Elective Despotism

As Thomas Jefferson said “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on true free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among general bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.” Any of the branches of government can limit the power of the other two branches. Therefore, no branch of the government could put the freedom of the people in danger. During the articles of confederation, the central government was extremely weak. The United States needed a more powerful central government in order to effectively deal with any challenges that come in their

One example is congress with the president. Even though the president is given the power to make treaties with foreign countries; those treaties must be approved by the Senate by a two thirds majority. The president most powerful weapon is his Veto. He can kill any bill before it becomes a law. However Congress can override the presidential veto and are able to impeach the president; they can also reject the president 's appointments. Congress also has the power to refuse and reject to pass laws or provide funding that the president requires. Thus almost everything the president does must be looked over and approved by the two houses of congress. The Framers also feared that the president 's wartime role was too powerful, so they gave Congress a set of checks and balances on the president 's war powers as well. Only Congress has the power to declare war and to pay for wartime

The Supreme Court itself accepted its power of judicial review in 1803 with the case of Marbury v. Madison under James Madison. Judicial review is a part of the checks and balances system in which the judiciary branch of the government looks over the legislative and executive branches of the government. While the Supreme Court does have the ability to decide actions/laws unconstitutional and interpret treaties given by the president they also have to be checked by the president and congress. Although neither congress nor the president can override a Supreme Court decision, they still have many important contributes. For example the president can grant pardons and amnesty. As well as appointing the judges and officials in the court and the senate has to approve the nomination by a two-third majority of vote. Congress can propose a constitutional amendment to overturn court decisions with two- third vote and later approved with three-forth of votes. The two bodies of congress can also create lower courts.

The core idea of the system of checks and balances was that each branch of government has ways to check, or control, the other branches. Although each branch had its own main responsibility and power, they were never in complete control. The farmers of the US Constitution made it such that each branch has its own limit and are unable to cross it. All three are