homas Jefferson wrote John Adams when he heard who had been appointed: “It is really an assembly of demigods.”
Despite the consensus among the framers on the objectives of the Constitution, the controversy over the means by which those objectives could be achieved was lively. However, most of the issues were settled by the framers’ efforts and compromises, thus the finished Constitution has been referred to as a “bundle of compromises”. It was only through give-and-take that a successful conclusion was achieved. Such efforts and compromises in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 produced the most enduring written Constitution ever created by humankinds. The men who were at Philadelphia that hot summer hammered out a document defining distinct powers for the Congress of the United States, the president, and the federal courts. This division of authority is known as a system of checks and balances, and it ensures that none of the branches of government can dominate the others. The Constitution also establishes and limits the authority of the Federal Government over the states and emphasizes that power of the states will serve as a check on the power of the national government.
Separation of Powers in the Central Government
One important principle embodied in the U.S. Constitution is separation of powers. To prevent concentration of power, the U.S. Constitution divides the central government into three branches and creates a system of checks and balances. Each of the three governmental branches, legislative, executive and judicial, “checks” the powers of the other branches to make sure that the principal powers of the government are not concentrated in the hands of any single branch. The principle of separation of powers and the system of checks and balances perform essential functions and contribute to a stable political situation in the United States.
1. Theory of Separation of Powers
The principle of separation of powers dates back as far as Aristotle’s time. Aristotle favored a mixed government composed of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, seeing none as ideal, but a mix of the three useful by combining the best aspects of each. James Harrington, in his 1656 Oceana, brought these ideas up-to-date and proposed systems based on the separation of power.
Many of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, such as Madison, studied history and political philosophy. They greatly appreciated the idea of separation of power on the grounds of their complex views of governmental power. Their experience with the Articles of Confederation taught them that the national government must have the power needed to achieve the purposes for which it was to be established. At the same time, they were worried about the concentration of power in one person’s hands. As John Adams wrote in his A Defense of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America (1787), “It is undoubtedly honorable in any man, who has acquired a great influence, unbounded confidence, and unlimited power, to resign it voluntarily; and odious to take advantage of such an opportunity to destroy a free government: but it would be madness in a legislator to frame his policy upon a supposition that such magnanimity would often appear. It is his business to contrive his plan in such a manner that such unlimited influence, confidence, and power, shall never be obtained by any man.” (Isaak 2004:100) Such worries compelled the framers to find a good way to establish a new government, thus separation of powers and a balanced government became a good choice.
Two political theorists had great influence on the creation of the Constitution. John Locke, an important British political philosopher, had a large impact through his Second Treatise of Government (1690). Locke argued that sovereignty resides in individuals, not rulers. A political state, he theorized, emerged from a social contract among the people, who consent to government in order to preserve their lives, liberties, and property. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, which also drew heavily on Lock