Tyranny Dbq Essay

797 Words4 Pages

What if there was a government that has one ruler making many unjust laws. For example, if someone was put into prison for years for only doing one small crime. Or maybe, if a particular religion or race did not have the same rights as others. This took place in the 1700s in an act called tyranny, or rule by a dictator or strong group that results when the ruler(s) have too much power. The existing government of the Articles Of Confederation was too weak, so the plan was to build a new government that prevented tyranny. This resulted into writing the Constitution. The Constitution defended against tyranny by balancing the powers between all people and states through federalism, separation of power through checks and balances, and the compromise …show more content…

According to the Federalist Paper #51, the text emphasizes, “Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself” (Doc A). These governments provide “double security” to the people by controlling, sharing, and protecting one another. It is as if they are keeping eye on each other to make sure everything is running correctly. By completing this, they are ensuring that the nation is improving and being productive in their work. Federalism is a fair way to divide powers, so that one group or person would not have more power than the rest when they are building and enforcing laws. This is reliable because federalism equally shares the powers. Therefore, it would not be biased while constructing the laws since everyone would have a say, unlike if one ruler would have all the …show more content…

The government consists of the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial branch. These three powers guard against tyranny because the building of laws is represented to be more equal. James Madison, father of the Constitution and author of the Federalist Paper #51, wrote, "…. (L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct” (Doc B). The three groups should not be associating to have more power because it is authoritarianism. So if each of them are independent, there would be a greater amount of freedom in the government. Federalist Paper #51 declared, “…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….” (Doc C). Although they are all apart, they have the right to “check on each other” and their power to confirm they are all accomplishing their duties and respecting the laws. They do this by impeaching the president, checking Supreme Court power, confirming President nominations, etc. All three branches will have equal amounts of power, to guarantee that they will not have constitutional control over one another when they are accumulated. Using this system will ensure that the three branches are all following their