How the Constitution Blocks Tyranny
Imagine having someone tell you that you must go to school seven days a week, for ten hours, and with a fifteen-minute lunch period. This is something that could happy if we did not have a constitution. The Constitution is a document that embodies the rules and laws of the United States. It divides the power of the government into three branches; the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The branches work together to make decisions for the United States. Without one of the branches the power would be unevenly distributed and one can become more powerful than the other creating tyranny. For example, if there was no Legislative Branch, the President would have the power to make any law, whether it was unfair or bias against a certain group of people. Another example would be if the President could fire chief justices of the Supreme Court because he or she disliked a decision the chief justice made, it could pressure other justices to make bias decisions to please the President. How does the Constitution guard against tyranny? Tyranny is when all the power of the government is put into the hands
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“James Madison’s idea of the division of power between central and state governments is known as federalism.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) The state governments have the power to make local decisions such as establishing schools, passing marriage and divorce laws, and to hold elections. Whereas the central government has the power to make decisions that affect the country such as, to provide an army and navy, set up post offices, and regulate trade. As James Madison said, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) Having separate governments within each state prevents tyranny by giving more power to the people instead of keeping it in the central
The Constitution protected the people from tyranny by federalism, checks and balances, and equal power between the Senate and House of Representatives. One way the Constitution guarded against tyranny is federalism. As stated in Federalist Paper #51, by James Madison, he states that “ In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments… the different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”
One of the ways that the United States guarded against cruel and oppressive government or rule was that they made the three branches of government. These three branches were the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch. This helped guard against cruel and oppressive government or rule because “they were separate and distinct powers.” (Doc B) This would help to guard against cruel and oppressive government or rule because all of these powers were separated so there wasn’t one overpowering government.
Does the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? “Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart’. Tyranny is a cruel, aggressive government or rule there are many sorts of tyranny. Separation of Powers are branches that do not have power over each other when they are separated it creates an equal government. Small states and large states help with votes in each senate this is determined by the population of the state.
How does the Constitution guard against tyranny, or does it? The Constitution was written in Philadelphia in May of 1787 and was written to guard the United States from tyrannic rule. It was also very efficient in doing so. One way that the Constitution guarded against tyrannic rule was having a compound government which provided two separate departments that could argue and compromise. Another way was that the government was divided into three separate branches that had equal rule against each other.
The government consists of the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial branch. These three powers guard against tyranny because the building of laws is represented to be more equal. James Madison, father of the Constitution and author of the Federalist Paper #51, wrote, "…. (L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct” (Doc B). The three groups should not be associating to have more power because it is authoritarianism.
The Constitution also includes a system of checks and balances to limit the power of each branch and protect individual liberties. The Constitution established a president as the head of the executive branch, a bicameral Congress, and a Supreme Court. The Constitution also includes the Bill of Rights, which guarantees certain individual rights and freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. Additionally, the Constitution's system of checks and balances helps to prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful and violating individual rights.
The first method the Constitution protects against tyranny is Federalism. Federalism is the division of power between state and national government. In Document A it interprets that the governments will each have a portion of power and not be able to have all the power. This evidence helps explain why the Constitution guards against tyranny because Federalism will allow both governments to have limited powers. Another method the Constitution protects against tyranny is Separation of Powers.
The division between federal and national style governments is seen with the ratification of the Constitution, because it is ratified through each State instead of the people directly. Under the Constitution the choice to join the federal government was left to the states, so they could choose to enter the union voluntarily. Twice throughout Federalist 39 Madison explains his reason for creating a federal government stating, “the Constitution will not be a national but a federal act” and again, “the new Constitution will, it established, be a federal and not a national constitution. In the hopes of achieving ratification Madison wants whoever was reading to recognize the unique system being created. The final piece of Federalist 39 explains how States would have jurisdiction over local governments, but states would not have jurisdiction over the federal
The Checks and Balances are the ways that the three branches of government check each other to make sure each one doesn’t go crazy with power. Legislative Branch checks the Judicial Branch, Judicial Branch checks the Executive Branch, and the Executive Branch checks the Legislative Branch. (Document C). This helps guard against tyranny because each of the branches can check the other one to make sure the branches don’t get too much power. The final way that the constitution helped guard against tyranny was the Big States and Small States Compromise.
This country was founded with the attempt to separate the federal government and the state government, known as federalism. The goal of federalism is to divide the power of state and federal governments, protect the rights of the state, and prevent tyranny of the majority. Throughout the years, federalism turned into dual federalism where the state and federal government were completely independent of each other and only shared a dependency on the Constitution. The united states suppressing now to cooperative federalism, the national government has assumed even more power, overruling the states with Supreme Court decisions and actions, and executive Orders. Furthermore, the Federal government should grant their state governments more power, due to the connection the state governments hold with their local people.
The Constitution guarded against tyranny in several ways in which were federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and big vs. small state compromises. What Madison is saying is that there are many kinds of tyranny. You can have a tyranny of one supreme ruler who takes all the power for himself or herself. You can also have a tyranny of several generals and religious leaders that seize control. The challenge was to write a Constitution that was strong enough to hold the states and the people together without letting any person or group, or branch, or level of government gain too much control.
This guards against tyranny because neither of the governments can gain powers over the nation or the people. Since, the Legislative branch is the one that makes the laws, the Executive branch carries out the laws (enforces), and the Judicial branch
How did the constitution guard tyranny? The constitution guards against tyranny by the powers of the government, the 3 branches of the government, checks and balances, and the House of Representatives and the Senate. All of the powers of the government guarded against tyranny. There were two different governments to balance the powers. The two governments were the state government and central government.
(The Three Branches) should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” In conclusion, the constitution protected us from tyranny using the three methods,Equal Representation from all the States, Federalism, and the system of checks and balances. The framers succeeded in creating a well built constitution because all three methods have created security that no tyrant, or tyranny would
The Executive branch executes laws and is the president. The Judicial branch judges laws and is the Supreme Court. The Legislative branch creates laws and is the House of Representatives and Senate. James Madison said in Federalist Paper #47 Document B, “the accumulation of all powers...in the same hands...may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” This helps protect from tyranny because the Separation of Powers prevents all power from being in the same hands.