Principles of American Constitutional Democracy

The Founders crafted the Constitution to serve as an instructional manual for the organization of the new country’s government. The people who served in the government would be limited by the powers outlined in the Constitution. The idea that government officials’ power over citizens should be limited as outlined in an official document is known as constitutionalism.

The U.S. Constitution gives power to the government but also limits that power so that it cannot be abused. Power must be limited because the most important thing that must be protected is people’s natural rights. Limited government protects government officials from violating citizens’ natural rights.

The American government is structured to limit the power of each branch of government. The separation of powers refers to the provision in the Constitution that power is separated into three branches of government:

• The legislative branch makes laws.
• The executive branch enforces the laws.
• The judicial branch interprets the laws.

The purpose of separating the powers of the three branches is to ensure no one branch of the government assumes powers different from those set forth in the Constitution. Check and balances is the process by which this takes place. An example of checks and balances is how the Supreme Court (the judicial branch) has authority to declare legislation by Congress (the legislative branch) or acts by the president (the executive branch) unconstitutional. Another example is how Congress can impeach a president or a presidentially appointed judge. Finally, the president can veto legislation from Congress and nominate judges to the Supreme Court.