guided essay how did the constitution guard against tyranny

Essay Sample: How Did The Constitution Guard Against Tyranny?

How come no one could take over the government? As said in the first document of the DBQ The Constitution was written in 1787 in Philadelphia. A Constitution tells how the government is going to work. The founding fathers of the Constitution tried their best to create an effective part of the government where certain powers were separated, and they did just that. The constitution is a set of regulations that govern the operation of a state, region, or other political entity. The constitution may specify the types of government branches, their functions, and how they operate. It may also state citizens' rights. Other legislation of the government is not authorized to contradict the constitution. It is possible to amend or revise the constitution, but this is often more difficult than adopting a regular law. 

How did the constitution guard against tyranny? Document A states how federalism played a part in protecting against tyranny by creating double security for the people. Basic rights guaranteed by legislation or a constitution essentially are known as civil liberties in a big way. When most people think of civil freedoms in the United States, they specifically thought of the Bill of Rights, but the Constitution defends itself from tyranny, basically contrary to popular belief. One of the basic key things the framers employed to protect against tyranny mostly was checks and balances, basically contrary to popular belief per Doc A. The framers utilized the constitution to essentially protect our government against tyranny in three ways: federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances. 

How did the writers of the Constitution keep a person or a group of people from getting too much power? Tyranny is a power held by a person or group of people. These guards from tyranny because it splits up the roles between the central and state government but still keeps them even. Federalism is one of the main ways farmers used to protect against tyranny. According to Document B, another way the framers used the Constitution to protect against tyranny was the separation of powers. “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” The central government can provide an army, but the state government can establish a school. Federalism protects against tyranny because the state and national governments have powers so no one becomes too powerful. It helps them work together.  

A second guard against tyranny was the separation of power which meant dividing the government into three branches. To not have tyranny, you must separate the department of power. Each branch is needed to make a decision Judicial Power is vested in the supreme court goose to the president. Separation of Power protects tyranny because they could overpower the president. The third guard against tyranny was check and balances which means that each branch can check up on the other branches. The issue of small and large states protects against tyranny because congress is far from both large and small states because they need each other to make a decision. 

In conclusion, federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the issue of small and pretty large states specifically helped to guard against tyranny in the U.S, or so they thought. Government in a big way. For example, the government is divided into 3 branches which for the most part are fair and particularly equal in a subtle way.

Paragraph 1 came from document A stating how federalism played a part in protecting against tyranny by creating double security for the people.

Paragraph 2 came from document B stating how the separation of powers played a part in protecting against tyranny by creating three branches of government with separate powers. 

Paragraphs 3 & 4 came from documents C and D stating how checks and balances played a part in protecting against tyranny by making sure each branch had certain powers and also controlled each other at the same time. The founding fathers took advantage of the holes in the Articles of Confederation and used their knowledge to create a stronger constitution that today still guards against tyranny affecting our government.

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Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — American Constitution — The United States Constitution: Ward Against Tyranny

The United States Constitution: Ward Against Tyranny

• Categories: American Constitution Constitution

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Published: Feb 12, 2019

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How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny Essay Example

• Pages: 4 (1076 words)
• Published: March 19, 2017
• Type: Essay

Americans desperately fight against the poison of tyranny with their best weapon, the Constitution. During the Colonial Period, King George III, demanded many things from the colonists. These demands were caused by the aftermath of the French and Indian War. England had increasing debts, so the king raised the taxes of both America and England. The increase of taxes caused anger to rise from the Americans, which allowed a roll of events to unfold. After many harsh exchanges between the colonists and King George III, America declared its independence on July 4, 1776.

Soon after the declaration, things began to heat up as fight over representation in government began to be more debated. Many times tyranny was mentioned, allowing the creation of the Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways: federalism, separation of powers

, checks and balances, big states vs. small states/ The Great Compromise. One part of the Constitution that helped Americans was federalism.

The central and reserved government share powers, but also have separate powers. Document A) Federalism prevented one person or group from obtaining absolute power by creating two governments that have shared but separated powers. A quote by James Madison from Federalist Paper #51, 1788, states that “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. ” The word “compound,” from the beginning of the quote means two pieces or two pieces of government, called a bicameral government.

The part where it says, ”…the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct

governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments,” means there will be two parts in government concerning the country and states, allowing one group to have power to restrain the other group from gaining too much power. This is the same with America’s enumerated powers and reserved powers; enumerated powers meaning the central government, and the reserved powers meaning the states’ government.

These two governments residing within America control each other rom getting out of hand; in this way federalism protects us from tyranny. The three branches of government also known as the legislative, judicial, and executive, helped guard against tyranny, by separation of powers. The main idea of a quote by James Madison states that, all three branches of government lean on each other, yet have separate but equal powers. (Document B) Separation of powers, created by the three branches of government, helped guard against tyranny, by allowing the three divisions to lean on each other, so that if one group did something that went out of hand, they could do something about it.

In James Madison’s Federalist Paper #47, he states that, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny… (L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct. ” The beginning of the quote defines the outcome of what would happen if one person or group were to accumulate all the powers of the legislative, executive, and judiciary.

The ending of the quote states that if liberty is

wanted, the three divisions of government must coincide with each other to create a balance. Checks and balances are yet another part of the Constitution that guarded against tyranny. The three branches of government check each other’s power and create balance. (Document C) The system of checks and balances helped the judicial, legislative, and executive branches to watch each other and keep each other at the same level.

Stated by James Madison in Federalist Paper #51, “…the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other…. (The three branches) should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other. ” The meaning behind this insight on government means the three departments of the central government should divide and arrange each other so that they may be able to keep an eye on each other, but should not be so separated that they have no constitutional control over each other.

The Great Compromise, also known as the big states vs. small states compromise, aided in the fight against tyranny during the Colonial Period, by creating equal representation in government. The Great Compromise created a balance between the large and small states, by creating two houses in government. (Document D) The two houses, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, guarded against tyranny by making the House of Representatives have their representation based on population. The Senate however, is based on equal representation. This balanced the large and small states.

According to the Constitution of the United States of America, (Article 1, Selection 2, House of Representatives), “Representatives… shall be

apportioned… according to… (population)…” and, (Article 1, Section 3, Senate), “… and each senator shall have one vote. ” These two statements quoted from the Constitution of the United States of America mean that in the House of Representatives all representatives will be based on the population of the state they come from. However, in the Senate, all senators will have equal vote. These two houses create a balance in representation in government between large and small states.

America fended off the infection of tyranny during the Colonial Period against King George III. In the end, America prevailed and tyranny lost, however, America won against tyranny by separating the power of their government. Logically, if you separate something it would be easier to break, yet America managed it. They were able to block tyranny from entering their premises, because tyranny allows one person or group to obtain absolute power, but the Constitution prevented that from occurring by setting up a government where everything relied on each other.

The Constitution conjured a government similar to a tower made of wooden blocks, if someone were to take control of two parts of the three branches of government, it would be like taking a block from the bottom of the wooden structure, thus making it crumble. This would be the same for America’s government, because if one person or group were to have too much power they would disrupt the balance of the government and created a possible civil war, which could lead to anarchy.

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