Branches of Government

Branches of Government

Brittany Jackson

His/301

November 8, 2013

Keisa Johnson

Branches of Government

The government of a country sole purpose is to protect the rights of the country’s citizens. On the other hand, the government has been the ultimate violators of citizens’ rights. Consequently, certain actions have been taking to decrease the likelihood of this happening again. One concept created to ensure the government does not violate the rights of the citizens are separation of powers. The purpose of separation of powers is that a single or group of people who have a vast amount of power can become very risky to the citizens. According to Landauer (2011), “The Separation of Power is a method of removing the amount of power in any group's hands, making it more difficult to abuse” (para 2). The power of the government are shared by three branches. This power is shared by the three branches. However, at times the power of a branch may be challenged by another branch. This is the purpose of why checks and balances were created. Checks and balances were created to ensure no branch were too powerful over the other branches. This paper will determine the separation of powers between the three branches of government, determine how each branch checks and balances the other branches, and analyze how checks and balances may have been the reason behind the most recent government shutdown.

Separation of Powers

The three branches of government are vital to the American political system. The U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The first three articles of the Constitution is dedicated to each of the three branches of government. These articles are the primary source for understanding the difference between the branches. The governing principle behind developing three different branches is the general idea of separation of powers. The country’s founding fathers believed that the...