For most Americans—or at least most Americans with even a remedial education in civics—the phrase “separation of powers” usually explains the tripartite nature of the federal government. The Founders, in their wisdom, divided that government into branches: the legislative branch, which debates and enacts laws; the executive branch, which enforces the laws; and the judicial branch, which interprets the laws and ensures that they are compliant with one another and with constitutional principles. It’s a nice, clean, simple, and, above all, effective system for limiting the power of the federal polity. It ensures that laws are carefully and thoughtfully created and enforced in accordance with the idea that “all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, [and] that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
People (understandably) tend to forget that the Founders’ separation of powers referred not only to the construction of the federal government but also to the construction of the federal republic. To the Founders, the states were considered the primary site of governance, while the federal entity had only a “few and defined” responsibilities. The Constitution was crafted specifically and purposefully to limit government’s ability to interfere in the lives of the people by separating the governance role among several different entities.
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