What Are The Three Co-Equal Branches Of Government

1127 Words3 Pages

In 1776, the founding fathers declared independence from England. In order to prevent the kind of unfairness that they were revolting against, they created three co-equal branches of government. The United States constitution balances the powers of the government. The government has three branches: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. Each branch has a small amount of power over the actions of the other branches. The three branches of government are equal and balanced because there are checks and balances that check on each other and make sure each branch is in line and following the constitution. The branches each have important jobs, each holds checks on the powers of the other two so that no branch gets too powerful. The president …show more content…

They get the power to make laws and this seems like a big job, and maybe too big of a job for just one branch. However, there are checks and balances and they can’t go too crazy with the laws they make. The Congress has enumerated powers, meaning they have powers that are written in the constitution that they should follow, and they also have implied powers meaning that they can do something that isn’t listed specifically in the constitution that is mandatory for them to do their job. There is the Necessary and Proper clause that allows the Legislative branch to do something that is not on the list if it relates to something that is on the list. They can stretch an enumerated power from the constitution to make it related to a law that they are trying to make themselves. In my opinion, this is a good thing because there are so many laws that are necessary that aren’t directly in the constitution but they still need to be there. If Congress followed it directly there would be a lack of laws that we need. Now, this seems like a lot for the Congress to be able to basically make any law that they want. That is in some ways is kind of true but the Judicial branch can declare the laws unconstitutional if they are not and prevent the law from being enacted. The legislative branch has the power to declare war. This is a good thing in case the executive wants to step out of line and try to declare war, despite the fact that it may not be totally necessary. Giving this job to the Legislative branch is only fair because it is in the constitution as one of their enumerated powers. From the newsela article, Legislative and Judicial Results of the Civil Rights Movement, we see some good examples of how good laws are made and how bad laws are made. Jim crow made some unfair laws that took away the rights of the slaves that they had just earned. In the article we read, ¨Jim Crow laws also

Show More
Related

  • Separation Of Powers Dbq Essay Power

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start out with, the constitution divided power so no one branch or person had complete power over the nation or others. In document B it states, ¨Liberty requires that the three departments of power are distinct and separate.¨ This means that in order to prevent and guard against tyranny we must have different and separate branches holding power if there is only one or they are too similar that could create a small group with close to complete power creating a tyranny. Power must be separated into three branches so that they may check and limit each other so that no laws are passed that will harm the nation and are unconstitutional. The three branches are very separate but can

    Read More

  • How the Constitution Guards Against Tyranny

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    The separation of powers keeps any one branch from gaining too much power by creating 3 separate, distinct branches power can be shared equally among. According to Madison, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.”(Document B) In other words, to avoid tyranny and achieve liberty, the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) must be separate and diverse. The purpose of a separation of powers is to divide the powers of the government so there is not only one central source of power. The three branches must be as distinct as possible to avoid falling into the hands of one individual leader. There are also checks and balances between these three branches. Checks and balances are a system of each branch monitoring an...

    Read More

  • The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America

    1736 Words  | 4 Pages

    Each branch is given specific powers and responsibilities, many of which overlap. However, “it is clear, when push comes to shove, that Congress can trump the other two branches” (14). Congress struggles to keep its head above the water when communicating with the other branches. Article One of the Constitution is about the Legislative branch and is twice as long as Article Two, which is about the Executive branch. In contrast, Article One is four times as long as Article Three, which is on the judiciary. The Framers of the Constitution did this to make it “clear that Congress was to be first among equals of the three branches” (14).

    Read More

  • Checks and Balances

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...airly neat job of making sure all branches of government were given equal responsibilities and powers, one branch appears to have more than any other. The Legislative branch has the power to make laws, veto laws, start wars and impeach our president. As a country, we must be careful to elect only trusted officials into our Senate. The Framers made sure that with checks and balances, no one branch of government would have more power than the other to ensure that our government would run smoothly for decades on.

    Read More

  • The New Science of Politics

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    "This inquiry will naturally divide itself into three branches- the objects to be provided for by a federal government, the quantity of power necessary to the accomplishment of those objects, the persons whom that power ought to operate," writes Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist #23 in reference to the separation of powers. The basic concept here is the idea of the federal government being divided into three separate branches that would balance excessive democracy through a system of checks on each other. The three branches, respectively known as the legislature (Article I), the executive (Article II), and the judiciary (Article III), were designed to entice the opponents of the Co...

    Read More

  • Power of the Branches

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Legislative Branch is Congress, which has just two branches - the House of Representatives and the Senate. To understand the power held by the Legislative Branch, we should refer to the Constitution itself. Per Section 8 of Article I, Congress may only act within the powers granted to them explicitly in the Constitution, these are called enumerated powers. But this doesn’t mean the powers granted to them were diminutive. The entire legislative power was constitutionally delegated to Congress. The House and Senate serve, for the most part, to work together (though not necessarily in harmony) on passing laws, and both House and Senate must approve all bills. The framers began with the forming Article I: The Legislative Article for a simple reason; law making is an extremely important function for our government. I believe they dug their heels in here first because they intended for it to be the longest, most thorough article in the Constitution, and every word truthfully serves a divine purpose of laying out the structure of how our Legislative Branch should run. With a mere 2,...

