In the Great Tradition

All historical experience would seem to point to the maxim that separation of powers is the prerequisite of any long-continued political freedom. This was the considered judgment, explicitly stated, of the men who made the Constitution, as it is the implicit foundation of the Constitution itself. In the construction of the federal power itself, they went to elaborate lengths to create a tripartite balance between the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary—a balance replete with checks of a complex character.

But first, and fundamentally, the balance depended not upon their constructions, but upon an overwhelming brute reality: the sovereignty of the several states. The existence of inherent power in the states was the solid guarantee that the new government which they set up should not become a tyrannical, centralized Leviathan. Federal power represented the delegation of sovereignty for precise and limited ends; and beyond these ends the authority of the federal government was null and void.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Frank Meyer

Constitution

Constitutional Government

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Conservatism

All historical experience would seem to point to the maxim that separation of powers is the prerequisite of any long-continued political freedom. This was the considered judgment, explicitly stated, of the men who made the Constitution, as it is the implicit foundation of the Constitution itself. In the construction of the federal power itself, they went to elaborate lengths to create a tripartite balance between the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary—a balance replete with checks of a complex character.

But first, and fundamentally, the balance depended not upon their constructions, but upon an overwhelming brute reality: the sovereignty of the several states. The existence of inherent power in the states was the solid guarantee that the new government which they set up should not become a tyrannical, centralized Leviathan. Federal power represented the delegation of sovereignty for precise and limited ends; and beyond these ends the authority of the federal government was null and void.