Constitution Guard Against Tyranny

What is tyranny? Tyranny is the accumulation of all powers in the same hand whether of one, a few or many.”In the summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates representing twelve, of the thirteen states met in philadelphia to fix the national government.” (overview) In how many did the constitution prevent tyranny. The constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways. Which were federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and small states-big states.

The first guard against tyranny was federalism which means the federal government and the state government share power. “The power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments [federal and state].” (document A) How does federalist prevent tyranny from happening? …show more content…
“Liberty requires that the three great departments of powers should be separated and distinct.” (document B) How does separation of powers prevent tyranny from happening? Separation of powers guards against tyranny by not letting all three powers fall into one hand but rather 3 different departments. “ the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary…” (document …show more content…
“... is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other…” (document B) The guard checks and balances prevents tyranny from happening by putting an option in each branch to stop the other. For example the president can veto laws, the court can declare laws unconstitutional, and the court can declare the president unconstitutional.

The fourth guard against tyranny was small states- big states which means equality in power between states and in congress. States have equal power in the senate “ the senate of the united states shall be composed of two senators from each state” (document D) and big states had more power in the house “ representatives.. Shall be appointed. According to ... [population]...” (document D) small states- big states guard against tyranny by stopping big states from overpowering [bullying] small states because of the equal representation in the senate. In conclusion, the constitution has 4 guards to prevent tyranny in the united states. Federalism, separation of powers, check and balances, and small states- big states.the guards play a big role in the US constitution and have unique ways to guard against tyranny it is important to know how because you can see the possible ways of how tyranny can be achieved in the government

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