The Democratic-Republican Party, also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party and known at the time under various other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s that championed republicanism, political equality, and expansionism.

Beyond the simple left–right analysis, liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism and populism are the four most common ideologies in the United States, apart from those who identify as moderate. Individuals embrace each ideology to widely varying extents.

Supporting democracy not only promotes such fundamental American values as religious freedom and worker rights, but also helps create a more secure, stable, and prosperous global arena in which the United States can advance its national interests.

The United States is a representative democracy. This means that our government is elected by citizens. Here, citizens vote for their government officials. Citizens can also contact their officials when they want to support or change a law.

The modern United States has also been described as an oligarchy because some literature has shown that economic elites and organized groups representing special interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent …

These rights include the freedom of expression, of religion, of speech, and the right to bear arms. All people living in the United States also have many of the same duties as citizens, such as paying taxes and obeying the laws.

Congress has enacted approximately 200–600 statutes during each of its 115 biennial terms so that more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789.

Nullification, in United States constitutional history, is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal laws which that state has deemed unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution (as opposed to the state’s own constitution).

Federal Preemption When state law and federal law conflict, federal law displaces, or preempts, state law, due to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Preemption applies regardless of whether the conflicting laws come from legislatures, courts, administrative agencies, or constitutions.

States may participate in various ways in the enforcement of federal criminal law as well, for example by arresting individuals for federal offenses. But states lack power to enforce federal criminal law directly, such as by prosecuting federal offenders themselves in state or federal court.

State or local laws held to be preempted by federal law are void not because they contravene any provision of the Constitution, but rather because they conflict with a federal statute or treaty, and through operation of the Supremacy Clause.

Rule 5.1. Constitutional Challenge to a Statute

1. (a) Notice by a Party. A party that files a pleading, written motion, or other paper drawing into question the constitutionality of a federal or state statute must promptly:
2. (b) Certification by the Court.
3. (c) Intervention; Final Decision on the Merits.
4. (d) No Forfeiture.

Supporters of the Separate Car Act denied that it violated either the 13th or the 14th Amendments. The 13th Amendment was created to end slavery and forced servitude, and courts in the past had recognized that separate accommodations did not amount to either, supporters contended.

However, the Supreme Court did exercise judicial review in other contexts. In particular, the Court struck down a number of state statutes that were contrary to the Constitution. The first case in which the Supreme Court struck down a state statute as unconstitutional was Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 87 (1810).