While auxiliary precautions do limit governmental power, there is a better answer available. The main purpose of auxiliary precautions is to divide and separate power among government institutions. They serve as a system of checks and balances to ensure that one branch of government does not attain too much power.

All of these powers are considered checks and balances provided, an attempt to prevent the Executive Branch from devolving into a tyrannical body. All of these powers have limits, in order to prevent tyranny from any of the other branches as well. This separation of powers, and checks and balances, is a fundamental concept of the United States Constitution and the Federal Republic system that prevails in America.

Article VI of the constitution outlines that the constitution, treaties made, and laws of congress shall be the supreme law of the land. This clause ensures that state and local governments recognize the supremacy of the constitution and national law.

Supreme Court Justices are the only officials that serve for life. This was based on the idea that judicial decisions should be free of political influence, therefore a justice does not fear political reprisals for making controversial decisions.

Unfortunately, the Constitution upheld the practice of slavery. One of the key ways in which this was accomplished was the mandates placed on both Congress and the individual state governments to return any captured runaway slaves to their owners; granting freedom to a slave was seen as depriving the owner of the income that the slave’s labor would provide. The Constitution was especially concerned with creating and maintaining a strong national economy, and so Congress’s various economic powers were clearly defined within the document. Among other provisions, Congress was empowered to issue and value money, to pass taxes, to regulate interstate (between two or more states) and international commerce, to govern bankruptcy proceedings, to guard copyrights and patents, and to prosecute any counterfeiters and/or pirates.

The president, the head of the executive branch, has power to veto any bills passed by the legislature. Neither the states nor the judicial branch are granted the power of the veto under the Constitution. The Senate is a part of the legislature and therefore does not have the power of the veto.

In the Supreme Court decision Marbury v. Madison of 1803, the court took the power of judicial review and the power to declare acts of congress unconstitutional.

According to the constitution, the president has the power to negotiate treaties, but ultimately, they must be approved by the senate. Only the Supreme Court can declare laws unconstitutional and all other powers listed are reserved to the executive.

As part of the checks and balances and separation of powers, the Founders, wanted war-making decision making to rest with Congress, the body that represents the people. That way, war would not be waged at the whim of an executive.

Montesquieu wrote about how to best organize government to avoid the abuse of power. His writings are the influence to separate our government into separate branches, each with its own responsibility and power to keep the others from becoming more powerful than the others. His thinking was inflential on, and largely in line, with many early constitutional thinkers, who focused on placing systems of checks and balances within the governmental framework they set up.