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Separation of powers in the United States
Separation of powers in the United States
Why is federalism important in our country
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Our government wasn’t created by accident. Many ideas were used when it was made to prevent the rise of a king or dictator in the United States. While learning about the Constitution, there are many questions you could ask, but the one I decided on was: How did the constitution guard us against tyranny? I believe explaining Federalism, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and the issue of big states versus little states can answer this question best nevertheless will prove it with documented evidence in this essay.
First, by studying the resources for this subject I found that federalism was a major guard against tyranny, which we will define as one person or group that gains too much power. In Document A, the quote by James Madison says “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments[state and federal]”, which describes how the idea of federalism in government will provide double security by having both state and federal government, control themselves as well as each other. The diagram on this page shows the division of power between governments and that state
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The document is simply part of the Constitution describing how the Legislative Branch would be set up. In the House of Representatives, Article I Section II says “Representatives shall be apportioned according to [population] ”, which means each state shall have at least one representative. This supported Big States because they had a bigger population than smaller states. For the Senate, Article I Section III says “The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state ”, which means each senator shall have one vote. This was good for Little States because little states wanted voting to be equal among all states. This Great Compromise protects us by not giving the bigger states more power than the little
The Constitution guarded against tyranny by creating federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and Large states vs. Small states. It was written in May of 1787 to create a basic framework of government. How did the constitution guard against tyranny? Tyranny means rule by dictator, king, or small group. The constitution guards against tyranny in four ways, federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and Large states vs. small states.
One way that the constitution can guard against tyranny is with Federalism. Federalism is the distribution of powers between the state and the federal government. This prevents both the state and the federal government from having too much power. For example, in Doc A, it says that only states can set up schools, but only the federal government can set up post offices. This makes it
You may be thinking how did the constitution stop tyranny? Well we have the answer. Let's start of with what tyranny means, that a leader or king abuses their power. How did the constitution guard against tyranny? Well they abuse their power bad deeds. The constitution guard against tyranny in these four ways. Federalism, separation of power, checks and balances, and small states vs. large states.
...However the large states were not satisfied with their plan either, so a third plan was made, The Great Compromise. In other words the Connecticut Compromise (The Great Compromise) happened, it mixed the ideas of the two and was passed by a one-vote margin. The plan consists of proportional representation in The House of Representatives and equal representation in The Senate, as well as adding separation of powers to the mix. It was highly important and crucial to the success of the new constitution.
In document C says, ¨The constant aim is to divide and arrange the powers in a manner that they may be a check on one another.¨ This tells that the constitution is written so that the three branches of government are constantly checked by one another because a law is unfair, biased, or unconstitutional. This also makes it to where the branches of government can't make whatever law they want allowing them to have complete power to do whatever they please thus preventing tyranny. If the branches couldn't check each other they would be able to easily pass laws that only benefit themselves and they could make laws that would put people in harm's way, being able to check each other and putting that in the constitution was a very insightful task. Being able to check each other prevented any one branch from gaining and holding complete control over the
Senate... senate shall be composed of two senators from each state”, Stated document D. This clearly explains that Representation in Congress should be based on population in the House of Representatives and equality in the Senate by sending two senators from each state no matter the size of the state.*The Great Compromise guard against tyranny by Hensing a double security by having two systems within the
In his speech, The Making of the U.S. Constitution, Gordon Wood discusses the history of how the U.S. Constitution came to be. He explains what factors contributed to its making and what the general consensus was about it during the time. He explains that the reason the constitution was created was because the government needed more power. Why did the government need more power? In short, to unify the 13 states and make life, in general, easier for its citizens, officers, artisans, and even to help with commercial interests (Wood, 2012).
In addition, the Great Compromise guarded against tyranny by making sure the larger states would not have more power than the smaller states. The Great Compromise was an agreement to create a two-house legislature composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate. A state’s amount of representatives in the House would be based off of population, while the representation for each state in the Senate is equal.(Document D) Thus, the larger states, such as New York, would not overpower the smaller states, such as Rhode Island.
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
After the Constitution was written, the new born nation was immediately split into two political sides, the federalists and the anti-federalists, over the ratification. Federalists, southern planters or people that tended to hold interest in trade, advocated a strong executive. On the other hand, anti-federalists, back country people or people involved in business but not in the mercantile economy, opposed the ratification of the constitution. The two sides, after much debate, were able to come to a compromise after the Bill of Rights was included into the Constitution.
According to the Federalists in the early stages of the American republic, a strong central government was necessary to provide uniform supervision to the states thus aiding in the preservation of the Union. This necessity for a more organized central government was a result of the ineffectiveness of the Article of Confederation’s government that was without a unifying government body. One component of this philosophy was the creation of an executive and other federal branche...
Federalism guards against tyranny because it splits the power, which makes it so no one country can seize all the power.
Most of the power was in the hands of the executive branch, disabling the states from becoming their own entity. Document E claims that the “Jefferson Writings” led the states to receive protection against standing armies, restrictions against monopolies, and trials by jury. Restrictions against monopolies and trials by jury were fairly beneficial for the citizens of each state, building upon the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” and being wrongly accused. Restricting monopolies also equalized wealth through each of the states. Likewise, Document F goes into detail about the Anti-Federalist papers, stating how a “good constitution” is one with “equal, full and fair representation.” Today’s government has a house of representatives and a senate. Specifically, the house of representatives is based on population, while on the other hand the senate is equally represented with two from each state. Ultimately, state power is crucial because it balances out the executive branch from making all the
The constitution existing before 1787 was not working for many people. There was no chief executive, no court system and not even a way for the central government to force the state government to pay taxes. The challenge for James Madison and his colleagues was to write a constitution that guards against tyranny. Tyranny is when a person or a group of people seizes all the power in a very harsh manner. What aspects did James Madison consider when writing the new constitution in Philadelphia? The constitution guards against tyranny in the following ways, it deals with tyranny with federalism, separation and distinction of power, and checks and balances.
During the construction of the new Constitution, many of the most prominent and experienced political members of America’s society provided a framework on the future of the new country; they had in mind, because of the failures of the Articles of Confederation, a new kind of government where the national or Federal government would be the sovereign power, not the states. Because of the increased power of the national government over the individual states, many Americans feared it would hinder their ability to exercise their individual freedoms. Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused. The “lackluster leadership” of the critics of the new constitution claimed that a large land area such as America could not work for such a diverse nation.