The United States Constitution is an amazing document. A bold experiment in democracy more than 200 years ago, it has proved both stable and flexible enough to survive and remain effective in a world totally different from the one in which it was written. The Constitution reflects seven basic principles. They are: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, republicanism, and individual rights. Separation of powers – the government of the United States, the federal government, is divided into three branches: the executive power, invested in the President, the legislative power, given to Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate), and the judicial power, vested in one Supreme Court and other federal courts created by Congress. The Constitution provides a system of checks and balances designed to avoid the tyranny of any one branch.