Write a short letter to a friend. Describe what you have learned about the separation of powers and checks and balances. Tell why you think these...

When writing such a letter, it would be important to consider the following. First, you might look at some of the historical origins of the concept of separation of powers. The development of Parliament in England is an important example of this, one which was described by the most famous advocate of separation of powers in government, a French philosopher named the Baron de Montesquieu. Then you would want to look at how the U.S. Constitution actually implements separation of powers and checks and balances. Power in the U.S. federal government is divided between an executive branch (the president and cabinet and independent agencies), Congress (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) and the judiciary (the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts). This is established in the Constitution, which goes further by giving each branch of government some powers to "check" the powers of the others. For example, the President can veto laws passed by Congress, but Congress has the power to impeach and remove the President for committing crimes while in office. Obviously, the idea was to keep any one branch from becoming too dominant, and the people within them from becoming too powerful. This is why the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances are so important, and the letter you write should discuss how this works, with perhaps some other examples of "checks."