Preview

The Importance Of The Separation Of Powers

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
649 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Importance Of The Separation Of Powers
The Separation of Powers exists to protect the natural rights of the people. It was created by Baron de Montesquieu during the Enlightenment and used in the Declaration of Independence by the Framers. The Separation of Powers is a division of government into three branches which prevents one branch from gaining too much power. The Separation of Powers, used by the Founding Fathers, is just as important today as when the written.
The Separation of Powers is a system of Checks and Balances that acts as a safeguard. Each branch has a small amount of authority for the other branches and keeps each other in check. The Legislative has the power to make and change laws, the Judiciary branch has the power to make judgments on law, and the Executive branch has the power to put laws into action. The discord between England and America, leading to America’s independence, started with King George III’s heavy taxation upon the colonists. The colonists refused to pay because of their lack of representation in the English government. Basically, the discord between the two peoples grew until the colonists decided to fight the British for their freedom. The Founding Fathers wanted to create a strong ideal government that focused on protecting the people’s rights. The U.S. Constitution made sure that no single power could rise up and take control and included laws
…show more content…
Constitution. The reason we have an American government is so that society is organized and the occurrence o problems are less likely to happen. In a nation, there must be some type of order. “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America”—US

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Federalist Paper #47, James Madison explicates how one person or group withholding all the power is the definition of tyranny and that, “[L]iberty requires the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” The excerpt from the United States’ Constitution explain the different powers given to each branch of government. For instance, in Article 1, Section 1 it states, “All legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a Congress…” Moreover, the United States’ Constitution explains, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States.” Additionally, the Constitution states, “The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts….” Separation of Powers helps guard against tyranny because we prevent a singular branch from ruling over the people and have all the power, the very definition of tyranny. By separating the power of each branch it assures that no one branch overpowers…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our founding founders influenced the creation of separation of powers because there was a new structure of government. Hence, it was a powerful national government that had the authority over the states and the people. As result our founding father created the Legislative, Executive and Judicial power. This was indispensable for defense against tyranny. In fact, they wanted to guard the citizens against possible misuse of power.…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The government separated the highest powers between three branches so that they can check each other…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Separation Of Powers Dbq

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The theory of the Separation of Powers keeps the government in check and ensures that one branch doesn’t become too powerful or else the government would be a monarchy or dictatorship. In document one, it talks about how there are three branches of government: the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch. The powers of the government are separated between these three branches, sort of like the system of checks and balances, because they didn’t want one branch becoming too powerful and taking over the other branches. In document five it shows how each branch has one main power or job. For example the main power of the Legislative Branch is to make the laws. The Executive Branch has the President and the branch is responsible for carrying out and enforcing the laws. The Judicial Branch has the courts and their main power is to interpret the laws and punish those who have broken the law. The Separation of Powers limit the power of the federal government by making sure one branch does not become too…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Separation of powers is a feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of government to be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. The constitution does not divide power absolutely but instead, it shares it among the government. James Madison, as well as the Founders, also came up with a federal system of government which divided the power between a national government and the individual states. They sought the federal system as an additional check on the national…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Guard Against Tyranny

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Legislative, executive, and judicial are the three branches. The legislative branch, which consists of a senate and house of representatives, makes laws. The president and vice-president make up the executive branch, which is the branch mainly responsible for enforcing laws. Finally, there is the judicial branch. In the judicial branch, there is the Supreme Court and many smaller courts. The judicial branch is responsible for interpretting laws; this is all according to Document B, also written by James Madison. In a nutshell, seperation of powers guards against tyranny because it divides the powers into three branches so no branch can overpower…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Separation of powers is used by the constitution to create a three branches to prevent one branches getting too powerful. The three branches is legislative, executive and judicial. Legislative made up of 2 houses of congress would make the laws. Executive is headed by president would implement and enforce laws that is passed by congress. Judicial system of federal courts interpret the laws.…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “While the colonies where under the ruling of King George and a monarchy with absolute power until 1776 when the colonies declared independence, they learned that this type of government was an unfair and oppressive system” (“The Colonies Under British Rule”). With the past leaderships in mind, the framers designed and wrote the constitution to distribute separation of powers; the three branches of government. Each branch was formed and given a certain set of responsibilities. A system known as Checks and Balances was put into order to ensure that one branch does not obtain more power over another. As time has progressed, the different branches have grown stronger as well. They work hand in hand to ensure that the country is running smoothly, and guarantees that the rights of the citizens are not…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tyranny Dbq

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Separation of powers is defined as a system of government in which powers are divided/shared between federal and state governments. Some evidence that described more about the separation of powers came from document B, titled Separation of Powers, was basically about having all power in the same hands, which James Madison defined as tyranny, plus liberty required all powers in the government to be separate. One of the arguments involving the separation of powers was that each branch of government had a different job, which divided the powers.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The separation of powers was proposed by James Madison to prevent the government from having complete control over the country. For example, without it, the president wouldn’t have very much trouble passing laws that are unconstitutional, or doing things that are unconstitutional. The main purpose is to prevent one branch from controlling the power of another and to provide for checks and balances. This system is very effective and limits the control of the president.…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the early years of the United States, the men who began our government had many issues to resolve. The Separation of Powers in the American democracy is where the early government decided to separate the branches of government into three separate areas. The separation was enacted due to keeping the government from having one person in total control and having a tyrannical form of government instead of a democratic form for the people. The writers of the Constitution; or Framers, were the earliest form of government and thought by following the rules and agendas that they had been following for more than 100 years, that the government would be better…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A strong government is needed to keep the nation in control and out of danger, but it could be dangerous not to put limits on the government, thus the Framers idealized structures to maintain a balance between national government and individual liberty. In order to put limits on the government’s power, the Framers came up with the ideal of separation of powers. This ideal is the way in which the Constitution divides the power between three branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1787, fifty five men met in Philadelphia to help form the great country we live in today, called America. The United States of America is the only country to be created based solely on the advancement of individual freedom. In order to gain freedom, the people had to have their own rights, and the rights given to the people were written on the constitution which was created by the fifty men that met in Philadelphia. The constitution allowed individuals in America to have their own rights as well as limit government power. It was important that the government had limited powers, because with limited power it allowed American citizens to have more freedom. A few doctrines to help reduce the power of the American government are the bill of rights, separation of powers, and checks and balances. The bill of rights, are the first ten amendments in the constitution that allow American citizens certain rights that the government cannot take away. Separation of powers splits the government into three branches and gives them specific powers, these three branches are the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. While separation of powers separates government into three branches, checks and balances limit the three branches powers so that no branch is stronger than one another. These three doctrines are a few key reasons on how the American government power is limited.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to the separation of powers, the U.S. government is divided into three branches that each perform different functions: Congress makes the laws, the president enforces the laws, and the judiciary interprets the laws. However, the three government bodies are not completely independent of each other; through the system of checks and balances, the three branches of government are in fact very involved with one another because they are able to exercise restraint over the other branches’ powers. After living in the colonies under the rule of an English monarch, the founding fathers knew firsthand what unrestrained government power could and would lead to; this absolute power was something they did not desire for the American people. The system…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Having a government that contains energy, stability and republican liberty might not seem that hard if one of these three ingredients are present, but if two or more are present in government it is where the difficulty begins. It is hard to fit all these three characteristics into one government because they do not blend together. Publius describes the need for energy and stability in the new government while at the same time maintaining the republican liberty. The 1787 Constitution achieves these through a separation of powers between the three branches of the federal government.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays