Separation of Power in U.S. Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Separation of Power in U.S. Government - Essay Example for the elaboration of the ground rules on which the American state had to be based, that the concentration of all powers in a single pair of hands was not acceptable and could possibly lead to usurpation of power. Thus, the framers of the American Constitution began their work on this monumental document having regard to the above. In 1748, long before the United States of America gained independence in 1776, The Spirit of the Laws, a book written by the Baron de Montesquieu, laid down conditions of separate branches of power with different tasks and responsibilities (Vile, 1967). This doctrine was used by the framers of the American Constitution. In 1786 twelve states of the USA slated 74 delegates who had to participate in the creation of the Constitution. The constitutional process was initiated by the Federal Convention that took place in Philadelphia in December of 1786 and the first half of 1787. Some of the delegates never arrived to Philadelphia to take part in the Convention and put a priority on other issues of state formation. A State of Rhode Island, for instance, did not send its representatives to the Convention taking with a grain of salt the constitutional process per se for some reasons (Carey, 2009). Hence, out of 74 registered delegates only 55 attended the Federal Convention. Those who took active part and contributed greatly to the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America shared the principles of the separation of powers and adhered to this doctrine all the way down. The separation of powers in the American Constitution is based on a simple concept, according to which there must be three independent branches of the government with different functions. Thus, under the Constitution of the USA the government consists of the legislative, executive and judicial branches that have limited functions and balance each other in order to avoid the accumulation of powers within one authority. This concept is one of the cornerstones