How the constitution guards against tyranny
Could you imagine what the United States would be like if our government didn't protect us from tyranny? Luckily, due to the constitution our founding fathers created, we don't have to worry about tyranny happening any time soon! Written in Philadelphia, 1787, the constitution was made to replace the articles of confederation which were too weak to hold the government together or to be effective. Their objectives for writing it was to ensure that the government was strong nationally and able to run smoothly without allowing any one group to have all the power, or in other words, tyranny to take place. What they came up with was four ways to guard against this, including, federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, and representation in the House and Senate.
The first guard against tyranny, federalism, meant that the government divided it's powers between the federal and the state governments. "The power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivide among distinct and separate departments" (Document A). By creating two Separate governments, it creates a system that balances itself, and then creates another balance or double security by having branches within those governments that check each other to make sure that there is no abuses of power. The way in which they assign these powers to each government, as stated in document B, is to reserve all powers not delegated to the national government to the state government. This protects against tyranny because it keeps the federal and states Separate but even at the same time so neither can surpass the other in amounts of power.
The second guard against tyranny is the separation of powers, which organizes the different departments within each government in such a way that each branch is separate from each other, and have different duties to carry out. Document C states that "The accumulation of all powers...in the same hands,
The first guard against tyranny, federalism, meant that the government divided it's powers between the federal and the state governments. "The power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivide among distinct and separate departments" (Document A). By creating two Separate governments, it creates a system that balances itself, and then creates another balance or double security by having branches within those governments that check each other to make sure that there is no abuses of power. The way in which they assign these powers to each government, as stated in document B, is to reserve all powers not delegated to the national government to the state government. This protects against tyranny because it keeps the federal and states Separate but even at the same time so neither can surpass the other in amounts of power.
The second guard against tyranny is the separation of powers, which organizes the different departments within each government in such a way that each branch is separate from each other, and have different duties to carry out. Document C states that "The accumulation of all powers...in the same hands,