 Fact is, the concept is not new. A number of well-read authors, including John Locke and Montesquieu, published books several years prior to the convention calling for such a separation of powers. The United States, under the Articles of Confederation, demonstrated that a single branch was insufficient. In the end, the coincidence of the Trinity and the three branches of the United States government is just that, coincidence. This has been a U.S. Constitution Minute.