How Does The Constitution Guard Against Tyranny

573 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay over seperation of powers

How would you like to live in a country that was ruled by a dictator? What if this dictator made you change your religion just to live in the United States. If you wouldn't want to live like that then be glad that the constitution was written to stop that from happening. What the constitution does is guard against tyranny. Tyranny is a government ruled by an absolute ruler like a king or a dictator. There are many different forms of tyranny. There are also many ways the constitution guards against tyranny, like federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances.
The first way the constitution guards tyranny was Federalism which is the central and state government. “In the compound republic of america, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments…”(James Madison, federalist Paper #51,1788). What James madison is saying is that there should be powers divided between the Central and State governments. The powers given to the central government can declare war, …show more content…

The three branches are the Legislative, Executive, Judicial . “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many…” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47). What James Madison is saying in this one is that they need to separate the powers in order to prevent a tyranny. The legislative powers are consisted of the senate and house of representatives. The executive power is consisted of the president and vice-president. The Judicial power is consisted of the supreme court. All of the branches should be completely different from each other. The branches should have different viewpoints to make sure everyone is pleased with the government. This could prevent tyranny because if someone tries to take over the government they would have to take over all three

Show More
Related

  • Dbq How Did The Constitution Guard Against Tyranny

    449 Words  | 1 Pages

    The third guard against tyranny was checks and balances which means that each branch can check on each other.It says in Madison's quote in Document C that the several offices were arranged so that they can be a check on the other. Document C shows that the branches are separated by congress, president, and the courts, which are the three main parts of the constitution.Checks and balances protects against tyranny by giving the branches the power to check on other branches.

    Read More

  • Constitution Guard Against Tyranny Dbq Analysis

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Constitution Guard Against Tyranny Essay

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Does the Constitution Protect the People from Tyranny?

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Give me liberty, or give me death.” We must diminish tyranny among our government. How did the United States accomplish this? After the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers decided to construct a government that was of the people, by the people, and for the people. By doing so, they needed to prevent the more than likely possibility of overbearing power falling into the hands of one or a few people, in other words a prevention of tyranny was needed (1769). This structure was stated in the Constitution, a written document that framed our American government, and so the Constitution declared four ways to prevent tyranny: Federalism, Separation of Power, Checks and Balances, and the Great compromise.

    Read More

  • Separation Of Powers Dbq Essay Power

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start out with, the constitution divided power so no one branch or person had complete power over the nation or others. In document B it states, ¨Liberty requires that the three departments of power are distinct and separate.¨ This means that in order to prevent and guard against tyranny we must have different and separate branches holding power if there is only one or they are too similar that could create a small group with close to complete power creating a tyranny. Power must be separated into three branches so that they may check and limit each other so that no laws are passed that will harm the nation and are unconstitutional. The three branches are very separate but can

    Read More

  • Tyranny Dbq Essay

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    The constitution guarded against tyranny using federalism. [Federalism is the system where the states and central government share power.] [Document A was written by James

    Read More

  • How the Constitution Guards Against Tyranny

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    The separation of powers keeps any one branch from gaining too much power by creating 3 separate, distinct branches power can be shared equally among. According to Madison, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.”(Document B) In other words, to avoid tyranny and achieve liberty, the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) must be separate and diverse. The purpose of a separation of powers is to divide the powers of the government so there is not only one central source of power. The three branches must be as distinct as possible to avoid falling into the hands of one individual leader. There are also checks and balances between these three branches. Checks and balances are a system of each branch monitoring an...

    Read More

  • Bill of Rights To Protect From Tyranny

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The New Science of Politics

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    "This inquiry will naturally divide itself into three branches- the objects to be provided for by a federal government, the quantity of power necessary to the accomplishment of those objects, the persons whom that power ought to operate," writes Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist #23 in reference to the separation of powers. The basic concept here is the idea of the federal government being divided into three separate branches that would balance excessive democracy through a system of checks on each other. The three branches, respectively known as the legislature (Article I), the executive (Article II), and the judiciary (Article III), were designed to entice the opponents of the Co...

    Read More

  • Power of the Branches

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our Constitution establishes three branches of government and defines their very existence. The reason for the three branches is to separate the powers. The phrase “separation of powers” isn’t in the constitution, but it best explains the intention of the Constitution. It is essential that the assignment of lawmaking, enforcing and interpreting be spread out among the separated powers to ensure that all power doesn’t fall into the lap of one group, or even a power-hungry individual. The powers of which I’m speaking that were intentionally separated by way of the Constitution are the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and finally, the Judicial Branch.

    Read More

  • Understanding Federalism: A Study of US Government

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are three branches of government in the U.S. There is the judicial branch, the executive branch and the legislative branch. The powers of the branches are all divided by the constitution which is called the separation of

    Read More

  • Democracy In The 19th Century

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • U.S. Constitution

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Constitution is important because it was expressly designed to limit powers into three co-ordinate branches, the legislative, executive, and judiciary branch; none of which was to have supremacy over the others. This separation of powers with the checks and balances which each branch was given over the others was designed to prevent any branch, from infringing individual liberties safeguarded by the Constitution. I think the U.S. Constitution was a way for the U.S. to establish government which was a negotiation between the two former governments, a monarchy and total state power. I think by creating the checks and balances, people’s rights would be safer and they would feel more secure not having one branch of government with absolute power. What I found most interesting about the Constitution was how complex and detailed the framers made it, to effectively explain and limit the individual branches of power in government. In the words of Thomas Paine, "a government without a constitution is power without right". Meaning that for power to be granted, it is necessary to establish a constitution.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The US Constitution

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    While we have a constitution that lays out our clear cut civil liberties and all the rights we possess, other countries chose to restrict those freedoms. Due to the many advantages the Constitution gives each American citizen, the US has been able to keep this document intact as long as they have while other countries have to constantly restructure their government principles. This stability leads to greater efficiency in our legislative process and a strong sense of national pride. For a nation filled with differences and mixed opinions, the Constitution is a perfect fit. It was written as unbiased as possible to ensure that it was not limiting anyone or anything, instead, giving each citizen the ability to keep their government in check and grant freedom to everyone. During the time the document was written was when the Colonist knew exactly what it felt like to live in a world of oppression and unjust government. As a result, Madison and the other leaders at the time made it a goal to put the power in the hands of the people and make freedom an utmost priority. With an Unbiased approach to government that gives no advantage to one group or another, and with amendments that only help citizens take control, the Constitution is what the early colonist left Europe and died

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The Separation Of Powers

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    One of the biggest threats to a thriving country is a tyrannical government. To prevent this, the Founders declared that the power of the government must be separated. This principle, the Separation of Powers, states that, to prevent tyranny, one governmental branch cannot have supremacy over the country. The power must be divided among three branches. These are the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. The Separation of Powers is of equal importance now as when the Constitution was written because it prevents tyranny.

    Read More

More about How Does The Constitution Guard Against Tyranny

Open Document