The Separation Of Power In The United States

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Most citizens believe that the United States' biggest threats are outside countries. We live in constant fear of their capability to ruin our nation's sense of freedom and unity. There's a much bigger threat, however. Our government has the possibility to take complete control over the United States and have absolute power, otherwise known as tyranny. If this were to happen, our freedoms and rights would be severely restricted. Fortunately, the 55 delegates of the Constitution (the written framework for the government) took multiple steps to prevent this from occurring. By including the concepts of federalism, large/small state equality, the separation of powers, and checks and balances in the Constitution, these framers protected themselves…show more content…
states have a fair amount of representation and power in their part of leading the country, and that no states has more power than another. State representatives in the house represent the people of the state, and not the factors that citizens are unable to choose (ie. wealth and state size). Alaska, for example, is the largest state in the United States, but due to its very small population, has only one representative. However, it has two senators, similar to every other state. The senators write and carry new laws, or bills. Each general power in the government is divided into three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial; this is called the separation of powers. According to James Madison, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” (Federalist Paper #47, 1788) (Doc B). The legislative branch consists of both the Senate and House of Representative, which come together to form Congress. The executive branch, on the other hand, is made up of the President and Vice President of the United States, who both serve four years each term. The Supreme Court forms the judicial branch; each judge in the Court may only hold office if they maintain strictly good behavior (Doc…show more content…
the executive branch is unable to both pass the laws and create them; this would virtually create a dictatorship, since the President is the head of this branch). The powers of the three branches are evenly divided, and no loopholes in this system are present in the Constitution. These branches (the legislative, executive, and judicial) are able to effectively and easily balance each other out through a system of checks and balances; each branch seemingly “checks” on one another. or has a certain power over another, which balances out the overall government. James Madison - according to Federalist Paper #51 - believed that “...the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other… (The three branches) should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” (Doc
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