Period 3, U.S. History
How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny?
Tyranny has many different forms and ‘disguises’. It can be disguised as a king or a large group of people. Other countries do not see this as a problem, but the United States does. Many people came to the United States to escape the controlling forms of government or powers of kings. When the writers of the constitution met in 1787 in Philadelphia, their main goal was to establish a constitution that created a strong central government without letting any one person or group have too much power. They wanted to ensure that tyranny was no longer a possibility or threat. Four ‘guards’ against tyranny were created: Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and small and large states.
Frederalism is one of these guards. It allows the central and state governments to check each other’s power. Certain powers are reserved for the Central Government, given to the states, and shared between the two (Doc A). The Central Government’s powers normally deal with nationwide issues or problems. The States’ powers control more personal and local conflicts, such as marriage, schooling, and in-state businesses. Federalism distributes powers evenly between the State Governments and Central Government (Doc A). This is a guard against tyranny because it limits the powers between both types of government. Neither can gain more power than the other.
The Separation of Powers protects the United States from tyranny. The Central Government was split into three branches of government. The Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches were created to split the powers into three separate branches (Doc B). Each branch has its own powers and controls a certain portion of the government. The powers were split so that a branch cannot have the same powers as any others. Separating the powers of government prevents tyranny in the way of having three separated groups as opposed...