Montesquieu
Montesquieu: The Separation of Powers The separation of powers among government is an essential part of running a government. Separation of powers is the idea of dividing power among the three branches of government, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Separation of powers gives the three branches of governments, each different power. The purpose in giving each branch different powers is to form a system of checks and balances. The essence of separation of powers is based on the idea of checks and balances (2). The idea of checks and balances is to keep one single branch from gaining too much power and so that no single branch exercises total power (2). The legislative branch makes the laws, the judicial branch interprets the laws, and the executive branch carries out the laws. Within each branch are certain powers that only that branch has. These certain powers allow each branch to keep the other branches of government in check and balances out the power between the branches. The president is the head of the executive branch. The president is the commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, but only congress has the authority to raise and support an army, and to declare war (3). Congress al
Systems of checks and balances are here so that will not happen. Systems of checks and balances are found everywhere in the world today. They are not only found in just government but also in work places. Businesses, schools, and families all have a separation of powers. Schools have a principal (executive) to run things, administrators (judicial) to interpret the rules, and a school board (legislative) to make the rules. One ruler with all power may see things differently than most of the people they are ruling over. Since the ruler has all the power, the people have to obey the ruler and there is nothing they can do about it because the people have no power and the ruler or group that is ruling has all the power. Hitler is a good example of when a person or group has too much power. Hitler had all the power when he was the leader of Germany. Hitler could do anything and everything he wanted to. Hitler did many things that were wrong morally and ethically. I would not want a ruler to have too much power because what if they turned out to be like Hitler was, and then there would be nothing the people could do about it. Montesquieu liked the way the United Kingdom separated powers within their government. When the framers of the constitution wrote it, they were greatly influenced by Montesquieu's ideas and beliefs on government. The United States constitution divides powers among the three branches of government, but they are divided differently than Britain's. Britain's government has a legislature with two houses. The upper house, consisting of Britain dukes, earls, and viscounts. The upper house serves as a judicial function and can delay bills being passed to the lower house; it can not veto bills. The lower house consists of members of parliament and the majority rules. The majority party makes all the laws. The Prime Minister and the monarch are the closest people to the United States president. The head of state is the king or queen and must approve of all bills. The judiciary has no power because Britain has no formal written constitution to guide them. Britain's separation of powers is different from that of the United States in several ways. The president does not have the power to make laws but the head of state in Britain does. Judges can render people in America but not in Britain. Britain has no written constitution and America does. These differences are evident and show that the framers of the constitution took in the ideas of other governments and philosophers and came up with their own system of checks and balances to govern themselves. The checks and balances in
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Approximate Word count = 1753
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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