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USA vs UK: A Comparison
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Population 62,000,000 people Population 313,232,044 people
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Overview
Introduction
Laws
Governments and Legal Systems
Other similarities and differences
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Introduction
Strong relationship exists between the twonations
Shared history
Slavery
The Declaration of Independence on July 4th,
1776
The make-up of GB (population differencesbetween UK and USA) often confused
The English Common Law
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Great Britains Legal system Politics in the United Kingdom takes place within the
framework of a constitutional monarchy
The monarch (Queen Elizabeth II) is head of state andthe prime minister is the head of the UK government
The Cabinet is a formal body made up of the mostsenior government ministers chosen by the prime
minister, formal members of the Cabinet are drawn
exclusively from the House of Commons and the
House of Lords.
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The UK is a parliamentary democracy
This means that members of the government are
also members of one of the two Houses of
Parliament (the House of Commons and the
House of Lords)
The Government is directly accountable to
Parliament, the governing party is only in powerbecause it holds a majority in the House of
Commons, and at any time the government can
be dismissed by the Commons through a vote of
no confidence
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United States of America's legalsystem
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Major difference: the Declaration of Independence of 1776
and the Constitution of 1789 define the US system unlike
the UKs system
Three powers Deliberately granted different terms of office by the
Constitution.
Effectively, this means that the President has a term for
four years, and a maximum of two terms which again isdifferent to the British system where the Prime Minister
can serve for as long as he or she wants (if they secure
the votes in each election)
Members of the Senate serve for six years and Members of the House of Representatives serve for two
years with the members of the supreme court effectively
serving for life.
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The role of the President can be compared in a
similar way to the role of the Prime Minister
in Great Britain; both are head of theirgovernments with the most power that
ultimately make the final decisions.
The work of both the House of Representatives
and the Senate is done through standing
committees, who perform legislative and
investigatory functions, in a similar way to
the House of Lords in the British system.
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Other Similarities and Differences The UK is a small country and can fit into the US approximately 38 times which is
surprising considering the population is only five times greater in the US than in the
UK
Weather
Food (legislation against caged chickens and a general animal free range view in most
of Britain). Fast food expanse in USA compared to UK.
Infrastructure similar, highways compared to motorways
Driving on left and cars left hand drive
Public transport more prevalent in UK because of size of nation
Education differences
Spelling and pronunciation
GBP vs USD
Cost of living (Gas as an example) see diagram pto
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