... the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law". Three other main influences on the Constitution were the Declaration of Independence 1776, the Articles of Confederation 1781 and the French philosopher de Montesquieu's ideas on the 'Separation of Powers'. These contributed to the creation of a Constitution that primarily considered protecting the rights of the citizens and preventing either tyranny of one (President) or tyranny of the masses (largest political party). The arguments of critics, however, are that these influences, relevant as they were in the 18th Century, are now 'neither here nor there', and in fact, it would be wise to allow either the Executive (in effect the President) or the Legislature (in effect the largest political party) to gain more power, preventing gridlock and indeed allowing either branch of government "to impose effective gun control or establish comprehensive ...

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