American Government

©2020 Page 7 of 32 opportunity to not only have a say within the election of the federal government, but also within the state and local levels. 1.4 Separation of Powers In order to maintain the previous mentioned principles of popular sovereignty, federalism, and lim ited government; the United States Constitution must establish a system were too much power is not wielded by an individual entity. Somehow the power of the government needed to be divided up into individual group’s control and they needed to operate independently from one another. This would ensure that no single group becomes the operating power of the United States government. It was agreed upon by the founding fathers that there must be a separation of powers in order for the government to maintain its other principles. Heavily in�luenced by Baron de Montesquieu, the authors of the constitution divided the power of the government into separate branches with their own unique roles and powers. They established a branch to create the laws of the land. This branch is known as the legislative branch. Another branch was established to carry out or execute the laws of the land which is called the executive branch. Lastly, the third branch of government is known as the judicial branch which is responsible for interpreting the law and protecting the rights of all citizens. By separating the powers of government, people could select representatives to �ill the roles that they are best suited to serve. With each branch being responsible for something else, it would make it dif�icult for anyone to come into power that can become too powerful. However, separating the pow- ers into different groupswasn’t going to be enough to prevent this potential problem fromhappening. They needed to add another principle that would connect the branches if problems were to arise. 1.5 Checks and Balances With the powers of the government being separated into three independent branches, something needed to be put into place to ensure that one branch doesn’t become more powerful than the other branches. The principle that was put in place was a system known as checks and balances . This sys- tem not only provided the branches of government with the powers they needed to carry out their roles, but also powers to keep the other branches in check so they can’t run the government inde- pendently. The individual powers that are expressed in the constitution will be discussed in later chapters, how- ever it is important to see just how these checks and balances operate. If you take a look at the legis- lative branch of government, they have the power to create laws. When a law is approved by the legislative branch, it must be signed by the executive branch, that is check number one. If the execu- tive branch vetoes a bill preventing it from becoming law, the legislature can override the veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature. That would be check number two in this scenario. Achieve Test Prep