Definition of Separation of Powers
Government power is not only limited it is also divided. The Constitution assigns specific powers to each of the three branches: the legislative (congress) the executive (president) and the judicial (federal courts). This separation of powers is intended to prevent misuse of power by one branch of government.
Here is a list of examples of how Separation of Powers is applied today
- The Legislative branch is Congress and are used to create and pass laws
- The Executive branch is the President and the one who enforces the laws
- The Judicial branch is the supreme court and they interpret the laws to make sure they don't violate the Constitution
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Separation of Powers over time...
Royal Colonies (1624-1775)
- Within the royal colonies was a separate system from any of the others and one that greatly used the idea of what would be separation of powers. Two examples of this was that the GOVERNOR WAS NAMED BY THE KING AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE and the COUNCIL WAS ALSO NAMED BY THE KING AS LEGISLATIVE. Even though these positions were appointed by the king instead of the people it still fairly shows separation of powers by dividing the executive and legislative branch with two different positions of authority.
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Propriatary Colonies (1632-1775)
- The next out of the three types of colonies is the proprietary colonies which consisted of blank. Out of these colonies also come two fine examples of separation of powers which are the GOVERNOR WAS APPOINTED BY THE PROPRIETOR and the GOVERNORS COUNCIL AND HOUSE WHERE SEPARATE. The use of the governor being appointed by another power allows separation and non-bias so that tyranny cant form. And to separate it even more the governor who were appointed were separate from the house which basically created two separate branches of government within those colonies.
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Second Continental Congress (1775)
- Now we move onto the second continental congress. Only one major sign of separation of powers can be drawn from this subject which includes when the COMMANDER IN CHIEF WAS CREATED. This is a form of separation of powers by providing the powers of the military to the hands of the president but the means to call for war can only be reach by asking congress so the president cant abuse there right of military power.
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Articles of Confederation (1781)
- Before are modern constitution was formed the articles of confederation took its place. From this document one decent example can be used how CONGRESS COMBINED THE JUDICIAL AND EXECUTIVE BRANCHES. Even though this may seem the opposite of separation of power it really wasnt. The combination of the two was out of necessity to create a two branch system along with the legislation. Even though this ended up in failure they learned from this and would use it to apply to a better form of separation.
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Virginia Plan (1787)
- Many things were discussed and approved during the virginia plan and a good amount of it actually applies to the use of separation of powers. A few of these are how THREE SEPARATE BRANCHES WERE FORMED a BICAMERAL CONGRESS WAS FORMED as well as CONGRESS WOULD BE GRANTED POWER STATES COULDN'T HANDLE and finally the THREE BRANCHES FORMED WERE THE JUDICIAL LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE. From these for prime examples a lot can be seen as steps of separation of power. the forming of three separate but equal branches was to prevent tyranny and over power meant along with classifying those under three primary forms of government. Also within congress separation was made by creating a bicameral congress which instituted the use of the senate and house of representatives.
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Connecticut Compromise (1787)
- Even though the virginia plan had many successful things come from it there were a few contradicting issues that needed to be tweaked and finally were in what was known as the great compromise. One thing that came from this was the finalization of the use of TWO SEPARATE HOUSES WITHIN CONGRESS. This was an expansion and finalization of this rule when it was applied from the virginia plan this was the creation of what would now be the senate and house a representatives which provides even more division within congress or better known as the legislature.
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