The United States Central Government: Power Of The Branches

995 words - 4 pages

The Founding Fathers knew that our country needed a strong central government. They did not want one part to have more control than another. They came up with the three branches of government to equally spread out the power. Each branch has their own separate duties and roles to make sure our government runs smoothly, and so no one branch can overthrow another. The three branches are Legislative, Executive and Judicial. The Legislative branch makes the laws, and is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Next, the Executive branch where the President and Vice president stand, and this is where laws are “executed”. Finally there is the judicial branch, which consists of the Supreme Court. This branch oversees the court system, and they decide whether a law is unconstitutional or not. Even though each branch is just as important as the other, and was supposed to be created “equal” which one holds more power? Which branch should hold more power? Out of the three branches, the Executive branch is the most powerful branch.
The executive branch comes with Executive freedoms. The President has certain powers, such as permitting pardons for federal offenses if need be. For example, when Nixon was impeached, President Ford had pardoned him. Even though the Legislative branch makes the laws, the President is the one who puts the laws into action with the support from Congress. However, if the president does not agree with the law trying to be passed, he has the right/power to veto the law. After the president veto’s a bill, the likelihood of that bill becoming a law is very slim. If Congress decides they want to override a veto from the president, two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and Senate must vote against it. The president being overridden is very unusual. Even though the president cannot declare war without approval from Congress, he has the power to advise his beliefs to congress. The president is looked at as ‘commander-in-chief’ of the armed forces. He has the ability to authorize the use of troops without declaring war. A prime example being in 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, FDR responded with his belief that the U.S. should declare war on Japan. By that next April the U.S. and Japan were at war. The Executive Branch also declared the amount of time a president can serve. Before the mid 1990’s, the president could serve for however long he please as long as he was voted back in. Now the president cannot serve more than two terms. I guess is it easy to say that the Executive branch could be looked upon as the foundation of our countries government.
When it comes down to which should hold the most power, I think that the Legislative branch should, because they have the power to make and stop laws from being passed, override a president’s decision, and essentially control...

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