the governor can wield tremendous power and influence and remains an important member of any state government. Also, other offices within the Executive Branch either obtain their position by being appointed by the governor or being elected in by the people of Texas. These several positions within the Executive Branch are essential in the implementation of laws within the political community and government.
Lastly, Article 5 of the Texas Constitution established the Judicial Branch of Government. Similar to most states, there are three types of courts in its judicial system which are Trial Courts, Appellate Courts, and Courts of Last Resort. Trial Courts, including Municipal, Justice of Peace, County, and District, are initial courts with a single judge presiding and often has a jury present. These courts determine whether or not the action of an individual violates a law made by the legislature and also whether someone is guilty or innocent of breaking the law. Appellate Courts look at the process that led to a conviction and usually contains 3 to 5 judges a single case. The Court of Last Resort, or Supreme Court, is considered the highest appellate court established, and usually contains 7 to 11 judges a single case. These types of courts determine whether or not the law that was violated, or that led to a conviction, is constitutional, or abides by the political community’s constitution. Texas happens to have two Courts of Last Resort, the Supreme Court which deals with civil or juvenile cases, and the Court of Criminal Appeals which deals with criminal cases. Also, each court has specific term lengths and ways of election into the judiciary. For instance, Trial Court judges are elected in partisan elections for 4-year terms by voters that reside in their territorial jurisdiction. Appellate court judges serve for 6-year terms and members of the Supreme Court & the Court of Criminal Appeals are elected in statewide elections, while members of the Court of Appeals are elected in district-wide elections. The legal system encompasses the crimes and proper punishments for those crimes in a political community and includes the process for conducting trials. This branch’s main purpose is to establish a code for punishing crimes with three ends of deterring future crimes, punishing those who do wrong, and rehabilitating offenders in mind.
The Texas Constitution and its branches of government have been greatly influenced by the idea of federalism, which gave Texas the ability to organize each of its branches into specific offices, chambers, or courts and determine how each member obtains their position in government. This lets it be known that each and every government that exists or has existed, interpreted the idea of federalism into the establishment of its own constitution. Each government was able to use the judgement from the political communities.