US Constitution-Separation of Powers
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The founding fathers of the United States Constitution were faced with a profound problem during the designing of America’s highest legislation. For in the constitution it is defined how power is to be utilized by the government, the body responsible for holding power over the country and its people. The design planned for the new government to be broken into three separate branches created the dilemma of knowing how power could be controlled between the three of them, and between the President and the states. Separation of power was fought for by framers like James Madison, a nationalist, in opposition to others who argued that power could be sought, maintained and developed in an unlimited fashion. Perhaps Madison was the most obsessed of all the framers with controlling power within the new government’s design. His views are summarized in the following, “If men were angels, no 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,” (Collier and Collier, 1986: 48). This paper will be an analysis of the problems facing the framers and the resolution of it as the founding of
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f the people from their experience with monarchy and aristocracy. This is evident in many works written during the period and it can be found in the writings of George Washington to the Marquis de Lafayette among others, which contain two key provisions for the separation and control of power: “1) That the general Government is not invested with more Powers than are indispensably necessary to perform the functions of a good Government; and, consequently, that no objection ought to be made against the quantity of Power delegated to it; and, 2) That these Powers are so distributed among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, into which the general Government is arranged, that it can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an Oligarchy, an Aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form, so long as their shall remain any virtue in the body of the People,” (Kammen, 1986: 102).
The negative experiences many of the framers of the constitution had experienced in England made them want to assure there would be no similar abuses of power in their newly designed government. In The Federalist Papers, No. 57, it is explained that the whole design scheme of the constitution is to “first, obtain for rulers men
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Approximate Word count = 2555
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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