Federalism Vs Tyranny

Have you ever wondered how the founding father kept such a balanced government, blocking any tyranny trying to creep in? 55 delegates met in Philadelphia on September 17,1787 to create a brand new form of government that stopped tyranny, or “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” (James Madison Federalist Paper #47,1788). So how did the Constitution prevent tyranny from taking place in government? The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways: federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and balancing powers between large and small states. Federalism was the first guard of tyranny, which

The legislative, executive, and judicial branches each have ways to check the power of another branch. Congress has the power to approve and confirm Presidential nominations, override a President’s veto, impeach the President and remove him or her from office, and impeach judges from office. The President can nominate judges and veto Congressional legislation. The Court has the rights to declare presidential acts and laws unconstitutional. “...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.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788). This quote by James Madison shows that the Constitution basically separates powers of each branch, and gives each the right to stop the other if they feel that something isn’t fair or equal without creating a ruler or making one branch the strongest. With the concept of checks and balances, the founding fathers were able to stop soft tyranny, and keep government in a balanced and equal

According to Document D, every state must have at least one but not exceeding one for every thirty thousand people. Until a census is taken within three years, New Hampshire sall have three, massachusetts eight, Rhode Island one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. The number of representatives for each state is based on the population, more representatives with increasing population (Article 1, Section 2, House of Representatives). The Senate is composed of two senators from each state, not based on population. The Senate is chosen by legislatures thereof for six years. Each senator shall have one vote (Article 1, Section 3, Senate). The large states would have been happier with their representation in the House, because they had more representatives and more voice in the decisions made. The smaller states would have been happier with their representation in Senate though, because all states no matter population, area, or wealth had two representatives. The balancing of small and large states guarded against tyranny, because they compromised so that all states had a balanced amount of power, and tyranny would not occur amongst the people when having a voice in