Articles Of Confederation Dbq Analysis

It was May 1787 in the city of Philadelphia. Congress had gathered to discuss an alarmingly important matter. The nation's current constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was flawed. The Articles gave too much power to the states and not enough to the central government. The states could not be forced to pay taxes and the country acted more like a mixture of individual countries rather than a union of collective states. This had to be changed immediately, thus a congressional convention was called in to put forward a new constitution. However, one challenge that came forward with creating a new constitution was finding a way to prevent tyranny. Tyranny is the possession of too much power by a single individual or group. This would have

to be addressed within the constitution to prevent such tyranny from taking place. As a result, a few rules would be embedded within the constitution in order to safeguard against tyranny. The Constitution prevents tyranny through the use of Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the division of Congress.
The first way the Constitution defends against tyranny is Federalism.

Federalism is the division of powers between the state and federal governments. This idea was developed by future president James Madison, who believed that the two governments should control each other as well as themselves in order to provide the people with double security to their rights and freedoms (Doc A). Both governments had the power to tax the people, loan money, set up courts, make laws, and enforce laws (Doc A). However, the federal government would have power over issues regarding the state as a whole such as military and foreign relations, while the state governments would have power over local issues such as establishing schools and deciding personal rights. Neither government would have a say in matters under the other government’s jurisdiction. This way neither the state nor federal government would have more power than the other, thus safeguarding against

tyranny.
While Federalism is one way the Constitution safeguards against tyranny, the Constitution also prevents it through the separation of powers within the government. Madison believed no one individual or group should have legislative, executive, and judicial powers (Doc B). To prevent this, the government would be divided into three branches. The legislative branch headed by Congress would have the power to make laws. The executive branch headed by the President would have the power to enforce laws. Finally, the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court would have the power to decide if laws have been broken or not. Power was divided among the three branches so that no one person or group had complete and absolute control over the government. This protects the nation against tyranny.
To make certain that neither abused their power or tried to gain more of it, the Constitution would provide checks and balances over all three branches.

Checks and balances are the constitutional powers each branch has over the other two. Madison’s decision to divide the government was to allow each group to keep each other in check (Doc C). To insure this, each branch would need power over the other. The President has the power to veto legislation passed by congress and appoint judges to the Supreme Court. However, Congress can override the President’s veto with a majority vote. Congress also has to approve the President’s nominations to the Supreme Court and has the power to impeach judges and the President and remove them from office. The Supreme Court has the power to declare laws and executive actions as unconstitutional. These checks and balances prevents tyranny by allowing one branch to prevent the other two from abusing or overextending their

power.
Another way the Constitution prevents tyranny is the division of Congress. Congress is divided into two parts, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Every state can elect one representative for every thirty thousand citizen in that state (Doc D). However, each state is only allowed two senators in the Senate (Doc D). This system was created as a compromise between larger states and small states. The larger states believed they should be allowed more representatives since they had more people and thus more opinions that need to be heard. The smaller states thought this was unfair and wanted equal representation to other states. This two chamber system allows an even playing field for both small and large states. One chamber favors the large states while the other favors the smaller states. This means that power is balanced between smaller and larger populations, thus preventing tyranny.
As previously stated, the Constitution prevents tyranny through the use of Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the division of Congress. Federalism keeps a balance of power between the state and federal governments. The Constitution separates powers between three branches of government, and uses checks and balances to prevent each branch from overstepping their boundaries. Lastly, the two chamber system favors both smaller and larger states so that congress is balanced. The Constitution has been a working framework of government since its ratification in 1789. It has helped to safeguard against one individual or group obtaining unchecked power over our country and its people. Allowing this nation to maintain a more perfect union for 228 years, and will continue to for a great number of years to come.