The Seperation of Powers and the American Constitution Essay

The Articles created a weak form of government by giving too much authority to the states and not giving enough power to the national government which made it too weak to enforce laws. James Madison understood that tyranny would be uncontrollable as he mentioned “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judicia[l] in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self–appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny” (James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788). However, Separation of powers and checks and balances have succeeded in unifying the powers of the nation, by creating a balance between the national and state government it divides the tasks in order to prevent the majority from oppressing the minority. The fear of having one centralized branch of government over the local government gave the American civilization an inside of the negative outcomes of giving too much authority to just one form of government; that there needs to be a division between the branches, yet they need to have each others support in order to establish laws to prevent

It is more accurate to say that the United States has a system of “separated institutions sharing power” rather than a system of “separated powers.” Having three different branches is separated powers. However, these three branches all share the same power because one must go within another to balanced. Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the powers of government are separate?

The first and most fundamental division of our government is “federalism or the constitutional allocation of governmental powers between the federal and state governments” (24). Throughout the years federalism has changed from what it was first described in the constitution. Contemporary federalism is what is used in our modern government, and with the dilemmas that we have now a more centralized government has been used, which was not planned when our government was created. The second division is separation of powers. This division has a major impact on public policies. The constitution “distributes the powers of the federal government among three branches, each capable of applying checks and balances to the other two” (29). These three divisions can either work together, which makes policymaking smooth and able to get things done, or they can veto each other which makes policymaking harder and nothing gets done. The third division is subgovernments, or can also be described as iron triangles. This division has three actors involved the first is interest groups, the second is congressional committees or subcommittees, and the third is the administrative agency (31-33). These actors work off each other to help get policies implemented. These three division help compose our public policies in the United States.

Separation of powers is a principle of the U.S. government, where powers and responsibilities are divided by the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. Each branch may choose to prevent action of the other branches through the system of checks and balances. The framers of the Constitution designed this system to make sure that no branch would gain too much power and that issues of public policy and welfare would be given consideration before any action was taken. The concept of Separation of Powers is included in the Constitution in the 1st Article, in the 2nd Article, and in the 3rd Article. The Legislative is composed of the House and Senate, which is set up in Article 1. The Executive includes of the President, Vice-President, and the departments, which is set up in Article 2. The Judicial is composed of the federal courts and the Supreme Court, which is set up in Article 3. The different branches of government have different responsibilities. In the Executive branch they veto power over all bills, makes treaties, and ensures all laws are carried out. In the Legislature branch they pass all federal laws, establish all lower federal courts, they can override a Presidential veto and can impeach the President. In the Judicial branch they have the power to try federal cases and interpret the laws. As I continue in my paper I will discuss the different concepts that

The United States Constitution provides the National Government three distinctive branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial Branch, each with its own form of powers, duties and roles. Separation of powers and duties within the branches enable them to check and balance one another as well as balance the authority of the other two.

The Constitution separates all of the powers of our government to keep one person or group of people from getting all of the power. James Madison states in the Federalist Paper #47, “The accumulations of all powers...in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many is the very definition of tyranny.” Since all of the powers are separated, we do not have this problem. The Constitution divides all of the powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches to prevent anyone from having too much power and to prevent tyranny.

"Aware of the tendency of power to degenerate into abuse, the worthies of our country have secured its independence by the establishment of the Constitution...” (Thomas Jefferson). This speech was delivered to the Washington City Tammany Society on December 14, 1809, years after the final draft of the Constitution was ratified, but makes a clear statement as to why the United States government needed a clear line of division between powers. (loc.gov). Our nation’s founders saw fit to clearly outline and define the separation of powers to protect the rights of citizens. To ensure this and to prevent one group from attaining too much power, along with a system of checks and balances to aid it, the government separated into three branches: the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch.

Not only that, but it also helps prevent any tyranny, by not permitting one branch from taking control and overpowering the others, and having all three branches work together and focused on different tasks so that every law-making decision is made fairly. The separation of powers may cause a long and painful law-making process but it helps to make sure that each law is viewed by different mindsets and that it will be beneficial for the American

James Madison stated, “The accumulation of all powers … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Were the federal Constitution … no further arguments would be necessary to inspire a universal reprobation of the system.”1 The idea of a separation of powers was created to configure a way for people to be free in the country without having to oppress them just to secure the goals for the leader, but for the country to serve the people that live there. States now have entire self-governing systems within to create and establish their own laws, even if they are against national laws.

In order to do so the government created a strong way to separate power within the nation. The Constitution created 3 branches of government, the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive. These 3 branches have different tasks, but they all have the same amount of power, so no 1 power is stronger than the other. The Legislative Branch is congress, this is the one that writes debates for congress and they suggest new laws and whether to pass them. The Judicial Branch is the Supreme Court this is the side that makes decisions and they actually decide if a law is to be passed. The Executive Branch is the President this is the one that enforces and supports the new laws that the Legislative and Judicial branch pass. Those are the three branches of government that we have in our nation, and so far everything is running rather very

What is the American Constitution? It’s the blue print or the basic principles that regulates and organizes the American Government and its governmental bodies such as: the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court. It establishes the boundaries of power within the three branches of government and overall, is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution ensures that power is distributed so that our nation doesn’t fall back into a totalitarian government.

James Madison once stated in Federalist 51 “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Madison was asserting that humans are flawed and that separation of powers was designed to divide up the power and the responsibilities. Each branch would be able to check on the other one. There are three branches the Judicial Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Executive Branch. Each of them have their own duties to fulfill and separation of powers prohibits one branch from exercising the functions of the other ones.

The U.S. Constitution has a provision that separates the powers of the government into three branches, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The separation gives each branch their own unique powers without one branch getting too much power.

Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom Most Americans are aware that the United States government is divided into three branches being legislative, executive, and judiciary--even a third grade American child could recite these branches off the top of their head; however, many do not realize how detrimental it would be to the United States to have a system of government void of a division of powers. Special individuals like Baron Montesquieu, and James Madison established the framework for freedom when they dreamed of a government with a separation of powers, namely, checks and balances. This separation, ultimately, acting as the key to prolong our freedom-- the freedom or political liberty that still resides in the United States today.

Now, let’s talk about separation of powers. Separations of powers is when powers are split between 3 branches of government. In the case of the United States, these branches are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. This makes sure that one branch doesn’t get more powerful than another one. This is achieved through checks and