...‘The separation of powers hinders effective government in the United States’. Discuss The ‘separation of powers’ is a theory – adopted from Montesquieu in 1748 – where political power is distributed over the 3 branches of government. This was put in place to create a limited government which would essentially help to avoid tyranny and protect the liberty of citizens. Neustradt stated that it was the institutions that are separate and not the powers. If the branches were totally separate, power would be difficult to exercise especially with the use of checks and balances. Instead there is a separation of personnel, where not one member of one branch can work within another branch. So all in all, the US government created a doctrine of ‘shared powers’, where checks and balances are needed. Madison agreed with this, and said: ‘you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place oblige it to control itself’. Some of the checks and balances include: the president checking congress by presidential veto; the presidential veto is checked by congressional override; the supreme court uses judicial review to decide whether legislation or actions are unconstitutional; presidential appointments are confirmed, and treaties ratified by the Senate; and finally the president is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, but only congress can declare war. Checks and balances are needed alongside the separation of powers. Checks and balances are essential...
Words: 1064 - Pages: 5
...Assess the positive and the negative aspects of the United States political framework based on the ‘separation of powers’. The United States is a presidential democracy; its political framework is based on the separation of powers between the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of government. This is in contrast to a parliamentary democracy where there is a fusion of powers between branches of government 1. It is often argued that a parliamentary system of government based on a fusion of powers is a more effective form of government, particularly when legislating. Although this may be the case, the US political system has overcome issues faced by most parliamentary democracies such as elective dictatorships and poor scrutiny of the executive. This has been due to the structure of the US political system based on the separation of powers. In this essay I will assess the positive and the negative aspects of the US political system. I will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages the separation of powers has brought to the US system of government. I will first assess the positive aspects of the US political system. I will then discuss the negative aspects of the US political system, finally drawing a conclusion. The ‘separation of powers is a central structural feature of the United States constitution’ 2. The US political system was designed first and foremost to prevent tyranny, something the founding fathers still feared even after America had gained...
Words: 2565 - Pages: 11
...different ways this system can be organized, with various distributions of power. The separation of powers is a model for the government of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece. Now, it is used in the United States. Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility. The typical division of branches is into a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary. The United States Legislation is comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate, together forming Congress. Congress is comprised of mainly democrats and republicans, and republicans hold the majority in Congress right...
Words: 1106 - Pages: 5
...established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed. There are three ways to fight tyranny. The American Constitution was put in place to avoid just that by the ideology of Federalism, Separation of Powers, and Checks and Balances. The first stage to fighting tyranny according to The American Constitution is the idea of Federalism. Federalism is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government with regional governments in a single political system. James Madison also known as ¨The Father Of The Constitution¨ who was also apart of the Federalist paper along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton use the Federalist papers to implement these such ideas. According to Doc. A, “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments.”. What James Madison is saying in Doc A, is if the people give up some of their rights it is possible to have a working and flowing government that abides by the people’s say....
Words: 557 - Pages: 3
...How the Constitution Guards against Tyranny The United States of America learned from Great Britain’s government and used what they had learned to create the government that the United States has today. After the Thirteen colonies broke away from Great Britain, they needed a plan of government so, they made a document entitled the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation worked like a constitution would and it worked very well until the framers of our now Constitution realized that The Articles of Confederation would never work to suit the needs of the new blossoming country. Upon this realization, they made a whole new plan of government called The Constitution which protected the people’s rights, set out the rules of the government, and most importantly protected all the citizens from an abusive government otherwise know as a tyrant....
