Final Pennsylvania

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The format between the state constitution and the U.S constitution varies depending on how they think of it. The U.S Constitution starts out with the legislative, Executive and then the Judicial branch, and then the Bill of Rights. However, the Constitution of Pennsylvania starts out with the Declaration of Rights, the branches of government and then topics that are part of the state like public officers, taxation and finance, corporations, local government, court and even elections. However their ideas towards the propositions differs depending on the people’s point of view. In Pennsylvania, their judges are elected and it occurs through retention elections, a periodic process whereby voters are asked whether a judge should remain in office or partisan elections, where candidates are listed on the ballot with indication of their parties (Ballotpedia). The highest court in Pennsylvania is The Supreme Court, which consists of seven justices each elected to 10-year terms (Ballotpedia). The legislature General Assembly has two houses in Pennsylvania’s Legislature, which consists of the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the States Senate (Upper House). In the House of Representatives there are 203 members and are elected for two-year terms. The State’s Senate consists of 50 members and 16 members are Democratic and the other 34 members are Republican (Chart of Wiki). The Governor of Pennsylvania is restricted to two consecutives terms in office and then they must wait one term before being eligible to run again (PA Const, Article lV, Section 2 & 3).

The State’s Constitutions differs from the U.S Constitution, which depends on their points of views and what they believe in. Many state constitutions, like Pennsylvania guarantee more civil rights that the U.S Constitution doesn’t have. However, plenty of states have a lot in common with the U.S constitution because they always address guarantee citizen’s basic rights and privileges. Pennsylvania addresses many more topics that are very essential in everyday life, unlike the United States Constitution. Their format is very different because it starts out with the Declaration of Rights, then the branches of government and they include topics that are necessary. The Constitution tries to cover everything, like education, the economy, expressing more people’s rights, and even more. The Pennsylvania created a Constitution that wanted to have more civil rights aside from the U.S Constitution. They wanted to promise the Pennsylvanian’s more freedom, beliefs and privileges. It was also a response toward the Declaration of Independence, since it was the second state to have their state Constitution’s.

Bibliography

- History.com Staff. "Pennsylvania." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

- "Pennsylvania Judicial Elections." Ballotpedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

- "List of United States State Legislatures." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

- "CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA." Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.