WI: USA with a different Constitution

Similar in what way?

Are you saying that you want the U.S. Constitution to be originally written to look exactly like the Grundgesetz (except translated into English, I assume), or that you want the U.S. to adopt a new Constitution in the 20th century based on the Grundgesetz? The latter is implied by this being posted in the post-1900 forum.

The former requires the founding fathers to make enormous leaps of thought and logic to cross the 162 years of advances in political science between the two. The latter, well, requires the U.S. to adopt a completely new Constitution in the 20th century, or come up with hundreds of amendments that would have to each be approved by the states, either of which is extreeeeemely difficult to do.
 
The us constitution has its flaws, as a effort would, but considering that was the?first? Deliberately designed constitution, they did an amazing job. Compare it to the crazy mess of special interst pandering that ended in failure in canadas recent tries....
 
Similar how?
- Instead of the Senate with 2 senators per state there is a Federal Council with a number of members per state based on the population (similiar to the Electoral College). The composition of the state parliaments determines the composition of the Federal Council.
- The House of Representatives stays mostly the same, but the elect the Prime Minister of the United States.
- The President of the United States is only the head of state and has very limited political power. The prime minister is the head of the governement.

These should be the major differences.
 
- Instead of the Senate with 2 senators per state there is a Federal Council with a number of members per state based on the population (similiar to the Electoral College). The composition of the state parliaments determines the composition of the Federal Council.
- The House of Representatives stays mostly the same, but the elect the Prime Minister of the United States.
- The President of the United States is only the head of state and has very limited political power. The prime minister is the head of the governement

It doesn't sound unimaginable at first, but not the longer you think of it. First of all, I fear that deviating from the 2 Senators per State principle would provoke smaller states to simply leave the forming USA. OTOH, the USA might still become a superpower if Rhode Island exists "independantly" as a kind of American San Marino.

Then, the idea of a "Grundgesetz"-like President/Chancellor combination would just sound completely odd to contemporaries, I fear. If you don't have a king, you don't need a Prime Minister. Thus, it might only happen under another deviation from both the FRG and the USA constitution: monarchy. But if you had two leading politicians at the top, then 18th century political thinkers would probably let them act as a team, on the model of the Roman Republic. But that would rather mean a stronger vice president.

The House of Representatives electing the president doesn't sound too, odd. The electoral college is an indirect body just as well. However, the short period of two years would have huge effects and might probably lead to very short lived governments.
 
- Instead of the Senate with 2 senators per state there is a Federal Council with a number of members per state based on the population (similiar to the Electoral College). The composition of the state parliaments determines the composition of the Federal Council.

Madison's "Virginia Plan" would have had both chambers apportioned by population, though he proposed that the lower chamber would choose the upper.

However, this hit a brick wall when the smaller states insisted on an equal vote in at least one chamber. Had Madison managed to force his version through, the Constitution would simply never have been ratified, and America would have stayed under the AoC.

- The House of Representatives stays mostly the same, but the elect the Prime Minister of the United States.
- The President of the United States is only the head of state and has very limited political power. The prime minister is the head of the governement.

These should be the major differences.

George Washington would not have accepted such an empty dignity, and without his support the Constitution again probably fails.
 
Madison's plan also had the President being elected by Congress, but some preferred a direct election by the states. A compromise, in which the President (Head of State) is chosen by the states and a Prime Minister (or equivalent, as Head of Government) is elected by Congress, was certainly possible.
 

Anderman

Donor
- Instead of the Senate with 2 senators per state there is a Federal Council with a number of members per state based on the population (similiar to the Electoral College). The composition of the state parliaments determines the composition of the Federal Council.
- The House of Representatives stays mostly the same, but the elect the Prime Minister of the United States.
- The President of the United States is only the head of state and has very limited political power. The prime minister is the head of the governement.

These should be the major differences.

A small composition of the Bundesrat/Federal Council is not determined by the composition of the state parliament. The states have different number of votes but this votes can be used en bloc so Bavaria has 6 votes and can vote with 6 yes or no but not 3 yes and 3 no.
The states in the Bundesrat are represented by the governments of this stated not by members of the parliaments of this states! Which is kind of odd if think about it the executive of the states became legislative on the federal level.
The most state governments have a coalition government and only the ruling partings have influence about how the governments votes in the Bundesrat the parties in opposition have not .
 

Thande

Donor
There are of course the other US constitutional proposals, which we have occasionally discussed in the past. Here are a few of them:

The Virginia Plan

800px-VirginiaPlan.png


The New Jersey Plan

800px-NewJerseyPlan.png


The Pinckney Plan

800px-PinckneyPlan.png


The Hamilton Plan

800px-HamiltonPlan.png




The Virginia Plan does emphasise population weighted representation, which is unsurprising seeing as how Virginia was the most populous state.
 
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