Book Description

Excerpt from The New American Government, and Its Work The Theory of Checks and Balances - The great changes just described have all been opposed to the spirit and intentions of the men who drafted our form of government. If there was one fear that animated all members of the Convention of 1787, it was the dread of highly concentrated power. AS Englishmen they had long believed in the doctrine that government should be built up of Checks and Balances, that is, every authority, oflicer or legislative body should have some other authority which would check its power and prevent it from becoming absolute or despotic. One form of this doctrine is the theory of Division of Powers. A brilliant French writer, in a book 1 which was read and studied carefully by influential members of the Convention of 1787, de clared that the division of government into the executive, legisla tive, and judicial departments was a necessary means of preserving the liberty of the citizens against Oppression. His method of rea soning was simple. He asks, in what country is the freedom of the citizen best preserved? At the time of writing England was un doubtedly the freest country in the world. How is this freedom of the citizen secured in England? The author's answer was that the British government at that time separated sharply the executive power of the King from the legislative power of Parliament and the judicial power exercised by judges appointed for life. N 0 other country at that time carried this division of powers as far as did Great Britain. Montesquieu therefore concluded that the division of powers was the most effective means of preserving the liberty of the citizen from government despotism. The Fathers followed this theory faithfully in 1787. The three departments were sepa rated as far as possible, and where their co - operation was necessary, they were set in balance as checks against each other. It will be noticed that the underlying motive of the Fathers was the fear of 7 oppression. Briefly expressed it is: Let us divide governmental power into minute particles, giving a small part to each authority so that none may become supreme or even dangerous. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.