Lord Acton, a British historian and philosopher who had a great deal of influence upon modern concepts of liberty and governmental power. He famously stated that "power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." According to Lord Acton, the concentration of power in any one place - whether secular government, religious institution, or individual - was potentially harmful to all involved.
One historical example of an assertion of absolute power is evident in the Declaratory Act of 1766 by the British Parliament, in which Britain asserted absolute power "in all cases whatsoever" over the unrepresented American colonies. The colonists response to this assertion of absolute power can be seen in writings such as Thomas Paine's The American Crisis, Number One and the Declaration of Independence.
A more current example of absolute power might be the power claimed by the United States Congress over the District of Columbia in the so-called "District Clause" (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17) of the U.S. Constitution, similarly asserting the right to exclusive legislation "in all cases whatsoever" over the unrepresented District of Columbia, the nation's capital.
Though most aspects of the American democracy include the operation of checks and balances, in this instance the Congress has been given absolute power to legislate over the land and population within the District of Columbia.
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