Tyranny : The Causes Of Tyyranny

Tyranny is means ‘as harsh absolute power in the hands of one individual’; it has happened everywhere. Whatever the size or shape, tyranny is a problem because it means too much power in the hands of one person or group. In 1787, Representatives from almost all the states in the U.S, met in Philadelphia to fix the issue of tyranny. The House presents us to “The Articles of Confederation” to help guard against tyranny. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in ways such as having the federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the large and small states both treated equally.

Have you ever wondered what the US would be like if our government was a tyranny? Well, thanks to our founding fathers for creating a strong constitution, we don’t have to worry about that. The constitution was written in 1787 in Philadelphia. The problem was that the existing government that was under the Articles Of Confederation wasn’t very successful. Therefore, the fifty-five delegates representing twelve out of the thirteen states came together to tweak our constitution to create a strong government without allowing one person, or group of people to have too much power. The framers used the Constitution to protect against Tyranny in three ways federalism, separation of powers, and

Lastly, it is impossible for any certain branch to gain too much power because of something called “checks and balances”. With checks and balances, each branch has the power to cancel another out and keep its power balanced. “In framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” Here, James Madison is stating that first, the issue is to convince the people that they need laws for the country to run properly and smoothly, and second is to explain to the people that the educated elite will not receive too much power. This will be achieved by giving each branch the power to overrule one another. For example, the legislative branch can impeach the president and Supreme Court, the president vetoes laws and nominates the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court declares laws and acts unconstitutional. This way, not one single branch will be the main source of government.

During the writing of the Constitution, the determination to not let one specific being control the new government was a must for success(Madison Excerpt 1). As stated by James Madison, tyranny was everyone’s main concern when establishing the layout of the United States government, but not all writers agreed on the thoughts of others. Once compromise was made, the Constitution developed many statements that guard the United States from tyranny by enforcing federalism, dividing powers, checking and keeping balance, and giving small states a voice when associated with larger states.

Tyranny is an awful thing in our government, without our constitution we would have a tyranny. Thankfully in 1787 many of our country’s leaders were dissatisfied of the way our government was structured by the Articles Of Confederation, which had been in effect for six years since 1781. The purpose of the constitution was to make a new federal government that would be more powerful whilst protecting the rights and liberties that had been won in the revolutionary war. They separated the powers to avoid tyranny, the powers were separated into four ways: Federalism, Separation of power, Checks & balances, and big states and small states.

Tyranny is something all developing countries risk while forming their new governments. In the Constitution of the United States, the Founding Fathers put a large amount of time and thought to make sure America did not become just a another country that fell to the merciless trap of tyranny. America had just won a war to separate itself from the controlling jaws of Britain. So, one of America’s main concerns as a new country was to create a government that could never eventually evolve into a tyranny. Thus, the Constitution (signed in 1787) was passed, laying the foundation for a tyranny-free government led by the values of equality and freedom. The Constitution of the United States of America protects against a potential tyranny in the government through federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and big states versus small states.

In document B and C, separation of powers of the three branches, legislative, judicial, and executive, ensures that not one power is greater than the other. However, as a form of checks and balances, the branches should not be separated to the point of having no constitutional control over each other. Madison stated "Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct." (Federalist paper #51) but “..they may be a check on the other” (Federalist paper #51) meaning that the three branches have separate powers, but are able to have constitutional control on each other. For example, Legislative branch can approve the presidential nomination, override a president’s veto, and impeach the president from the executive branch while the senate confirms the president's nominations for the judges and remove them from the office from the judicial branch”. While,the executive branch can veto the congressional legislation from the legislative branch and nominate judges for the judicial branch. The judicial branch can declare presidential acts unconstitutional in the executive branch and declare laws unconstitutional to the legislative branch. (Document C). Framer guarded against tyranny through separation of powers but still being able to check on each other and having constitutional control on each other. The branches should be separate and distinct as if they were together, it would be given too much absolute power to one group. Checks and balances illustrates how the constitution guarded against tyranny because the three branches have fair opportunity to stop the other branches from committing an unconstitutional act. Additionally to how checks and balances the constitution from tyranny, “The Great Compromise” does the

If you want to know how the constitution protects us against tyranny then read this paper. In these paragraphs I will tell you about three different ways the U.S. constitution protects us against tyranny. Here are some important details I think you should know. The constitution was written in September, 1787, someone named James Madison wrote the constitution, and the constitution was written in Philadelphia. The U.S. constitution protects us against tyranny by separation of powers, checks and balances, and congressional representation.

With the concept of majority tyranny in mind, the founder’s, including Madison, divided the power of the government into three different branches. The need

Theis rules were not strong enough. Separation of power is power divided into 3 branches. The constitution was guarded against tyranny through federalism. [Doc B is an excerpt federalist paper #47 is writen by James Madison. ] This document is discussing why we need 3 branches of government.

From a portion of the Federalist Papers #51 written by James Madison in 1788, Doc C explains the importance of having each branch posses some sort of power over the other two, so much so that they can check to see if they are appropriately using their power or is committing tyranny. As written in Doc C, “... the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other… . (The three branches) should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” The quote means that to avoid one branch doing whatever they want, the branches must have power other branches to check to see if they are using power correctly and to balance the power that was given to the branches. With the branches constantly checking each other, no one branch can get away with corruption without at least one of the other two branches stepping in to stop them. They are forced to depend and function together- to balance each other’s powers with their own so that the option of tyranny isn’t

This system was designed with the purpose of the two governments being forced to balance power while the three branches within do the same. Like Madison said, this protects the rights of the people and guards against tyranny because when power is divided between the federal and state government (as described in the quote), neither can have full control over the

In document B, James Madison makes another statement “The accumulation of all powers, legislative , executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may be be justify pronounced the very definition of tyranny…. (L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” The reason for this is simple, Each government would have their own “powers”, but they would also share some in order to make things equal. Each government would have their own jobs but would also make sure that other is not making unconstitutional or unfair

“Tyranny is most often defined as harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual like a king or a dictator.” Madison claimed that there are many kinds oftyranny and some can be a supreme a leader and others can be tyranny by the many(when the majority denies the rights to the minority). Madison and his fellow delegates wrote a constitution that was strong enough that holds the states and people together without letting anyone having too much control. America has never had a king or queen, so the constitution did guard against tyranny. Federalism is one way the constitution.

Madison is trying to point out that the power of the government needs to be spread out and that there needs to be checks and balances. There needs to be checks and balances in order to prevent one branch of government from gaining too much power and making decisions on its own. John Dalberg-Acton said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." as quoted in Letters of Thomas Jefferson Concerning Philology and the Classics, Volume 137