stitution was a combination of three forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Each of the three branches of government checked the strength and balanced the weaknesses of the other two. This style of government leaves absolute rule in no single body but it is shared among all three. Polybuis believed that the Republic of Rome had avoided tyranny by developing a mixed constitution, a single state with elements of three governments at once. This is what our Founding Fathers benchmarked when they developed U.S Constitution.
             A direct connection between Polybius and the Founding Fathers can be found in references made in their writings. Thomas Jefferson had several editions of Polybius' Histories in his own library. There are private letters written by Jefferson that reveal he was buying copies of the Histories for himself and friends. James Madison was also directly familiar with the work of Polybius. In the Federalist Papers No. 63 he cites the historian and he devotes nearly the entire No. 47 to the separation of powers. Below is an excerpt from No. 47:
             "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
             This clearly illustrates how strongly James Madison felt about one person or entity having all the power. Other Founding Fathers were just as knowledgeable of Polybius and his mixed government and this is evident in the constitution. The government that was revised in the
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