Separation of Powers
Separation of powers is a great idea for a government. Instead of having one branch that does everything, it is much more productive having separate branches completing their different tasks.
A French political thinker named Montesquieu thought of the political idea of separation of powers. He believed that there should be two forms of governmental powers, Administrative and sovereign.
" These should be separate from and dependent upon each other so that the influence of any one power would not be able to exceed that of the other two, either singly or in combination." (Wikipedia) If you want to learn some more about Montesquieu click below and read all about him! http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/ Here is a great video explaining what separation of power is and how it works.
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This picture show how the government of America works, a great example of separation of powers.
If you feel like gaining A LOT of knowledge, check out all these websites about the separation of powers!
http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Politics_SeparationPower.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/legislatures/separation-of-powers-an-overview.aspx http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/separationofpowers.htm http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_sepp.html http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch10I.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473411/separation-of-powers |
Checks and Balances
The system of checks and balances makes sure one branch of our government isn't more powerful than another. This system is a part of the American Constitution. An example of checks and balances would be the branches of our government. The legislative branch is in charge of making laws. The executive branch has the power to veto any of those laws, making it hard for those laws to get passed. The judicial branch can say the law is unconstitutional, making sure the law is not passed.
Here are websites you can checkout so you can learn more about the checks and balance system!
http://www.crystalinks.com/checksbalances.html http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Lesson_13_Notes.htm Here are a couple a videos about checks and balances. http://video.about.com/americanhistory/Checks-and-Balances-in-the-U-S--Government.htm http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Chec |
The legislative branch also has the power to remove a president or judge if they aren't doing the duties of their job right. The executive branch chooses the judges and the legislative branch approves the executive branch's choice.