US & Spain Constitutions

Every country has its own laws and policies concerning different things. The US Constitution reflects all the democratic beliefs and values that Americans hold. There are many constitutions in this world which are very similar to the one of the United States. Spain has a very different governmental system from the US, but their laws are almost identical. While reading and comparing the two constitutions, government was probably one of the very few differences that they have. United States has a democratic government, where the president is the head of the states and government, while Spain has a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy, where a king or a queen is the head of the state, and the president is the head of the government. The other minor differences in the two counties' constitutions were: that the US concerns less topics about immigration and aliens than Spain does; US allows death penalty in a few states, while Spain states that it can only be allowed in severe wartime; and that the US constitution was written in 1787, while the constitution of Spain was written in 1987, which is less than 30 years ago. As for similarities, there are many of them. In fact, there is so much, that it would take at least a few pages typed to list all of them. I think that the most important and most common similarities are that there can be no discrimination based on birth, race, sex, religion, opinion and any other condition; there has to be due process of law before incriminating a person; habeas corpus procedure must be followed when it is necessary; privacy is protected; there is freedom of speech and religion; citizens can participate in public affairs through representatives freely elected in earlier elections; education should be available to anyone; and that there must be something that gives you a right for medical protection. That's already a long, but definitely not everything. I think that even though, the government systems of the US and Spain are very different, their constitutions are very alike and maybe one was based on another. The two counties are safe to live in and people should feel very comfortable with their laws and live without any fears of being mistreated by the government.

By Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Sources:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
http://www.tribunalconstitucional.es/en/constitucion/Pages/ConstitucionIngles.aspx#I4