term government

The Framers believed their most important action in preventing the tyranny in the United States was to separate the powers among three branches. They wanted to create a stronger national government but they also wanted to guard against possible misuse of that power. One of the key concept was the Separation of Powers. It was a method to allow each of the branches to affect the actions of the others and that method was known as the “check and balances” systems.

The French political thinker Montesquieu was the one who advocated the key concept that the power needed to be balanced to against tyranny. His writing, especially his major work, The spirit of the Laws, “were taken as political gospel” at the Philadelphia Convention [1]. It was also the main idea in shaping the three-branch and the “check and balance” system that America’s Founders outlined in the Constitution of 1787. Check and balance described how each branch is given not only its own powers but also some power over the other two branches, each branch should not able to get too much power and get too far out of control.

Among the most common check and balance is the president can veto the bills. First, the congress introduces and votes on a bill. Then, the bill goes to the executive branch, the president decides whether the bill is effective for the country. If he agrees, the bill will pass and it becomes a law. If the president disagree on what the bill says, he can veto the bill. However, the legislature can override the bill with two-third of the Senate, so the bill is still becomes a law. The bill then is tested by the people through the court system. In particular, the Supreme Court is signed jurisdiction over controversies between citizens. If they found the law is unfair, the Supreme Court can declare law unconstitutional. The first presidential veto in 1792 when George Washington vetoes a bill about how congress divided seats in the House of Representative among states, and the