Tyranny Essay

The United States was founded on a rebellion against tyranny, so it was clear that the founding fathers would want to put some protections against tyranny in the Constitution. Tyranny is the accumulation of too much power in one person’s hands. America needed a new government that was strong yet would not fall prey to any forms of tyranny. The old constitution, the Articles of Confederation, had made the government far too weak. In it, the newly formed government had no chief executive, there was no court system, and there was no way for the central government to force a state to pay taxes. The Constitution had to create and protect a new government from tyranny, through three different ways. The Constitution protects against tyranny because

The US. Constitution guarded against tyranny by setting up a government of shared power based on federalism. Federalism is the division of power between two levels of government, state and federal. The federal governments have powers known as expressed powers, some examples being declaring war, making immigration laws, and regulating trade. The state government has powers known as reserved powers, stated in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, some being holding elections, establishing schools, and passing marriage and divorce laws. There are also powers called concurrent powers, that are shared between federal and state governments, a few being taxing, borrowing money, and making laws. This helps protect against tyranny, as stated in James Madison Federalist #51. “Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different

Constitution guarded against tyranny by setting up a government of shared power based on separation of powers. Separation of powers is the separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers between separate branches. Firstly, the legislative branch has the power to write laws, found in Article 1 of the Constitution. Secondly, the executive branch has the power to enforce laws, stated in Article 2 of the Constitution. Finally, the judicial branch can interpret the laws, established in Article 3 of the Constitution. According to James Madison Federalist #47, “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.” Therefore, separating these powers will protect against