Malcolm Rivera
The US Constitution is founded on several guiding principles, including checks and balances, federalism, limited government, popular sovereignty, republicanism, and separation of powers. These principles are designed to prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful and to protect the rights and liberties of individuals. Federalism, for example, divides power between the national and state governments, with the people retaining all powers not delegated to the governing bodies. Separation of powers ensures that the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government are separate and equal, with each branch having the power to limit the powers of the others. Popular sovereignty, meanwhile, stresses that the government is made by the people and exists to represent, protect, and serve them.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Checks and balances | Preventing any branch from becoming too powerful |
| Separation of powers | Executive, legislative, and judicial |
| Federalism | A system of constitutional government with shared powers |
| Limited government | Powers are limited to those granted in the Constitution |
| Popular sovereignty | The government is made by the people and exists to represent, protect, and serve them |
| Republicanism | A system of government based on popular sovereignty and representative government |
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Separation of powers
One of the key guiding principles of the US Constitution is the separation of powers. This principle is based on the philosophy of "divide and conquer", aiming to prevent the concentration of power in a single entity.
The Constitution establishes three distinct branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Each branch has its own powers and responsibilities, outlined in separate articles, ensuring they are equal in stature.
The legislative branch, comprising the Congress, is responsible for creating laws. Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. This branch holds the power to pass laws, but also to approve executive appointments and restrain executive officials to their duties through legislation.
The executive branch, led by the President, enforces the laws. The President serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, makes treaties, and appoints officials with the Senate's consent. While the President does not personally enforce laws, they ensure their faithful execution by subordinate officers.
The judicial branch interprets the laws through the Supreme Court and other lower courts. The Supreme Court can declare laws unconstitutional, strike down actions of the other branches, and rule on the constitutionality of executive actions.
This system of checks and balances prevents any one branch from holding too much power. Each branch has the ability to limit the power of the others, creating a balance that protects against tyranny, as described by James Madison:
> "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands [...] may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
This principle of separation of powers is further reinforced by the nondelegation doctrine, which prohibits Congress from delegating its lawmaking responsibilities to other agencies or branches.
While some US states in the 18th century did not strictly adhere to this principle, with executives serving in judicial roles, it has since become a cornerstone of the US governmental system, ensuring a delicate balance of power.
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Federalism
The Framers of the Constitution sought to establish a unified national government with limited powers, while also maintaining a sphere of autonomy for state governments to exercise their general police power. Federalism was developed to overcome the challenges of governing a large and diverse nation, where distance created a variety of interests, needs, and problems. It allows for a dialogue between national authority and local self-rule in states and communities.
The Constitution grants the federal government certain powers, such as declaring war, making treaties, and regulating interstate trade. At the same time, the states retain many powers under the Articles of Confederation, and the exact relationship between the two levels of government was left somewhat undetermined. The Framers expected tensions and cooperation to shape the relationship over time, and federalism helps limit the dangers of tyranny by dividing the exercise of power.
The Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights is particularly important for securing federalism, as it reserves powers to the states or the people that are not delegated to the federal government. The Supreme Court has invoked the Tenth Amendment when determining that Congress has exceeded its powers and infringed upon state sovereignty. However, judges and scholars disagree on how the principles of federalism should be realized, and there is controversy over the judiciary's role in enforcing states' interests against the federal government.
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Limited government
The principle of limited government is a key feature of the US Constitution, which was designed to prevent centralized power and safeguard liberty. The framers of the Constitution were concerned about the potential for government to overreach and abuse its power, and so sought to limit its powers and scope. This principle of limited government has its roots in the classical liberal tradition of Europe, which emphasised individual rights over monarchies and theocratic governments.
The US Constitution, written in 1787, extended the idea of limited government by separating the powers of state and federal governments and dividing the federal government into three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive. This separation of powers is a key feature of limited government, making it more difficult for any single person or group to control the entirety of government power. Each branch of government has its own specific powers and responsibilities, as outlined in the Constitution.
The Constitution also enumerates certain prohibitions that apply to the government, further limiting its power. These prohibitions are outlined in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791. These rights protect against particular acts of government abuse and limit the federal government by prohibiting certain uses of government power.
While the principle of limited government was widely supported in the US for the first century and a half of the nation's existence, this began to change in the 1930s with President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agenda. This expansion of federal government power to combat the Great Depression led to a waning of support for limited government, especially among liberal activists who wanted the government to play a larger role in society. As a result, the federal government has grown significantly since the 1930s, moving further away from the principle of limited government originally embodied in the Constitution.
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Popular sovereignty
The idea of popular sovereignty as a guiding principle of government has had a significant influence on democracies worldwide. It has become a standard of legitimacy, with many democratic constitutions explicitly recognising the concept. For example, Article 2 of the 1993 Czech Republic Constitution states, "All state power derives from the people... The state power serves all citizens and can be exercised only in cases within the scope stipulated by law, and by means specified by law." Similarly, Article 1 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution asserts, "All power emanates from the people, who exercise it by means of elected representatives or directly."
However, it is important to acknowledge that the historical application of popular sovereignty in the United States has had its complexities. Early American democracy disenfranchised women, the property-less, and non-white individuals, including slaves. The term ""the people" in 18th-century European political thought often excluded a significant portion of the population. Despite this, the ideal of popular sovereignty has continued to evolve and expand, with the American Revolution marking a shift from the sovereignty of a monarch to the collective sovereignty of the people.
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Republicanism
> "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence."
The core values of republicanism are liberty, inalienable individual rights, and the recognition of the sovereignty of the people as the source of all authority in law. This is in contrast to monarchy, aristocracy, and hereditary political power. Republicanism also emphasizes the importance of virtue and faithfulness in the performance of civic duties and the vilification of corruption. These values are derived from Ancient Greco-Roman, Renaissance, and English models and ideas.
In the context of the US Constitution, republicanism does not refer to a political movement to abolish social class distinctions, as it might in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, or the Netherlands. Instead, it refers to the core values that citizens in a republic have or ought to have.
The precise meaning of "republican form of government" has been debated by scholars and the Supreme Court has generally avoided addressing Guarantee Clause questions due to their political nature. However, some decisions and contemporaneous sources provide insight into the intended meaning of this phrase. For example, In re Duncan observes:
> "By the constitution, a republican form of government is guaranteed to every state in the Union, and the distinguishing feature of that form is the right of the people to choose their own officers for governmental administration, and pass their own laws in virtue of the legislative power reposed in representative bodies, whose legitimate acts may be said to be those of the people themselves."
Political scientists and historians have also offered interpretations of the central values of republican government. Deborah Jones Merritt, for example, argues that the core of republican government is "one in which the people control their rulers." Akhil Reed Amar concludes that the central meaning of republican government in the Founding Era was "popular sovereignty, majority rule, and the people's right to alter or abolish [the government]."
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