Checks and Balances: Separation of Powers

The men who wrote the Constitution sought to create a stronger form of government, but were also fearful of creating one that was too strong. These men, after all, had recently fought a revolution against Great Britain because they believed that the British government was too powerful, and that it had taken away their freedoms.

In order to prevent their new government from becoming too strong, the Framers built a system of checks and balances into the Constitution. That is, they created a government with three branches, each of which had some power over the other two. The new form of government had a legislative branch (the Senate and the House of Representatives), an executive branch (headed by the president), and a judicial branch (a system of courts, headed by the U.S. Supreme Court). The legislative branch would write the laws, the president would administer or execute those laws, and the courts would settle disputes that arose under those laws. Thus, each branch had a different role to play in the new government.