34 PART oNE • THE AmERiCAN sYsTEm
Separation of Powers
The principle of dividing
governmental powers
among different branches
of government.
Madisonian Model
A structure of government
proposed by James
Madison, in which the
powers of the government
are separated into three
branches: executive,
legislative, and judicial.
Checks and Balances
A major principle of the
American system of
government whereby each
branch of the government
can check the actions of
the others.
Electoral College
A group of persons, called
electors, that officially
elects the president and
the vice president of the
United States. The electors
are selected by the voters
in each state and in the
District of Columbia.of the Constitution on August 6. It made the executive and judicial branches subordinate
to the legislative branch.The madisonian model—separation of Powers. The major issue of separation of
powers had not yet been resolved. The delegates were concerned with structuring the
government to prevent the imposition of tyranny, either by the majority or by a minority. It
was Madison who proposed a governmental scheme—sometimes called the madisonian
model—to achieve this: the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of government
were to be separated so that no one branch had enough power to dominate the others.
The separation of powers was by function, as well as by personnel, with Congress passing
laws, the president enforcing and administering laws, and the courts interpreting laws in
individual circumstances.
Each of the three branches of government would be independent of the others, but
they would have to cooperate to govern. According to Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 51
(see Appendix C), “the great security against a gradual concentration of the several pow-
ers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department
the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the
others.”The madisonian model—Checks and Balances. The “constitutional means” Madison
referred to is a system of checks and balances through which each branch of the gov-
ernment can check the actions of the others. For example, Congress can enact laws,
but the president has veto power over congressional acts. The Supreme Court has the
power to declare acts of Congress and of the executive unconstitutional, but the president
appoints the justices of the Supreme Court, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(The Supreme Court’s power to declare acts unconstitutional was not mentioned in the
Constitution, although arguably the framers assumed that the Court would have this
power—see the discussion of judicial review later in this chapter.) Figure 2–1 on the facing
page outlines these checks and balances.
In the years since the Constitution was ratified, the checks and balances built into it
have evolved into a sometimes complex give-and-take among the branches of govern-
ment. Generally, for nearly every check that one branch has over another, the branch that
has been checked has found a way of getting around it. For example, suppose that the
president checks Congress by vetoing a bill. Congress can override the presidential veto by
a two-thirds vote. Additionally, Congress holds the “power of the purse.” If it disagrees
with a program endorsed by the executive branch, it can simply refuse to appropriate the
funds necessary to operate that program. Similarly, the president can impose a counter-
check on Congress if the Senate refuses to confirm a presidential appointment, such as a
judicial appointment. The president can simply wait until Congress is in recess and then
make what is called a “recess appointment,” which does not require the Senate’s immedi-
ate approval.The Executive. Some delegates favored a plural executive, made up of representatives
from the various regions. This idea was abandoned in favor of a single chief executive.
Some argued that Congress should choose the executive. To make the presidency com-
pletely independent of Congress, however, an electoral college was adopted. This group
would be made up of electors chosen by the states, and each state would have as many
electors as it had members of Congress. The electoral college created a cumbersome
presidential election process, but it supported the separation of powers while insulating
the presidency from direct popular control.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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