Checks And Balances: The Paradox Of Democracy

The documents above helped to persuade those in America that the Articles of Confederation were outdated. This was because they unfairly separated power of the nation, giving too much to the state governments. The documents also highlight the reasons as to why the Constitution ratification is necessary to the country. The Bill of Rights is used to prove the Constitution's efficiency for government. The United States Constitution should be ratified because it gave power to the central government without infringing upon the peoples' rights, used a Checks and Balances system to limit power of the national government, and is much more fair and just than the Articles of Confederation.

The Constitution was written by our founding fathers as a way to set up a system to protect the United States from becoming a tyranny. The United States Constitution is guarded against tyranny in four major ways but the three best ways that the Constitution guards against tyranny is with representation, separation of powers, and checks and balances. These three principles helps keep the Constitution safe so that no one person can take control over the United States and that the U.S. does not turn into a dictatorship. One way the Constitution of the United States guards against tyranny is by using representation.

The Constitution guarded against tyranny since 1790. They did this by separating the powers of the three branches of the federal government in a way that the branches can check with each other, and giving each state 2 senators. In Federalist Paper #47 by James Madison, it says, “(L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” This quote conveys that James Madison think that the three branches of the federal government, legislative, executive, and judicial, should be divided, but each will have equal power. The separation of power guards against tyranny, so one branch could not become too powerful than the other two. From the Federalist Paper #51 by James Madison, it states,

When the Framers of the Constitution met in Philadelphia, they came together with one common purpose in mind. They needed to form a fair and solid system of government that would stand the test of time; one that was both fair for the people and would not involve a monarchy. Each of these men had their own ideas on what would constitute this system, however, so many compromises had to be made. Together, the men gathered in Philadelphia created a federal system of government and drafted a constitution outlining this government. They took care in developing three branches of federal government with a system of checks and balances so that no one branch would gain too much power, thus avoiding any

With the concept of majority tyranny in mind, the founder’s, including Madison, divided the power of the government into three different branches. The need

The Framers of the US Constitution wanted to prevent the concentration of power into the hands of one individual, or even one group of individuals, within the national government. Thus, they reduced all governmental functions to essentially three:legislative, executive, and judicial. Because they believed that the very root of tyranny was to allow these three essential governmental functions to be exercised by one person or group.1 Consequently, they deliberately set out to devide the three functions into three separate and distinct institutions under the principle of separaton of powers, so as to gform a more perfect Union h.

The constitution was established by men who had experienced the dictatorships of Europe and had escaped from its grasp. They sought to establish a form of government that would never allow a dictatorship or tyrant ruler to hold power over the people like in the places they had fled. With their creation of the foundation of what our government is today they created a system where 3 branches were all of equal power and each could be overruled by another which prevented any branch becoming superior of another. The separation of powers provides a system of shared power called Checks and Balances.(2) The three branches are legislative, judicial and executive and they each have specific powers to

One of the most important principles incorporated in the U.S. Constitution is separation of powers. The U.S. Constitution divided the central government into three branches and created a system of checks and balances as a way to prevent the concentration of power. “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.” In order to be sure that the main

Each of the three branches is controlled by the other two in several ways. The president can veto a law which was passed by Congress, yet Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of both houses. Members of the Supreme Court, which are appointed by the president and approved by Congress, can declare a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution, Article 1 Section 1, states that the legislative branch be created from two separate bodies: a House of Representatives and a Senate, together is known as Congress.

The purpose for our Constitution was to implement a new government with three equal branches that balance and check each other. The three branches are formed and is important that the maintain balance in Legislative, executive and Judiciary branches in order for our government to not be overpower each other. The U.S. Constitution established in 1787 with the purpose to provide “America 's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens.” I strongly feel the order of checks and balance should not be changed and I agree to concept of three branches which maintain branches order and peace in our U.S. Government.

If the President is suspected of unlawful acts, he can be impeached, or tried by the Senate for misusing his power. The Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. If he is found guilty, he can be punished but his sentence can be no more than being thrown out of office and being forbidden to hold any government office. Furthermore, if the President wants to spend money, his request must pass through Congress, since it has control over spending. Lastly, Congress can re-pass a bill that was vetoed by the President. Congress also has checks and balances against itself. The President can veto a bill from Congress, and although Congress can override a veto, obtaining a two-thirds vote to do so is very difficult. Public speeches by the President may also concern the public with an issue, putting pressure on Congress to act upon it. The Judicial branch exerts control over the other two by deciding whether or not actions made by the President or Congress, i.e., laws are constitutional.

It divides the federal government and state governments. The main purpose of the constitution is to protect the liberties and rights of citizens. The checks and balances system is a method of organizing government, through which each branch may monitor and limit the power of other branches. For instance, the President has the power to veto laws passed by congress, the Supreme Court has the

A common characteristic that contributes to the practices of democracy is the concept of checks and balances. James Madison, the fourth president quoted "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." These checks and balances are primarily used to assure that the government or no branches or offices of the government hold to much power. The term “separation of powers” is somewhat inaccurate in terms of the powers are not actually be divided but they are ideally shared. The founding fathers of this country believed that unrestrained power is dangerous, and is a good thing the president and court check each other along with the state and federal governments. For example, the Congress is in charge of making the laws and other legislature authority but the president can veto that bill. In return, the president is also limited because the congress can then override the veto by 2/3 of the majority. The

The president also has the power of assigning the federal judges, and when to call Congress into session. Likewise, the president has the power to either sign or veto a piece of legislation from Congress.

To me, a "balanced relationship" is preferable in general. The idea of Checks and Balances in my opinion is the most important because it holds each branch to its own set of authoritative functions and responsibilities. Furthermore, each brach has "checks" which limit each branch to their powers. (No one branch may become too dominant of the others.) I believe this concept is one of the most important in the Constitution because, in summary, it prevents corruption and abuse of power all while suggesting good ideas into our Federal Government.