Separation Of Powers Research Paper

Submitted By dennislambert
Words: 586
Pages: 3

The Separation of Powers In The Federalist, James Madison wrote “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. A dependence on the people is no doubt the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions”. (Castro 663) The Separation of Powers devised by the framers of the Constitution was designed to do one primary thing: to prevent the majority from ruling. This was done to prevent a possible tyranny, which was the idea behind separating from England to begin with. The separation of powers provides a system of shared power known as “checks and balances”. This was set up to insure that the three branches of government would not be able to become over powerful. The three branches that are created in the Constitution. The Legislative branch (Congress) which contains the House and Senate as described in Article I. The Legislative branch makes the law. “Article I, Section 8, lists the powers of Congress, and these are considerable, as they include the ability to pass any laws "necessary and proper" to fulfill its charge. Congress also has the power to declare war (after which the president becomes Commander-in-Chief)”. They can approve taxes, give permission to borrow money, set the budget, and they have the ability to over ride a presidents veto (with a two thirds of votes) and they have the ability to impeach the president. Congress can decide the amount executive officials get paid, but Congress can not increase or decrease the President’s pay and con not decrease a judges pay while he/she is still in office. Next you have the Executive branch as described in Article II which includes the President, his cabinet and many different agencies, some of their jobs are Checks on the Legislature President has power to veto bill, becomes the Commander in chief of the military during war time, can refuse to spend money assigned for