preview

How Does The Constitution Prevent Tyranny

Decent Essays

Tyranny is complete control of a state or country by a single person or group. The U.S. Constitution is our country’s way of preventing a tyranny from occurring. It is an enormous document that sets the guidelines and major laws to our American society. The most prominent way that the Constitution prevents tyranny is with its enumerated system of checks and balances. It also uses separation of powers, which refers to the three branches of the federal government, all with their own powers and limitations. The constitution also defines the United States government as federal, which means that there is a balance of powers between the state and national governments. Finally, the document allows equal representation of all states, no matter if they are big or small, which prevents bigger states from receiving too much representation and smaller states not enough. …show more content…

The system is used to prevent one branch of government from getting too much power. Established in the first three articles of the Constitution, it basically gives each branch abilities over each other to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful. For example, the executive branch has the power to veto congressional actions, as well as nominate members of the court. The judicial branch can declare legislative actions unconstitutional, as well as executive actions. The legislative branch controls the budget, confirms presidential nominations, and can even impeach the president if needed. Tyranny is defined as a group of people or a single person with complete jurisdiction over their residing state or country. If a tyranny were to occur in the US, it would most likely be a group of people, instead of a single person. The constitution basically makes it impossible for one branch to gain that much power, since both other branches could restrict

Get Access