The Gateway Chronicle 2020

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arbitrary exercise of power. It also enhanced
the democracy and separation of
powers in England as it took power away
from the unelected monarch and required
laws to be passed through
Parliament instead. The idea of setting
clear limits on power – favoured
by Montesquieu particularly – was
clearly influential here, but absolutely
crucial to the American Founding
Fathers (chiefly James Madison).
The American War of Independence
in the latter part of the 18 th Century,
and the subsequent granting of the
American Constitution in 1787, was
hugely significant in establishing the
rule of law, possibly being the most
significant single event in this process.
For example, under Article
Two, it is established that the President
and other senior officials can be
impeached by Congress if their behaviour
strays out of law, and under Article Three,
the right to trial by jury was protected.
Furthermore, the Bill of Rights (interestingly
taking the same name as the aforementioned
English bill) which was implemented
in 1791, enshrined more aspects of
the rule of law into the United States’ democracy.
This was essentially just a group
of ten amendments to the Constitution,
that established intrinsic rights for every
citizen of the USA, arguably being based
of Cicero’s concept of Natural Law. For
example, the
“It was this age of Enlightenment,
supported by philosophers such as
Rousseau, which promulgated the
notion of natural rights”
Fifth
Amendment
protected the
right to due
process, and
the Sixth established
further
rights for the accused, such as a speedy
trial, the assistance of counsel, an impartial
jury, and so on. Even regardless of the
specific details, the American Constitution
is particularly significant as it is one codified
document, which sets out commitments
to democracy, and to the rule of
The US Constitution places a large emphasis on the ‘people’
law. Also, as it was made “in one go”, unlike
the evolutionary law in Britain, so the
influence of philosophers on this document
was significant. Montesquieu, who was
interestingly also a judge, was the first to
develop the principle of separation of
powers, as mentioned above, which itself
protects the citizens from arbitrary wielding
of power and is one of the most defining
principles of the US Constitution. This
principle is so important that its implementation
can be seen far more recently in
order to “democratise” countries; after the
Second World War, West Germany – under
control of the allied powers – separated
the judiciary and the legislature, as
well as pursuing devolution
of much legislative
power to constituent
states (Länder).
Moreover, the US
Constitution’s establishment
of an elected
legislature and executive
(albeit by a tiny
minority of the population), and clear
term lengths for all officials, shows its rigorous
commitment to democracy. Therefore,
the Constitution’s significance to
both the rule of law and democracy was