Words: 972 - Pages: 4
...SEPARATION OF POWER: A COMPARATIVE STUDY INTRODUCTION The research topic deals with the concept of „the separation of powers. The researcher would like to highlight the concept of separation of powers and then gradually comes to the point separation of powers in England and US. After that the researcher would like to articulate the separation of powers in India. The doctrine of “the separation of powers” as usually understood is derived from Montesquieu whose elaboration of it was based on a study of Locke’s writings and an imperfect understanding of the eighteen century English constitution. Montesquieu, a research scholar, conceived the principle of separation of power. He found that concentration of power in one person or group of persons resulted in tyranny. He therefore, felt that the governmental power should be vested in three organs, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The principle can be stated as follows: (1) Each organ should be independent of the other; (2) no one organ should perform functions that belong to the other. Lock and Montesquieu derived the contents of this doctrine from the developments in the British constitutional history of the early 18th century. In England after a long war between parliament and the King, they saw the triumph of Parliament in 1688 which gave Parliament legislative supremacy culminating in the passage of the Bill of Rights. This led ultimately to recognition by the King of legislative and tax powers of...
Words: 3396 - Pages: 14
...Itatyana Newson Mr.Alvarado 09/6/2016 The united states constitution guards against tyranny by supporting the ideas of federalism . Federalism a system of government in which power is divided . james madison , federalist paper #st , 1788 “ how does this compound government provide “ “double security “ to the people “ the central and state government will check each other's power . this shows how important federalism is and how it is used . “how does federalism guard against tyranny ? “ by distributing certain powers between central and states government neither could gain absolute power over the nation or nations people . The united states constitution guards against tyranny supporting checks and balance . checks and balance a system that allows each branch of government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent anyone branch from exerting too much power . It was important to keep control of the three branches to make it far for one or another .[ james madison , federalist paper #st , 1788] “each branch should have some check on the powers of the others” . this helped them keep track over each other . “ according to this document , how did the farmers of the constitution guard against tyranny ?” to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other ....
Words: 538 - Pages: 3
...of people have a lot of power. How did the Constitution guard against tyranny? Well, James Madison wrote a new constitution to help guard against tyranny. It included federalism, separation of power, checks and balance and big states versus small states. In 1788 federalism was put into play, Federalism is where and government have and share power. The power surrendered by two distinct governments and portion along...
Words: 697 - Pages: 3
...Running Head: THE MAINLEVELS OF THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The Main Levels of the U.S. Federal Government Lynn Todd Colorado Technical University Online PBAD200-0904A-13 American Government Professor Jamie Boyd October 12, 2009 The U.S. Government is composed up of three key branches, the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch. Each branch has its own powers, functions, checks, and balances. First, we will look at the history of the Constitution. During the 1600’s many Europeans left Britain in search of economic, political, and intellectual freedoms. However, they remained under the power of Britain, which functioned under a unitary system of government with one national power that permitted it to take action against any individual. During the Revolutionary war, the states battled with Britain, and won their freedom from the unitary system of government of Britain (CTU online, 2008, phase 1 multimedia presentation)....
Words: 3242 - Pages: 13
...Montesquieu, was a 18th century political philosopher who first used the term trias politica or separation of powers (Erickson). For the division of government duties, it is separated into three separate but equal branches. The characterizations of each are; the legislative branch in which it is in charge of enacting laws of the state and distributing money to operate the government efficiently, the executive branch that executes and oversees public policy that the legislative branch has authorized or financed, and the judicial branch that is in charge of interpreting the Constitution and laws with then taking the understandings to disagreements brought before it (Erickson). The separation of powers is a pillar of the United States government with all state and federal governments center around the standard of it. Although federal separation of power is not the same as state, as one instance state courts have acknowledged fundamental...
Words: 620 - Pages: 3
...There are both similarities and differences, when referring to checks and balances and separation of powers. Both have to do with the Government. But separation of powers is a model of government in which different parts of the government are in charge of different tasks; in the United States, these parts are known as the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. Checks and balances is a means of trying to ensure that these three parts of government stay equal, and that one does not try to take over another. Separation of powers was first introduced as a government model in ancient Greece, and was used largely in the Roman republic. Under this Government model, the state is divided into separate and independent entities. The normal separation of branches is into executive, a legislature, and judiciary. The legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch enforces and carries out the laws to the public, and the judicial branch interprets the laws. Interestingly, not only does each branch have a certain power, each branch has a certain power over the other branch. This is done to keep them balanced and to prevent one from getting too much control. This is known as “Checks and Balances.” The concept of checks and balances comes from the United States constitution. The different branches of government check each other’s power so that no branch has more power than the other. An example would be if the legislative branch wants to pass a law, they first present it as...
