Principles and Articles of the United States Constitution Essay

This branch, however, does not have all the power. There is a system put into place by the founding fathers called checks and balances. This system was though up with one goal in mind, to allow near equal flow of power

James Madison quotes, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands whether of one, a few or many...may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” James Madison is saying absolute power corrupts absolutely. Accordingly, to obtain liberty the “three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” Our bicameral Legislature makes laws, Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. “The executive power shall be vested in a President”, the President carries out the laws while in office during the term of four years. Consequently, the Judicial power evaluates laws and is “invested in one Supreme Court”. The separation of powers guards the community against tyranny because each branch holds each other

checks and balances, allowing each branch to hold only the power needed to fulfill its

To prevent from one branch of government having all power, and therefore having tyranny, (Madison FP # 47) Checks and Balances was added to the defenses of the constitution. There are three branches of government: Legislative Branch (Congress), Executive Branch (President), and Judicial Branch (The Courts). These three branches work together to check one another to make sure the power is evenly distributed and balanced, hence the name Checks and Balances. The way it works is that the Legislative Branch (Congress) can check the Executive Branch (President) by approving Presidential nominations, being able to override a President’s veto, and can impeach the President, him or her, from office. The Legislative Branch can check the Judicial Branch by having Senate confirm Presidential nominations and by being able to impeach judges and remove them from office. The President can check the Legislative Branch by vetoing Congressional legislation, and can check the Judicial Branch by nominating judges. The Judicial Branch can check the Legislative Branch by declaring laws unconstitutional, and can check the Executive Branch by declaring presidential acts unconstitutional. (Madison FP # 51) All three branches of government work together to make sure no branch is abusing their limited power, by using the system Checks and

In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.

The Constitution for the US has 7 Articles, and they are all very detailed. They help lead our country toward success and let us strive to be the best country that we can possibly be. It is crazy how they wrote it in the 1700’s, and we are now in the 2000’s and still obey it. The writers of it must have been genius’!

Our Founding Founders established the federal government with three distinct branches, each with powers over the other in order to have a proper checks and balances to ensure fairness across the board. The U.S. Constitution outlines the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of government and is a critical document for the federal government. Important laws and documents such as The Bill of Rights, The US Civil Rights Act and The Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) are managed by our Constitution. Below we will discuss three subjects which set up a diverse broad range of viewpoints that are essential in our democracy.

Over 200 years ago the United States’ Founding Fathers created a unique system of government that allowed a balance to exist between both the federal government and the separate state governments. Through the three branches of government, specifically the executive and legislative branches, the United States has been able to act as a unified body with several varying individual parts. With the executive branch and the legislative branch each having outlined powers of their own the Founders were able to equally balance the power of the national government and the state governments. Although this system has managed to stay in tact for two centuries and has allowed the United States of America to become a dominate player in international affairs, there has consistently been a battle of power between the president in the executive branch and the two houses of congress in the legislative branch. As the United States continues to evolve and face multiple obstacles, so does the relationship between these two branches.

The first step to avoiding absolute power was making a separation of powers. Separation of powers was when the framers were concerned about tyranny, so they decided to split the government up into 3 branches so the power was divided. The legislative branch, which is Congress (House of Representatives and the Senate), is responsible for making the laws. The executive branch, which is the President, is responsible for carrying out the laws. The judicial branch, which is the courts, is responsible for interpreting the laws (Doc B). Since the government is split up like this, there is no way one branch could hold too much power, which means tyranny is avoided by doing this.

After the United States gained independence from Great Britain, the new country needed to form a strong government in order to prove that it can be successful without being under British rule. In order to do this, the US created the Articles of Confederation in 1781. However, this method failed due to the fact that it supplied the states with more power than the national government. In May 1787, delegates met up in Philadelphia to improve the Articles of Confederation. This meeting was called the Constitutional Convention, and is where the Constitution was born.

In the USA and in each of the fifty states, the most basic fundamental is a constitution, which is a relatively simple document and is the self-designated supreme law of the land. As the supreme law of the land, Constitutional Law texts are generally divided into two parts. The first part is about the allocation of powers. This entails two basic principles of American Constitution:separation of powers and division of powers. The former one discusses the interaction among the three constituent elements of national goverment, while the latter one refers to the extent of power possessing by the federal goverment and specification of states' power. Both of the two principles function under one

| In Massachusetts Bay, men who owned property could go to a town meeting and vote.

After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and

The Judicial branch is in charge of reviewing decisions and understanding federal laws. It is in charge of explaining the laws and having the power to decide if the laws are constitutional (Brand). The Judicial Branch is different from the other branches because, the members are appointed by the president and then approved by the Senate. This branch provides a comfort for the citizens to understand that the branches are dedicated to maintain equality and make sure they are fair laws. Even though, the judicial branch doesn’t have much power, it is just as important as the other two branches.

Ever since the creation of the United States Constitution, our founding fathers insisted on establishing rules and regulations for the branches of government to abide by. The Constitution is a crucial piece of legislation that is important to the welfare of our country’s government. The purpose of the Constitution is to ensure that each branch of government which is known as the legislative, judicial, and executive branch all have equal powers. However, each branch is designated to a series of different tasks, no branch has more authority or power over one another.