On the other hand, many southern states explicitly required separation of powers. In both Delaware and Pennsylvania, members of the executive council served at the same time as judges. The president of Delaware was a member of the Court of Appeals the presiding officers of the two houses of the state legislature also served in the executive department as vice presidents.

In New Jersey, the governor also functioned as a member of the state's highest court and as the presiding officer of one house of the New Jersey Legislature. states did not observe a strict separation of powers in the 18th century. His writings considerably influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States, such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, who participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which drafted the Constitution. Montesquieu was one of the foremost supporters of separating the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The American form of separation of powers is associated with a system of checks and balances.ĭuring the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers such as Montesquieu advocated the principle in their writings, whereas others, such as Thomas Hobbes, strongly opposed it. This philosophy heavily influenced the drafting of the United States Constitution, according to which the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power. Separation of powers is a political doctrine originating in the writings of Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws, in which he argued for a constitutional government with three separate branches, each of which would have defined abilities to check the powers of the others. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about separation of powers and checks and balances of the U.S. The United States Capitol dome as seen from the Supreme Court Building U.S.

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