Reasons Against Tyranny

How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? Tyranny is a cruel and oppressive government or rule. In the late 1780s in Philadelphia, 55 people met because the Articles of Confederation were not working. They decided to create the Constitution that would guard against tyranny. The three main decisions that I chose that they had to make that would guard against tyranny were making the three branches of government, how the branches of government could check each other, and also how they made the rule that you would have representation according to population.

As James Madison argued in Federalist Paper #51, reserving some powers to the states will help them keep the national government in check (Document A). The states hold the elections, so they can prevent the national government from limiting who gets to vote (Document A). There are separate powers reserved for national government, like regulating trade, that allow it to keep the states in check (Document A) Those that they share, like taxes, allow both to limit the other (Document A).

Federalism is just one of the few ways the constitution guards against tyranny. “The power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments…”(James Madison, Federalist Paper #51,1788), the thought was to

First of all, Federalism in the constitution helps guard against tyranny. “The different governments will

As James Madison stated, “ The accumulation of all powers… in the same hands… may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” However, if you separate this power between multiple branches of government it provides a fairly effective safeguard against one person or group gaining too much power over the other. Also, along side with these separations, each appointed government official serves a certain term. After this term they either have to run again or cannot be in that position again. This protects against tyranny because without the ability to serve a full lifetime, it becomes extremely difficult to gain too much

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.

This method of separation is known as “checks and balances” referring to the three branches of government the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The legislative branch is supposed to be the stronger one. It consists of the Congress divided in two chambers: a House of Representatives and a Senate. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people and have the responsibility of encouraging popular consent and the Senate is elected by the state legislatures. The executive branch consists of the president, who has the power to receive international ambassadors, negotiate treaties with acceptance of the Senate, and appoint major personnel.

Putting checks and balances into the constitution not only deepens the segregation between the branches but also limits each branch’s power using a system. In James Madison’s Federalist paper #51 he states that he wanted the branches to check each other, “the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on each other…. [The three branches] should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” The framers manage to implement this so that no branch of government could be more powerful than another. For example, the chart adapted from various sources, including the Constitution of the United States of America, states that the legislative branch can impeach judges and remove them from office, but the judicial branch can declare laws proposed by Congress unconstitutional.

It is too much power for one branch to have. While Separation of Powers have been challenged, it is still a crucial part of the U.S.

In the United States, the powers of the legislative branch, judicial branch, and executive branch are divided between three separate institutions: Congress, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Supreme Court, made up of the nine justices of the Supreme Court, and the President of the Unites States, respectively. Each branch maintains an amount of power over the other two while also being subject to the other two. This three-branch system of government is the manifestation of the ingenuity of the Constitution and is a testament to the endurance of the nation. Congress, or the legislative branch, is responsible for introducing new laws and passing them through both chambers of representatives, the House and the Senate.

Therefore, power has been justly distributed between each division of government. Checks and balances are yet another form of separation of powers in the government. As the Constitution was initially written, there were checks and balances preventing any one branch of becoming too powerful. Since we still follow the same Constitution (with a few amendments) those checks and balances are still used.

This is very effective because it prevents one branch from getting too much power and becoming a

Federalism guards against tyranny, so does the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each guard in different, unique ways. All of them do the same job to guard against tyranny. Federalism divides the government into the state and central governments. The division of powers gives each branch of government equal power, while checks and balances allows each branch to check each other.

How come no one could ever take over the government? Well, we have the writers of the constitution to thank for this. WIthout the constitution, there would be a tyranny. The constitution was written in 1787. Its main purpose is to give our government a solid direction, and to describe the roles of the three branches in our government: The judicial, legislative, and executive branches.

Federalism helped the Constitution guard against tyranny by specifying which powers belong to the Federal government and which ones belong to the State government. This separation leads to a double security so that the state government can watch the federal government and the federal can watch the state. James Madison states in his Federalist Papers #51(Document A), “power surrendered by the people is first divided between two