It Begins With Not Giving One Person/ Group All the Power

The framers of the Constitution feared too much centralized ability, adopting the philosophy of divide and conquer. At the national level, they created three different branches of government to administer three unlike types of ability. The legislative branch made the laws through a Congress of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The executive branch enforced the laws through a president, vice president, and numerous executive departments such equally Treasury and State. And the judicial branch interpreted the laws through a Supreme Court and other lower courts. In the words of James Madison: "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

Within the separation of powers, each of the three branches of government has "checks and balances" over the other ii. For instance, Congress makes the laws, but the President tin can veto them and the Supreme Court tin declare them unconstitutional. The President enforces the law, but Congress must approve executive appointments and the Supreme Court rules whether executive activeness is ramble. The Supreme Courtroom tin strike downwards deportment past both the legislative and executive branches, but the President nominates Supreme Court justices and the Senate confirms or denies their nominations. "Appetite must be fabricated to counteract ambition," wrote James Madison in Federalist 51, so that each co-operative volition seek to limit the power of the other two branches to protect its own power. Such a system makes concerted action more difficult, simply it also makes tyranny less likely.

We the People content written by Linda R. Monk, Constitutional scholar

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Source: https://www.pbs.org/tpt/constitution-usa-peter-sagal/we-the-people/separation-of-powers/

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