A system designed to protect individual rights against possible violation by government; part of the theory of balanced
government in which powers are separated, a theory that can
be traced back to ancient times.
The theory of checks and balances rests on a system of
separation of powers or balanced government. Historians can
trace government consisting of a separation of powers back
to the ancient Greeks. Aristotle prescribed a system of “mixed
government” composed of monarchy, aristocracy, and
democracy. The system of the ancient Romans relied on a
“balance of interests” among the monarchical, aristocratic,
and democratic parts of the government.
The American system achieves a balance of powers or
functions among the three branches of government: the
executive (the president), the legislative (the two houses of
Congress), and the judicial (the Supreme Court). This system
predates independence from England. It operated in several
of the colonial provincial governments, including those of
Virginia, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. During the
period of the Articles of Confederation, Thomas Jefferson
advocated a system of balanced government to avoid corruption, tyranny, and despotism.
The Americans, when drafting the U.S. Constitution,
adopted these ideas from the eighteenth-century French
philosopher Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
(1689–1755), who wrote The Spirit of the Laws (1748).
Montesquieu bequeathed to the American founding fathers
the principle of separation of powers necessary for the system
of checks and balances to function.
The founding fathers believed that to maintain a government that is free from tyranny and corruption, the government must have more than simple separation of powers.
Thus, they prescribed a system of checks (each government
branch watches the other two to restrain them from usurping
power) and balances (power remains equally divided among
the three government branches). The U.S. Constitution
specifically delineates these checks and balances: The two
houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, legislate separately but require at least minimal cooperation of the other. Congress can pass a bill into law, but the
president can veto it. The Congress and president can agree
on passing a law, but the judiciary can declare it unconstitutional. The president is in charge of foreign and military policy, but the Senate must ratify the president’s treaties if they
are to become law. Congress must agree to raise the funds to
support the military. Under this system, each branch of government has its own authority to make decisions on specific
issues; however, it often requires the consent of the other two
branches.
The American system of a federal government further
ensures the working of a system of checks and balances. State
governments share power with the federal government; thus,
neither has supreme power. The fact that the people directly
elect politicians is another check on power.
—Leigh Whaley
References
Merry, Henry J. Five-Branch Government: The Full Measure
of Constitutional Checks and Balances. Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 1980.
Panogopoulos, E. P. Essays on the History and Meaning of
Checks and Balances. Lanham, MD: University Press of
America, 1986.