Tyrany Pros And Cons

Tyranny has been a problem throughout many cultures and civilizations. When the United States of America first separated from Britain after the Revolutionary War, they needed to put laws and a government in place. However, there was a widespread fear that if the government was too strong then tyranny would occur, much like what happened with King George the Third in Britain. This led to the founding fathers creating the Articles of Confederation. Unfortunately, after approximately 7 years of the Articles being in effect, the founders decided we needed a change because the Articles had many flaws, and were missing many key components that are required for a successful democracy. In May of 1787, 55 delegates arrived in Philadelphia to frame a

new version of the Articles, which they called the Constitution of the United States of America. So how did the Constitution create a strong central government, while still preventing one person, or group of people, from having too much control? The Constitution had several ways of preventing tyranny, such as federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and a compromise between large and small states.

Federalism is one way the framers of the Constitution helped lower the risk of tyranny. According to James Madison’s Federalist Paper #51, “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments [state and federal], and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate governments.” For example, as found in various sources, the federal, or central government is able to regulate trade and conduct foreign relations, but the state government can set up local governments and hold elections. This allows for the federal government to have power over national issues, and the state government to to have power over local issues. This helps prevent one government from having too much control over the people, and it separates the national and local issues. This way, if a tyrant were to gain control of one government they would only be able to affect the national issues, or the local issues.

In order to further guard against tyranny the Constitution divides the power of the government between three branches. “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”, Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, (serve) together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term….”, Article 2, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. “The judicial power of the United States shall be invested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior….”, Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. Separating the power of the government, not only between branches, but separating the power of the branches themselves, makes it so that all branches must function properly and cooperate in order for any laws to be effective, or for any form of reform to occur. Therefore, if even one branch was taken over by a tyrant, they wouldn’t have enough power to make severe and drastic changes to the lives of the citizens.

Since tyranny is ultimate control of one person or group, the constitution not only separates the power amongst groups or branches, but it also allows for the branches to limit each other’s power through a system of checks and balances. According to James Madison’s Federalist Paper #51, “the constant aim is to divide and arrange the severa, 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 Constitution managed to live up to Madison’s wishes by making it so that each branch has a check over the other two branches. For example, as found in various sources, the Judicial Branch can check the Executive Branch by declaring presidential acts unconstitutional. The Judicial branch is also able to check the Legislative Branch by being able to declare laws unconstitutional. Having a system of checks and balances makes it so that if one branch does something unconstitutional or something against the will of the people, then the other two branches have enough combined power to override them.

When the framers of the constitution were deciding how to lay out the branches, there was a lot of debate over how to balance the large and small states.

Several plans were proposed, one of which was that all states got an equal amount of representatives, which favored the smaller states, and one plan being that representatives were given out based on population, which favored the larger states. In order to solve this dilemma the delegates of the Constitutional Convention came up with a compromise. Instead of Congress being made up of one group, it would be made up of two. As found in the Constitution of the United States of America, Article 1, Section 2, House of Representatives, “Representatives … shall be apportioned … according to … [population] .… The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative ….” This way the large states got more representatives in the house, which benefited them. As stated in the Constitution of the United States of America, Article 1, Section 3, Senate, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislatures thereof for six years, and each senator shall have one vote.” This part of the compromise benefited the smaller states, making it so they both got what they wanted. This also managed to prevent tyranny from occurring because with two separate groups each state was able to get what they wanted, and while the small states had more power in the Senate, the larger states had more power in the House of Representatives, which also balanced the power between the

two.

There are many different forms of tyranny, and many different ways that it has been prevented over the years, the United States’ being the Constitution. The framers of the Constitution really utilized their vast wisdom when they were writing this very important document. They made sure that the U.S had not only one, but several ways of guarding against tyranny. Those ways were federalism, separation of powers, check and balances, and a balance between large and small states. All of these things prevented, and still prevent, the power of the U.S. from falling into the wrong hands, which could do substantial damage to the people, economy, and overall well-being of the states. For the past 228 years, the United States has been successful in preventing tyranny through the constitution, and hopefully that will continue for many years to come.