Government+in+the+United+States


 * GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES [[image:http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/archives/images/us%20flag.gif width="108" height="45"]]**

Government in the United States is made of three branches and many Checks and Balances in Government, to prevent one branch from becoming more powerful than another. The ideas of our government came from [|Enlightenment era thinkers]. Our leaders had no idea if this was going to work or not.


 * THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT**

The United States government is made up of three branches; the Executive Branch of U.S. Government, Legislative Branch of U.S. Government, and Judicial Branch of U.S. Government branches. The idea for three branches came from Baron de Montesquieu, an enlightenment thinker. He believed that the power of government should be divided because no one part of the government can make themselves more powerful. Americans accepted this idea easily because they didn't want their government to follow the British government in any way. They made this government work by using a system of Checks and Balances in Government between the branches.

The Idea for a written constitution came from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, anothe enlightenment thinker. He also believed in direct participation of citizens in government and that man kin was esentially good. John Locke had a large impact on our government as well. He is the one who came up with the idea of a social contract between a ruler and his/her people. He believed in the Natural Rigthts - Life, Liberty, and property. He stated that if a government did not live up to the social contract the people had the right, even the responsibility to otherthrow the government.

Our first form of government was the Articles of Confederation. This was a complete failure though, so delegates decided to write up a constitution at the Constitutional Convention. This was the first government of its kind and our founding fathers had no idea if it was going to work or not. You can read our Constitution [|here]. For more information please visit our pages on the different branches. Links are above.


 * HISTORY**

The United States government was the first of its kind. Never before had the world seen a government quite like this one. For one, we had broken away from a monarchy and instead of putting up a monarchy ourselves, we made the first democracy. Citizens were allowed to directly participate in government. We voted for our leaders instead of having them be chosen by someone who was already in power or by family lines. We also had the separation and division of powers, which prevented corruption of power in the government. Our nation was set up weak at first, but its strength grew as we re-evaluated how we wanted to run our country.