Constitution Guards Against Tyranny Essay

Think of the word tyrant. Now just imagine that there was a simple and easy way to stop him or her. That’s what the constitution has done for the U.S.A. Our Constitution has protected us against tyranny since the day it was drafted. The constitution is an official document that was written in May 1787 in the city of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. The purpose of the constitution is to form a central federal government, to form a separation between federal and state rights, and to give personal liberties to its citizens.

What would life be like without the Constitution? Well eventually we would have a tyranny. This was something that the colonists were trying to avoid. What is tyranny? Tyranny is when a person has a lot of power in their hands, having complete control. The constitution was made to to help guard against things like tyranny. Some ways that the Constitution could guard us from tyranny are by dividing powers between the central and state governments, dividing powers between branches of government evenly, using checks and balances and lastly, in the Legislative Branch, there is equal representation from all the states.

Another way to guard against tyranny was the checks and balances; that all the different branches of government can disagree with something that another branch is doing in order to keep everything in the government fair. One way that the constitution shows this is when it is put that the other branches can veto something that another branch is doing because it may be unconstitutional. (Document C) Checks and balances protects against tyranny because it make sure that one group in the government can do anything that would be unconstitutional. (Document C) For example, ‘congress can approve presidential nominations and impeach the President from office, but the President can veto a Congressional legislation. (Document C) Another example is the president nominates judges, but the Court can declare presidential acts unconstitutional. (Document C) Another example is the court can declare laws unconstitutional, but congress can impeach judges. (Document C) Checks and Balances protect against tyranny.

A third way that the framers used the Constitution protects against tyranny was checks and balances. “...The constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they check on the other...” The main goal is to make sure that each of the three branches have control over each other but still separated. This protects against tyranny because each branch has powers the control one another. In document C it states how each level of government limits and balances each other out to keep the powers even, and how

The first way that the Constitution helped with the weaknesses of the United States were the different ways it made passing laws more fair. When amending a document the Articles of Confederation needed 13 out of 13 people to approve of the document. The Constitution provided a more reasonable way by having ⅔ of both houses and ¾ of the state legislature. This is a better method because not 100% of people are going to agree on everything. The same type of thing worked when passing laws. 9/13 people needed to approve in the Articles of Confederation while it’s now 50% +1 of both houses plus the signature of the President. This allows for things to be more fair and it makes sure everyone in power somewhat agrees on what is going on and not just a couple of people are deciding on what the citizens new laws will be.

To prevent from one branch of government having all power, and therefore having tyranny, (Madison FP # 47) Checks and Balances was added to the defenses of the constitution. There are three branches of government: Legislative Branch (Congress), Executive Branch (President), and Judicial Branch (The Courts). These three branches work together to check one another to make sure the power is evenly distributed and balanced, hence the name Checks and Balances. The way it works is that the Legislative Branch (Congress) can check the Executive Branch (President) by approving Presidential nominations, being able to override a President’s veto, and can impeach the President, him or her, from office. The Legislative Branch can check the Judicial Branch by having Senate confirm Presidential nominations and by being able to impeach judges and remove them from office. The President can check the Legislative Branch by vetoing Congressional legislation, and can check the Judicial Branch by nominating judges. The Judicial Branch can check the Legislative Branch by declaring laws unconstitutional, and can check the Executive Branch by declaring presidential acts unconstitutional. (Madison FP # 51) All three branches of government work together to make sure no branch is abusing their limited power, by using the system Checks and

Federalism is the division of power between national and state government. Federalism was supported by Doc A, an excerpt of The Federalist Papers; A series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in support of the Constitution. The following quote is an excerpt from Federalist Paper #51, written in 1778 by James Madison. “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among districts and separate departments.” In the aforementioned quote, James Madison is referring to the national state governments. Due to federalism, power is split between local and federal governments, preventing all power being controlled by one group. As a result, the two governments each have their own powers, which prevents total rule from a national or state government. Additionally, the power in these branches are split into three more branches. This prevents any one branch of government from having total power, which guards against

One way the U.S. constitution protects us against tyranny is separation of powers. A double security rises to the rights of the people. The government's control each other, but at the same time it will be controlled by itself. The National and State governments limit each other's powers and the powers are divided between them. If all the power is in the same hands then they will have to much and there will be a tyranny. James Madison said, “Liberty requires that the three great departments should be separate and distinct.” He talks about how the branches limit each other and that the powers are divided so one branch doesn't get too much. Separation of powers

The constitution guarded against tyranny by giving us federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and large vs. small states. The constitution was written in Philadelphia in the year of 1787. This established America’s national government and fundamental laws

There are three branches in Congress, such as the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive. They keep each other in check, and make sure corruption does not take over. There are ways that the government branches are controlled by each other, as stated in the Constitution, in 1787. The question that is mainly being asked is: how did all these measures help the government avoid tyranny? Tyranny in question is when too big a level of power is placed in one’s hands, and they use it unfairly. The Constitution guarded against tyranny by including there being three branches, federalism, and checks and balances in the structure of government. This prevented the start of corruption, unfairness in governing,

Federalism helped to protect against tyranny by dividing the power between two governments: states and federal. According to James Madison, Founding Father, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” This quote, from the text Federalist Paper #51 refers to how the state and federal have individual responsibilities, but are also connected enough to keep other’s powers in check. This quote reminds the readers that the Constitution formed the separate state and federal governments to provide a double security against tyranny by splitting the power between two governments, making sure that the decisions made were the best for the citizens. Ultimately, federalism prevented tyranny by separating the power between two governments, which guarded against a possible tyranny in the

Federalism guards against tyranny by dividing the power between central and state governments. Some powers given to the central government are to regulate trade, to declare war, and etc. Powers given to the state government are to hold elections, establish schools, and etc. Both the state and central governments check each other to make sure one doesn’t get too much power.

First, federalism helped to protect against tyranny by having federalism. According to James Madison, “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments” (Document A). The quote is explaining the idea of federalism government is divided into a central and state government that controls each other and themselves. This quote demonstrates how the Constitution guards against tyranny.

The founding fathers wanted to create a constitution because many believed that the national government had to be stronger than what it had been with the use of the Articles of Confederation. But at the same time they were fearful of human nature and how often it could be seen in the history of other countries such as Britain, for people in the position of power to infringe on the rights of others, by becoming hungry with power. Taking this into account, they wanted to create a government with another power to keep order and to govern. But also make sure there were sufficient checks put in

The constitution was established by men who had experienced the dictatorships of Europe and had escaped from its grasp. They sought to establish a form of government that would never allow a dictatorship or tyrant ruler to hold power over the people like in the places they had fled. With their creation of the foundation of what our government is today they created a system where 3 branches were all of equal power and each could be overruled by another which prevented any branch becoming superior of another. The separation of powers provides a system of shared power called Checks and Balances.(2) The three branches are legislative, judicial and executive and they each have specific powers to