American History and Everything Connected With It

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American History
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The history of America remains to be a subject of debate in many historians. It is perceived in two ways where some historians record it to have started with arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 hence stress on the background of European. On the other hand, the historians record that it starts around 1600 while emphasizing the American frontier. A few decades ago, American schools as well as universities have actually shifted back in time so as to include a lot on the colonial period and much more especially on the prehistory of the native people (Turner et al 72).
Congressional oversight
Congressional oversight is a role of the government of the government of the United States which is basically aimed at preventing fraud and waste, defending and protecting individual rights and civil liberties, ensuring that the executive complies with the law, evaluating the performance of the executive and gathering important information that is useful for making laws, educating and sensitizing the public (Loewen 56).
It therefore applies to the executive agencies, cabinet departments, the presidency as well as the regulatory commissions. Its oversight function includes the following: committee hearings and enquiries, formal consultations with the head of state, enforcement of house impeachment proceedings as well as the subsequent senate trials, senate advice for presidential nominations, conducting informal meetings between the executive officials and the legislators, conducting both the senate and the house proceedings under the 25th amendment if the head of state becomes disabled or in case the office of the vice president is left vacant and finally it plays a congressional membership role where each state is allocated a number of seats with regard to its representation within the house of representatives. Two senators are allocated to each state regardless of the population of that state. In January 2010, a non-voting representative is elected by the District of Columbia to the House of Representatives together with the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Shamoa, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (Turner et al 72).
Opinion Paper Questions
The following are some common questions that are generated by this topic:
· How has the fraud and wastage been managed in the U.S and especially by its government?
· How have the civil liberties and individual rights been protected and defended?
· Has the executive been complying with the law effectively?
· How has the executive been faring in, in as far as its performance is concerned?
· Has the government been gathering sufficient and important information useful and relevant for making of law? Does the information obtained provide any education benefits to the people?
Other questions which were not in support of the topic include: whether the topic will include the examination of the role of the arms of the government, whether real figures will be provided for the findings and whether the topic will extensively exhaust everything in as far as its functions are concerned (Loewen 56). These questions could not be accepted since research is based on generalization especially where population is high hence sampling method adopted. Some information also may not reflect the truth of the matter hence it is based on assumptions.
Summary
This topic has therefore discussed the roles of congressional oversight whose functions have been highlighted above. It therefore plays a very vital role as it aims at checking to reinforce its mandate for the betterment of the welfare of the people and ensuring the government runs smoothly by avoiding fraudulent practices.
Works cited
Turner, Frederick Jackson, and Allan G. Bogue. The frontier in American history. Courier Corporation, 2010.
Loewen, James W. Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. The New Press, 2008.