8th grade student
10/28/2016
Per. 4
How the Constitution protects against tyranny essay
Tyranny is an harsh and absolute power in hands of one individual like king or dictator, it
is still possible to have tyranny of the few, when several generals or strong religious leaders
seize control or tyranny of the many, when the majority denies rights of the minority. In 1787 fifty
five delegates representing the thirteen states established a meeting in Philadelphia in attempt
to fix the national government, which at the time was Articles of Confederation. One problem
with the Articles of Confederation was that it had no chief executive, which was a problem
because the role of the president holds a lot of power and responsibility and without it there’d be
no control over executive branch, no representative of the nation, and no leader in other major
aspects of government. Another problem with the state representation before the constitution
was that there was no way of collecting taxes, which was a problem because it limited the
money which could be used as a resource for improving public communities, schools, parks,
libraries etc., it also was a problem because it limited the salary in some jobs.The three main
ways the Constitution protects against tyranny are by using Federalism to make the state
government more powerful and balance it with the central government, equally dividing the
power of government between the three branches and making it possible for the three branches
of government to check each other and preventing one of the branches from gaining too much
power.
Federalism is included in the Constitution to protect the United States from tyranny.
Document A suggests that “the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two
distinct governments - state and federal” and “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”. These quotes show the reader that the Constitution protects against
tyranny because it divides government into state and central, this type of government is also
called Federalism. This type of compound government protects against tyranny by preventing
central government from gaining too much power and gives the states some power too. For
example the states are able to set up local governments, hold elections, establish schools
regulate in-state businesses and pass marriage and divorce laws while the central government
can regulate trade, conduct foreign relations, provide army and navy, declare wars print and
coin money etc. This shows that the states have power to control anything inside their state and
the central government is responsible for international transactions.
A second way Constitution protects against tyranny is that it divides the government into
three subsections, branches, which are - Legislative, Executive and Judicial. According to the
document B “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and
distinct”. This quote is significant to show the Constitution protects against tyranny because it
prevents one branch from becoming too powerful and validating our rights or the rights of other
branches. Each of the three branches has its subsections and representatives, like Legislative
branch is divided into Congress and Senate, Executive branch has Executive and Cabinet
departments and JUdicial branch has the Supreme court and other smaller courts. Also one