Words: 648 - Pages: 3
... Most importantly, the Constitution protects the United States against tyranny; which is the accumulation of all powers in the same hands. The Constitution protects against tyranny by separation of powers, checks and balances, and equal representation between states. The Constitution protects against tyranny by separation of powers between each branch of government, which prevents branches from becoming tyrants. “The different government will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (Doc A) This sentence means that state and national government will limit each other. This was done by delegated powers which were given to the central government, and by reserved powers which were given to the states. These powers were only for those types of governments and prevented one government from having...
Words: 754 - Pages: 4
...Branches of the Government Learning Team D HIS 301 Professor Bruce Franklin Branches of the Government “Historically, the concept of Separation of Powers dates back as far as ancient Greece. The concepts were refined by contemporaries of the Framers, and those refinements influenced the establishment of the three branches in the Constitution” (Mount, 2014). The idea of a separation of powers first appeared in the political philosophy of Montesquieu. He advocated for a government where each branch had clear cut rules on what they could and could not do. This idea of a separation of government, or a government that was for the people would be perpetuated by other philosophers throughout the Enlightenment era. The founding fathers sought to create the United States government in the same way. Each branch is empowered with distinct powers. The government is set up this way in order to prevent abuse of power. Each branch is able to exercise a form of control over each other. Within the constitution are articles. Within each article, it outlines the separations of powers for each branch of the government. Article one outlines The Legislative. Which is made up of The Senate and the House of Representatives Article two is composed of The Executive branch. This entails the President, his Vice-President and the state departments. Article three explains the judicial branch. This also covers federal and the Supreme Court. With this kind of system in place, it creates a kind of...
Words: 1339 - Pages: 6
...branches of government will abuse their powers, thus making a necessity for the separation of powers, and for checks and balances. Checks and balances is a system where the different parts of government have powers that can affect and control the other parts of government in order for the other branches cannot become too powerful. This is to prevent any branch of government from exerting too much power. Each branch of government has different powers and functions that they carry out, they are separate although they are constitutionally equal they are also independent from each other. This is the separation of powers. The Legislative Branch of government, which is the first Article of the Constitution, which is also known as Congress, is made up of the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate consists of 100 members, and these senators are allowed to serve six years. The House of Representatives has 435 members which make up the HOR, these representatives serve two year terms. In total Congress is made up of 535 Congressmen. The Legislative Branch has many powers which are to pass all federal laws, pass the federal budget, establish lower federal courts and the number of judges, and they also have to power to declare war. Yes, congress declares war. Congress checks the executive branch by having the power to impeach the president, reject legislation or funding the presidents wants, and the also have the power to override the president’s veto by a...
Words: 848 - Pages: 4
...The United States constitution is the first written constitution of modern times. Now more than two hundred years have passed, the constitution still has vitality. As justice Louis Brandeis said,”the doctrine of the separation of powers is not to promote efficiency, but to preclude the exercise of arbitrary power.” I agree with him. The separation of powers impresses me most. According to the constitution, the government is separated into three branches-Legislative, Executive and Judicial. Congress has the sole power to legislate. Executive power is vested in the President by Congress with the advice and consent of the Senate so that he may preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States. The power to decide cases and controversies is vested in the Supreme Court and inferior courts established by Congress. The judges must be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. In this way, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others and guarantee that no one branch becomes too powerful and make sure that the power is balanced between them. In my opinion, separation of power is a must. In the first place, it can restrict power and preclude the exercise of arbitrary power. As Montesquieu-the father of the separation theory said,” All those who have power are easy to abuse of power, this is an unchangeable experience.” Democracy may easily be destroyed by dictatorship without power restriction. Thus...
Words: 382 - Pages: 2
