Essay On Checks And Balances

The doctrine of separation of powers developed over many centuries. This practice doctrine can be traced to the British Parliament's gradual assertion of power and resistance to royal decrees during the 14th century. Political theorist, John Locke wrote about the concept of separation of powers in his Second Treatise of Government (1690). In the United States, the separation of powers is a fundamental constitutional principle. The framers of this Constitution saw the need to divide power within the government to prevent a single group from ruthlessly taking over the country. Articles I through III of the Constitution of the United States place each of the basic powers of government in a separate branch. This

Did you know the framers of the constitution belt a checks and balance system into the government? There are three branches the executive, legislative and judicial the checks and balance were put in place to ensure that no one branch would be more powerful than the others. These checks and balances include the presidential Veto, the ability of congress to Impeachment and, judicial review.

When the framers of our revered Constitution came together to produce our governing system, they wanted to avoid the precedent of an all powerful entity that could control its citizens. They broke governments role into three important phases, which were the power to make laws, the power to interpret laws, and the ability to enforce them. To further decentralize these authority holding organizations, they created a system that allowed each of the three sections to have a say in each of the others ability to exercise said authority. This organization of overlapping power is referred to as a checks and balances system and was intended to create three equal powers to govern the United States. Over the years since its

The federal government and state governments have had a long history of powers struggles. The struggle goes back and forth between who has the right to make decisions and if there is a problem who should fix it. Sometimes it is better for the federal government to fix issues and during other situations it is better for the state or local governments to fix other issues. In the PBS special of the United States Constitution, Peter Sagal travels around the states documenting the various roles and impact the government has on the country as a whole and on the individual states.

The federal government began to gain power, and in Article I section 8 says, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts and provide the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imports and excises shall be uniform through the United States; to borrow money on the credit of the United Staes; to regulate commerce with foreign nation, and among the several states, and with the Indians Tribes… to establish post offices and post roads .” The following quote describes how the national government has different kinds of power compared to federal government. Article IV section 1 says, “full faith and credit shall be given in each states to the public acts, records, and judicial proceeding of every other state. And the Congress may general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved… ” In simpler words, the state government has to follow laws just like a ordinary

Some examples of checks and balances in the Constitution occur in situations; such as when Congress has the authority to provide justice to the federal courts. The president has a discussion with federal judges about the information gathered from the Senate and their recommendation. Therefore, the three branches of government all have an opportunity to provide their viewpoint on how justice should be served in each federal court case. Checks and balances occur when the executive branch is in charge of foreign affairs, but treaties that deal with foreign governments need to be discussed with the Senate. Thus, the executive branch and the legislative branch have to communicate about decisions that relate to foreign treaties and come to an agreement.

The Bill of Rights became a very important document in the United States Constitution in order to ensure United States citizens equal protection of their rights and liberties. The main objective of the Bill of rights was to place limits on the national government creating an understanding and dividing the powers between the states and the national government. Not all the powers were granted to the national government however not all the powers were prohibited to the states. As stated by Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir & Tolbert (2015) the bill of rights consists of 10 amendments incorporated in the U.S constitution. It is important to note that each amendment contains a legal court case in which the supreme court as well as the government have ruled and have ignored or have protected the rights of the individuals involved.

The government is divided into three branches. Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. James Madison states in his Federalist papers, “Liberty requires that the great departments of powers should be separate and distinct.” Legislative writes the laws for and consists of the House of Representatives and Senate. Executive branch passes the laws the legislative branch makes and the President is the head of this branch. Judicial branch decides if laws are constitutional or not and consists of the Supreme Court. This keeps one branch from getting too much power.

he principle of checks and balances creates a limited form of government because the constitution sets up the branches of the government and how they can only do certain things and can watch over the other branches. Also being a democracy the government cannot have all the power. Some of these checks and balances are the President appointing an official and the Congress rejected/ confirmed the official; the President vetoes a bill and the Congress overrides the veto with a vote: and lastly the judicial branch can review and say an act or order that Congress or President have put in order.

When the first ten amendments were added to the Constitution, they were planned to shield the public from the national government and not the states. States had their individual constitutions, and their laws only had to comply with their constitution. The founders of our country were very concerned about creating too powerful of a centralized government that might overstep on the given civil liberties of the public. As a protection of individual liberties, the Bill of Rights was formed. The Bill of Rights contains the first ten amendments of the Constitution and protect and preserve inalienable rights against abuse by the federal government.

The Bill of Rights is one of the most essential documents produced in the United States. It was written September 25, 1789 and was approved December 15, 1791 written by James Madison. The purpose of this document is to protect citizens from excessive government power.

The Checks and Balances put in place by the Constitution,protect my rights by providing a way for corrupt laws (or laws that take away my rights) to be away with and incorrect interpretations of the law to be dealt with. "The checks and balances is a way to prevent government from either devolving into an autocratic tyranny or an autocratic mob mentality."~Beau Willimon. A word that relates to Checks and Balances is tyrant because checks and balances

The Federal government can declare war and can provide an army and navy, while the state can hold elections, and establish schools. That helps guard against tyranny because it doesn't let one government get too much

As you may know, our Founding Fathers created our government and the Constitution. They had put together a system of government where it was split into three branches: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. This was so not just one person or one specific group of people would have all of the power. Now, that’s where checks and balances comes into the picture because it’s when each branch checks the other two for unconstitutionality or any wrongdoing Checks and balances have created a limited form of government by taking control of the President’s war powers and and term limits. Also, it has separated certain powers to certain branches, for example, the Legislative branch doesn’t have the powers the Judicial branch has, and the Executive branch doesn’t have the same powers the Legislative branch has.

Checks and balances are what keeps one branch from having power over the other two. It's important to citizens because as I said before it makes sure one branch does not infringe on the right of citizens. Writing that may have inspired checks and balances would be The Spirit of Laws by Baron de Montesquieu. “there is no liberty if the judiciary power is not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator.