Ben Neumann

When the farmers of the constitution met, one of their main goals was to make sure that there was a system of separation of powers within our government so that no one faction could acquire all the power. In federalist number 10 Maddison discusses how there are only two ways to control factions and those were remove its causes and to control its effect. Since we cannot remove its causes without becoming communist we would have to control its effects. We did this by creating the system of checks and balances. This system of checks and balances is influenced by, Montesquieu, a french enlightenment thinker. He said that the government should be divided strictly on institutional lines, the farmers followed this theory but also implemented the system of checks and balances we see today. This new separation of government and creation of the checks and balances system, made it so each branch could override each other making it harder for one faction to have complete control. The executive branch headed by the President could veto a bill passed by Congress, the legislative branch can override the President with a two-thirds vote, and the Judicial branch can abolish a law if it is deemed unconstitutional. With this new system in place it makes it almost impossible for a single faction to gain control over the government. 

Without the influence of separation of powers and implementing checks and balances into the new constitution, the United States could have ended up with the same form of government they had just escaped. Because we implemented it we made a government that serves the people and is protected from factions by a system of separation of powers and checks and balances.