The Theory of Separate Powers-Anne Hruska

Anne Hruska

US Government

Ms. Gordon

Period 3

October 2, 2015

American citizens have set a standard for freedom and liberty, and you can still see the same fears alive in the American public to this day. When colonists emigrated from Great Britain in order to assure their individuality, they carried along with them their agitation from the overwhelming governmental control. This lead to a rather constant state of paranoia within them causing the fear that their colonies would fall into the same controlling government. The theory of separation of powers, however, cured the possibility of factional control by forming a government that limits itself through checks and balances, thus not allowing a set group of individuals to be targeted.  People fear a powerful government. People then feared the government but understood the need for instituting one, however, no one was very sure how to go about it. Thus, the framers were birthed.

The framers of the constitution was a group of 55 men that had been delegated by the public to essentially form the backbone of America. They established a government system in which power was shared between both the states and the federal government. To further it, however, they made it clear that they wanted to establish a national government that was restricted in power. In their views factional control comes from a government that is too powerful, therefore they tried to institute limits on power and the eventual separation of power. However, their idea was not foreign to America.

Montesquieu, a french theorist, believed that the one way to ensure the liberty of a country’s citizens is to divide its power into separate groups, as opposed to allowing one individual or establishment to gain control of all aspects of leadership. Many Americans were fond his ideology because it offered a blunt and seemingly simple solution to factional control.

Enter James Madison. In the Federalist No.10 under the pen name Publius, James Madison addresses factions and more specifically the nature of the republican government. He asserted that it’s natural to have many forms of division in society and that the factions themselves do not cause a disconnect between one another; they may, in fact, support the individuality and liberty among individuals. Nonetheless, when a faction seeks to gain power if successful enough it could easily use the government in order to further advance itself. He places an emphasis on the “majority faction” and specifically the power that they could gain without restriction. All of the concerns that were expressed in the Federalist No. 10 were addressed by Montesquieu. This time he suggested that the government's authority should be divided into the legislature, the courts and the presidency, and that the power within said sections should be withheld to only those that are part of that specific group. The framers understood Madison’s point and decided that having power withheld among specific groups could lead to one section’s power eventually overriding the others. This finalized the institution of a system in which the three branches withheld certain powers, like in Montesquieu’s idea, but each also withholds certain powers that control how much one branch is able to do independently.

All considered, the general paranoia that was once prevalent throughout the colonies has been aided by a system that is able to institute power alongside the regulation of said power. Factions are extremely prevalent in nearly any society, and there are many different tactics leaders institute in order to control the natural drive factions have to gain power. The theory of separate powers essentially birthed the system of control in the American government by mediating the federalist and anti-federalist arguments into one common consensus.