    Read More

  • Analyzing the Articles of Confederation

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Constitution bestowed essential powers to the nation, without which, America would crumble. Under this newly created document, three different branches of government were created: the judiciary, the legislative, and the executive. The legislative was composed of Congress, which now had the power to create a military, control interstate and international commerce, and create laws. The Judicial branch was the Supreme Court, which would review the decision of the President (in the executive branch...

    Read More

  • The US Constitution

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    The founding fathers of the American Constitution divided the government up into the following three branches to prevent the majority from ruling with an iron fist; legislative, judicial, and executive. The three braches were created by the Constitution: Article 1, Legislative branch made up of the House and the Senate, collectively known as Congress; Article 2, Executive branch, or President; Article 3, Judicial branch, made up of the federal courts and the Supreme Court. This was done in efforts to distribute power amongst the three so that one would not have more power than the other. Each branch has the ability to check the power of the other branches. This power check of the other branches is referred to as the checks and balances, better known as the Separation of Powers. This was to prevent tyriny.

    Read More

  • Three Branches Of Government: The Constitution Of The United States

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1787 the leaders of our Government set forth and gathered to write a set of principles that would serve as a document on how our nation would now be governed. That document is called the Constitution of the United States. It states that to protect individual freedoms, to have a fair government and prevent the government from abuse of power, there should be three separate branches of Government. The Legislative Branch, The Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch.

    Read More

  • The Three Branches of the U.S. Federal Government

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    The basic idea between the creation of the three branches is based upon “checks and balances.” No branch should become so powerful that it over-takes either of the other branches. This also brings out the point that neither one of these branches, nor any person holding office in one of them, can exercise power belonging to either of the others. The legislative branch creates the laws, the judicial branch reviews the law, and then the executive branch enforces the laws. All three branches are interrelated, each branch overlaps but serves separate purposes.

    Read More

  • Understanding Federalism: A Study of US Government

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are three branches of government in the U.S. There is the judicial branch, the executive branch and the legislative branch. The powers of the branches are all divided by the constitution which is called the separation of

    Read More

  • Why The Executive Branch Is The Most Powerful

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    All of the branches have a unique power from the rest of them. At times each branch has over come the other branches. The judicial branch has the supreme court which decides what laws to pass. The Legislative makes laws

    Read More

  • Essay On Legislative Branch

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    The legislative Branch is a powerful part of our governmental system. One of the strengths of it is that it has powers that no other branch has. The legislative branch, including both the House of Representatives and the Senate, is given extensive powers by the Constitution. The legislative branch is the only branch that can create laws or change existing laws. In addition to creating and changing laws, the legislative branch has an array of powers such as: the power to declare war, confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, impeach a federal official, to include the president or a justice of the Supreme Court, create annual federal budgets and direct how federal monies are spent, and extensive investigative powers. Essentially, one of the legislatives branches’ greater powers to creating and changing laws do not yield there; additionally, if the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing a bill again in each chamber as long as the chambers can get at least a two-third voting in favor of the bill. An example would if the President wants to create a program and/or a system, he will have to go through Congress for approval of the

    Read More

  • The Three Branches of Government

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States government braces its power among three powerful branches, legislative, executive and judicial. These branches interact with one another to establish authority that is strong, yet equal to have power over the country. Each branch pursues certain responsibilities and duties to operate in an efficient and effective manner in which society upholds. The executive, legislative and judicial branches all interact amid each other to validate accuracy of the nation’s most powerful law of the land, the Constitution. It is important to know how these branches interact with each other to learn how a bill becomes a law. Reflecting on how the three branches promote a balance of power that is constructive to include the agendas and electoral roles that also plays a vast part in the government’s operation.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Functionality of the Three Branches of U.S. Government

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    The legislative branch is comprised of two bodies; the Senate and the House of Representatives. Their primary responsibility includes making and modifying laws to be adopted and enforced by other branches of government. The legislative branch also oversees the military operations and funding, to help protect the United States of America. The legislative branch helps finance the Armed Forces and helps protect those men and women who serve by enacting policies and laws for their specific branch of military. This particular duty- helping the Armed Forces-, gives me the freedom each and every day to go to school, work in an establishment of my choice and gives me the ultimate freedom, that my country prides for future generations to come. I find my protection granted to me by the people who selflessly serve to be the most rewarding gift I have ever received, and sadly I often take it for granted. An interesting fact I gathered from researching this topic is that the Legislative Branch is the only branch of the government who can declare war.

    Read More

More about What Are The Three Co-Equal Branches Of Government

Open Document