The paradox that James Madison creates in the Federalist No. 51 is when he says, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Men are not angels, therefore a government is necessary.  James Madison says that the solution to this paradox is the Constitution’s separation of powers. Each of the branches of government has a way to limit the power of another branch.  In this journal from James Madison, he outlines the details of the separated system.

The primary control on the government is the dependence on the people.  An auxiliary precaution is a republican government, which is pure democracy versus republic. Another is the separation of powers and checks and balances. With separating the government into two it gives us double security because “The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”

I strongly believe, just like many others, that the United States Constitution was a document inspired by God. In D&C 101:80 it says, “…I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose…” The Lord prepared our founding fathers so that they would be able to build up our Constitution for our country to be free. We needed our country to be free so the restoration of the church would be able to happen. In President Ezra Taft Benson’s October 1987 he said, “I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed His stamp of approval upon it.”

Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave us his five great fundamentals of how the Constitution was inspired by God, in his talk, “The Divinely Inspired Constitution” in the Ensign in February 1992. The five fundamentals are separation of powers, a written bill of rights, division of powers, popular sovereignty, and the rule of law and not of men. The inspiration of separation of powers was the adaptation of the idea of it to the needs of a national government. The inspiration for the written bill of rights was in the implementation of principles that had already existed. The division of powers subject had not been a part of any government before. Giving the states power was part of the inspiration of the division of powers. Popular sovereignty gives power to the people of the states.  Elder Dallin H. Oaks said this about popular sovereignty, “Along with many religious people, Latter-day Saints affirm that God gave the power to the people, and the people consented to a constitution that delegated certain powers to the government.” Without the rule of law all the blessings we have received from the Constitution would not be possible. “The rule of law is the basis of liberty.”