Branches of Government Essay

Branches of Government
Jefferson said it best, “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government” (The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., 1996-2012, para. 1). After the ultimate control while under rule of the crown, the founding fathers sought to create not only a government that provided for rights and liberties of the people, but also to ensure that government interaction and authority was spread amongst various branches. This distribution of power would provide checks and balances to guarantee reduced influence, while allowing each section to operate independently. However, agreement of each party would be problematic to achieve when needing to enact new laws and regulations. Additional issues arose when the regional governments sought to be heard for its individual residents, which continue to occur today.
Government Division Justification and Benefits
Throughout history, many literary works and documents have influenced the creation of the country’s government. Each has aided in creating the benefits of each branch of the government as well as for the people each seeks to provide for and protect.
Justification
The American forefathers divided the government into three different branches – legislative, judicial, and executive – because they were influenced by the work of Hobbes and Locke. Their belief focused on establishing a government founded on separation of power with checks and balances in place to protect and provide for the rights of the people. Additionally, the forefathers had the idea to use separate branches, so that a single branch could become more powerful and overlook the rights of the people (Patterson, 2009).  
Additional inspirations on the forefathers’ choices to separate the government into three branches were the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact. The Magna Carta was a charter established on June 15, 1215 provided the people of England human rights and freedom from the control and...