Fearing that republicanism could engender tyranny, the Framers created a mixed government with a system of checks and balances so that one organ of government would not dominate the Union and no single political faction could control the government. The Constitution outlines how these checks and balances function by creating three branches of the federal government and regulating the relationship between the federal government, the states, and the people.

The Constitution creates three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial. This division is also called the “separation of powers.” This separation and the checks and balances placed on each, as designated in the Constitution, means that no branch can act with absolute power. Absolute power is power unbound by law, something the Framers wholeheartedly rejected. A good example of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances is how the president and Congress share war powers. The Constitution gives Congress the ability to establish and maintain an army and navy, and Congress can declare war, while the president directs military operations as the designated commander in chief.

The creation of a bicameral legislature was another method of employing checks and balances. However, the Framers did not anticipate the rise of political parties, and today’s two-party system in the United States has changed the way checks and balances within the federal legislature operate.