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Checks And Balances

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In the United States Constitution, we have a very important system called checks and balances. This system was needed to control the power of each branch of government. Without a structure to control the amount of power each branch has our government would be controlled by one group of people. The system of checks and balances helps to prevent tyranny. The overall idea of checks and balances is formed on the observation that people act selfishly and make efforts to increase their own power and wealth at the cost of others. Charles Montesquieu was a French political thinker and jurist who devised the phrase “checks and balances”. Although, the practice of checks and balances goes much further back in history. According to the New World Encyclopedia, …show more content…

The House of Representatives was founded as a result of the Great Compromise. The Constitution allows Congress to determine the capacity of the House and to divide the representation in relevance to each states population. Representatives are elected to serve a term of 2 years. To become a Representative one must be at least 25 years of age, be a U.S citizen for a minimum of 7 years, and must be a resident of the state, which he/she wishes to represent. As for the Senate, voters elect two senators from each state regardless of its population every 6 years. To qualify as a senator, one must be at least 30 years old, be a U.S citizen for at least nine years, and have achieved the requirements for residency in the state he/she desires to represent. Together the House and the Senate form the United States Congress. Legislative Branch checks the Executive Branch of; having the authority to impeach officials, override presidential vetoes, approve treaties and ambassadors, approve the replacement of the Vice President, the power to proclaim war, and the power to enact taxes and assign funds. Additionally, the Legislative Branch checks on the Judiciary Branch with the right to approve federal judges, as well as impeach federal judges, initiate constitutional amendments, set the jurisdiction of courts, and alter the size of the Supreme Court. Legislative Branch also has a check on itself because it is bicameral or composed of two chambers. Within the Legislative Branch bills must be passed by both houses of Congress, neither house can adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other house; lastly all journals must be

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The legislative branch consists of the two houses of Congress that have been decided upon by the Great Compromise (the House of Representatives and the Senate). Joint together as one system, Congress has the powers to create laws, declare war, override veto, and impeach the president. Secondly, the executive branch—consisting of the president, vice president, and the Cabinet—has the power to carry out laws (approve), negotiate foreign treaties—such as alliances—, and can grant pardons for federal offers. Finally, the judicial branch, or the Supreme Court Justices can interpret laws, declare laws unconstitutional, and declare the president unconstitutional. Having three branches of government helps keep the government in check, and it prevents one branch becoming more powerful than the other branches.

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The three different branches of government helped guard against tyranny. They helped guard against tyranny because each branch has different people in it and that means that not all of the same people are making the laws and enforcing them. Now they have multiple people creating the laws which decreases any chance of tyranny. With the three different branches of government comes the sharing of power which also helps guard against tyranny. If they all can come together and share all of the power than we can have a government successfully without having any problems with tyranny.

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Without the Constitution, who knows what our country would’ve been. I know that nobody would even step foot into this country if things like tyranny were around spreading chaos all over. With different ways, including dividing powers between branches of government, Checks and Balances, and having Equal Representation from each state for the Legislative Branch, the Constitution can fulfill it’s purpose by maintaining our great country. More ways show a great deal of significance from Constitution, but these ways are very special because they show us a reminder of what was done for us to have no tyranny in our beloved country. The Constitution guarded against tyranny so that we can appreciate what our great founding fathers did so that we could

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The first seven sections of the Article I establish the House of Representatives and the Senate. It established the requirement for each member elected to the Legislative Branch. The members of the House were elected directly by the people, had to be at least 25 years old, (American Government page 34) and a citizen of the United States for at least seven years. The Senators were appointed by the state legislature, had to be at least 30 years old and live in the United States for at least nine years. The officials in the House served two-year terms and in the Senate they served six year terms.

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The Constitution divides power between the state and national governments in a federal system. The national government's power is subdivided between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Each of the branches of the national government have ways to check the other branches so no one branch becomes too powerful. The interests of small and large states are also balanced in House of Representative and Senate. The US Constitution has stood for 226 years and over all those years it has been put to the test time and time again, but even today even right now it is doing it

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The main responsibilities of the legislative branch is to make and pass laws. The Senate and the House of Representatives must work together in order to run smoothly. Congress

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