Essay On Separation Of Powers

Out of all the branches the legislative branch has the most power. They have to over view the president 's actions and decisions, if they don 't agree with it they can stop him. They control the taxes money, and relationships between states. They have the power to declare way, and make their own laws. The other branches have limited power and higher supervision, but the legislative branch has enough power to control itself.

One of the ways that the United States guarded against cruel and oppressive government or rule was that they made the three branches of government. These three branches were the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch. This helped guard against cruel and oppressive government or rule because “they were separate and distinct powers.” (Doc B) This would help to guard against cruel and oppressive government or rule because all of these powers were separated so there wasn’t one overpowering government.

In document C, there is a very useful chart that shows one way that each of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) holds a little bit of power over the others. This is good because it means that no one part of government is above or below the others in terms of power, and there is always a way for one of them to be “checked” if they are becoming too tyrannical. For example, the President (executive) can veto Congressional legislation, but Congress (legislative) can impeach the President if necessary. Being able to “check” each other is one of the ways that the Constitution kept one group from having too much power. Another benefit of having the checks and balances system is that none of the three branches is so far apart from each that they have no power over the others, but they are far enough apart to prevent the power from accumulating.

“The accumulation of all powers..in the same hands, whether of one or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47, 1788) ( Background Essay) This quote explains the reasoning for one of the framers, (B) Separation of Powers. The framers of the constitution were created to prevent tyranny and create a stronger government that would hold the nation together. Tyranny ultimately means harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual-- like a king or dictator. The constitution guarded against tyranny in 4 ways: (A)Federalism, (B)Separation of Powers, (C)Checks & Balances, and (D)Small State-Large State.

How The Constitution Guards Against Tyranny The constitution, the american law. The constitution was made in Philadelphia in 1787 with the intent to replace the Articles of Confederation as the papers of american law. Because of the unfairness and the tyranny that the americans suffered at the hands of the british kings and rulers they set up the constitution in a way that certain writings would act as a guard against tyranny, an example of these guards are federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, bicameral. Tyranny is defined by James Madison as “ The accumulation of all powers … in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.”

This method of separation is known as “checks and balances” referring to the three branches of government the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The legislative branch is supposed to be the stronger one. It consists of the Congress divided in two chambers: a House of Representatives and a Senate. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people and have the responsibility of encouraging popular consent and the Senate is elected by the state legislatures. The executive branch consists of the president, who has the power to receive international ambassadors, negotiate treaties with acceptance of the Senate, and appoint major personnel.

Therefore, power has been justly distributed between each division of government. Checks and balances are yet another form of separation of powers in the government. As the Constitution was initially written, there were checks and balances preventing any one branch of becoming too powerful. Since we still follow the same Constitution (with a few amendments) those checks and balances are still used.

In Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”, he said it’s absurd for an island to rule over a continent. This is especially true when Great Britain imposed tyrannic and restrictive laws on the colonies, so the founding fathers of the new independent country created the new constitution in a way the would prevent tyranny in the newly independent United States. The Articles of Confederation was the first plan of government for the newly formed U.S. The Articles were to weak to support a nation properly, so the new constitution began to form. How does the Constitution , a plan of government, guard against the government abusing its power.

Federalism guards against tyranny, so does the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each guard in different, unique ways. All of them do the same job to guard against tyranny. Federalism divides the government into the state and central governments. The division of powers gives each branch of government equal power, while checks and balances allows each branch to check each other.

The authors of the Constitution set limits, which still apply to our modern day society, on each branch of government. These branches consist of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches. The Legislative branch is responsible for

The Executive branch executes laws and is the president. The Judicial branch judges laws and is the Supreme Court. The Legislative branch creates laws and is the House of Representatives and Senate. James Madison said in Federalist Paper #47 Document B, “the accumulation of all powers...in the same hands...may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” This helps protect from tyranny because the Separation of Powers prevents all power from being in the same hands.

In addition, the executive branch was responsible for enforcing or vetoing laws passed by Congress (in addition to its other powers). As for the judiciary, it is responsible for interpreting federal laws and the constitution and for overseeing the decisions made by the federal and state courts. Before when it was unable to address economic and boundary disputes, the judiciary under the constitution was able to address a wide range conflicts. Above all, these three branches of government share equal power to prevent one form of government from becoming too

It provides the overall structure of our democratic government. By separating powers into three branches and creating a system of checks and balances between the branches, it continues a long tradition in American

Divided government occurs when one political party controls the presidency and another controls one or both houses of Congress. The struggle between parties can create significant issues for the government, including the appointment of judges and high officials and the creation of effective problem-solving legislation. Divided government creates an issue for the president in making federal appointments. The president has the constitutional power to nominate ambassadors, judges, and high officials, but these nominees are subject to Senate confirmation. When the government is divided the president and the Senate are of different political parties, this creates a problem in the appointment of these positions.

The Constitution of the United States was formed 223 years ago. Since 1787, a lot has changed. We grew as a country, technology advanced, and we elected 43 different presidents. One of witch, being the first African-American President in history. Due to its age, some may argue that the Constitution is irrelevant to today’s problems.