It is important... that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories and constituting each the 1 guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them.
Which claim from the passage is Washington's main argument?
1. Public servants should recognize the importance of "the habits of thinking in a free country."
2. Public servants should avoid "the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another."
3. Public servants should understand that the human heart has a "love of power and proneness to abuse it."
4. Public servants should know that history calls for guardians "of the public weal against invasions."
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Washington's main argument in the passage is that:
2. Public servants should avoid "the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another."
This encompasses his warning about the dangers of power consolidation and the importance of maintaining the separation of powers among different branches of government to prevent despotism.
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