Checks And Balances: The Framers Of The Constitution

Monarchs believed that the power, that was appointed to them, was a gift from God Himself. Since their power was considered “Godly”, it was only a matter of time until they would abuse it. Kings and Queens could order to kill whoever opposes them, raise taxes for their own greed, and simply have control over the lives of thousands of people. A person who rules with all this power is considered to be a tyrant. The birth of this new nation was the result of the founders of this country trying to escape the grasp of a tyrant. In 1787, the founding fathers created a constitution to prevent such a thing from happening again. The framers of the constitution avoided tyranny by using Federalism, separating federal powers/Checks and Balances, and a

Each branch has their own unique powers, the Legislative branch’s task is to make laws and is headed by Congress (House of Representatives and Senate), the Executive branch has the power to veto, or reject, a proposal for a law and is headed by the President, and the Judicial branch determines whether the Constitution allows certain laws to be passed; if the Supreme Court decides that a law passed by Congress is not allowable, then the law is considered unconstitutional and is erased. Even though these branches possess powers, none of them can grow in power becauses of Checks and Balances, which is a form of protection which allows one branch to check a power from another branch. For example, if the President acts unlawfully the Congress has the power to impeach, or remove, the President from office. This protected against tyranny because none of the powers can ever grow to strong or abuse its

Constitution, there was the first form of government the colonist created, the Articles of Confederation, which focused on a weak central government and power in the states. The problem with this type of government was the states where too powerful, it was to the point where it was one state for itself. If there was a situation where a decision of one state benefited itself but could potentially hurt another, that one state would rather choose to help itself. After seeing this glitch, the framers came up with a compromise, the small and large state compromise. The Virginia compromise and New Jersey compromise where two plans that where the foundation of the overall idea of how each state had representation. Larger states with higher populations obtain more representatives, in Congress, in the House of Representatives, and each state get an equal amount of representative in the Senate. Larger populated states have more representation but lack in the Senate and smaller populated states get the same amount of representation as bigger states so there is a balance in power. This protects against tyranny because no state can become