1.6 - Principles of American Government
Separating and Limiting Power
The Framers wanted a government strong enough to protect people's rights, but not so strong it could take them away. Their solution: decentralize power so it's not concentrated in one person, branch, or level of government.
- Separation of Powers: each branch gets its own specific job.
- Legislative (Congress): makes laws.
- Executive (President): enforces laws.
- Judicial (Courts): interprets laws.
- Checks and Balances: each branch can limit or block another branch's actions.
- Executive check: the president can veto legislation.
- Legislative check: the House can impeach the president with a simple majority; the Senate holds the trial and needs a two thirds vote to convict and remove.
- Judicial check: courts can rule actions by the other branches unconstitutional.
- This power, judicial review, isn't written in the Constitution. The Court claimed it in Marbury v. Madison (1803), when Chief Justice John Marshall struck down part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 for giving the Supreme Court more power than the Constitution allowed (see 2.8).
Branch | Checks on the other branches |
Legislative (Congress) | Override a veto with a two thirds vote in both houses; impeach and remove officials; the Senate confirms appointments and ratifies treaties (two thirds); controls spending (the power of the purse); creates lower federal courts; can propose amendments to undo court rulings |
Executive (President) | Veto bills; nominate federal judges and other officials; grant pardons for federal crimes |
Judicial (Courts) | Judicial review: strike down laws and executive actions that violate the Constitution |
Federalist No. 51: written by Madison, entirely about separation of powers and checks and balances. He presents this system as the key to a truly limited government.
- Date: published in February 1788 under the pen name "Publius."
- Human nature: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." Since people aren't angels, government has to be strong enough to "control the governed" and also be forced "to control itself."
- "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition": each branch gets its own powers plus the "constitutional means and personal motives" to resist the others. Every branch guards its own turf, so no one branch can take over.
- Controlling majorities: Madison wanted to guard "one part of the society against the injustice of the other part." Power is split among three branches, two houses of Congress, and two levels of government (a "double security" for the people's rights), so a majority faction would have to win control of many separate institutions before it could abuse a minority. A large, varied republic helps too (the same idea as Federalist No. 10).
- Why it matters: use Federalist No. 51 as evidence that separation of powers and checks and balances protect liberty, or to explain why the system is built to move slowly.
Effects of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
- Multiple access points: because power is spread across branches, people and groups have many places to push for what they want. If a bill dies in Congress, a group can lobby the president for an executive order, push a federal agency to write a rule, or file a lawsuit. For example, when Southern members of Congress blocked civil rights bills, the NAACP turned to the courts and won Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
- Slower policymaking: the same checks make it hard for any one group or party to get its way alone, so big changes usually need broad agreement. Supporters see this as protection against rushed or abusive majorities, while critics point to gridlock.
- Impeachment and removal: checks and balances allow legal action against officials who abuse their power. The House impeaches (formally charges) an official by majority vote, and the Senate holds a trial where two thirds must vote to convict and remove. This applies to the president, vice president, federal judges, and other "civil Officers," for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
- No president has ever been removed. Andrew Johnson (1868), Bill Clinton (1998), and Donald Trump (2019 and 2021) were impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate, and Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the full House could vote on impeachment.
Limits on Federal Power in the Original Constitution
- Writ of Habeas Corpus: protects people from being detained indefinitely. If arrested, you must be told the charges or released.
- Bills of Attainder: Congress can't pass a law declaring someone guilty without a trial.
- Ex Post Facto Laws: Congress can't criminalize something after it's already been done.
Relationships Between States (Article 4)
- Full Faith and Credit Clause: states must honor other states' legal decisions. (Example: a marriage performed in one state stays valid if the couple moves.)
- Privileges and Immunities Clause: prevents a state from discriminating against citizens of other states, like blocking them from working there or charging higher taxes.
- Extradition: if a fugitive is caught in another state, that state has to send them back to the state that wants them.
Big picture
Separation of powers assigns each branch its own job, and checks and balances act as the regulator making sure no branch overheats or takes over. As Federalist No. 51 argues, spreading power out like this is the core safeguard against tyranny.