Nick Kinteris
History 9
April 2010
The Constitution: A Savior of Our Country
Tyrants, ruling lands with iron fists, taking control of people without even giving them their say. Though they seem so powerful it seems that there is a way to stop them from being created. In forming the United States of America we know today, many steps have been taken to prevent any mistakes that have been made in previous governments around the world. One of the main problems our government had to overcome was tyranny. But what is tyranny? Tyranny is when one or more people have harsh complete power. Thankfully, Our Constitution has helped prevent tyranny. But how did it succeed in doing so? The constitution “guarded” against tyranny in several ways including federalism, the separation of powers, checks and balances, and a compromise between small and large states.
The first guard against tyranny was federalism, which is the idea that power is shared between national and state governments. It is said in James Madison’s Federalist papers “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (Doc.A) And with this, a double security forms to the rights of the people. (Doc.A) The states have powers to establish schools, set up local governments, hold elections, and other such things. While the Central Government can regulate trade, declare war, print money, and set up post offices along with other similar powers. (Doc.A) This makes sure that although each state can have their own laws, a federal government still stands to prevent states from being too independent, while the state governments can make sure the central, or federal, government does not get to powerful either. Thus, both forms of government will not get too much power, and will get just enough freedom.
Another way the US Constitution prevented the forming of tyranny was the separation of powers. Meaning that each “power” was made separate and distinct. (Doc.B) Our government was separated into three sections, or “branches”. The legislative, consisting of the senate and House of Representatives, and the executive, consisting of the President, and finally the judicial branch, which is the Supreme Court, along with district courts. (Doc.B) These three branches of government were separated to a far enough extent so there would be no chance for them to join together. Had they joined, it would have formed a large group of “rulers” without any distinction between duties. Having this distinction between parts of government helped the constitution guard against tyranny because the powers were split well enough so that there was no chance of them forming together, and so each part of government could efficiently carry out it’s duties.
The constitution’s third guard against tyranny would be our government’s system of checks and balances. To continue with the branches of United States government, even though they are so far apart, they are close enough to check each other. Some examples would be how the president (executive branch) can veto a congressional legislation. (Doc.C) The judicial branch can declare presidential acts as unconstitutional. Along with the court calling laws unconstitutional. (Doc.C) This makes sure that none of the three branches can become more powerful than the other. Each of these parts of government has no opportunity to be able to rise up and create a tyrannical force. Thus, this part of the constitution prevented tyranny because it created a system where no part of our government is able to become too powerful because they are maintained by one another.
The last main “guard” the constitution created against tyranny was that small and large states did not overpower each other. This was shown in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives was based on the states population. While in the senate, each state had two senators. (Doc.D) Because of this, the small states were more satisfied with their seats in the senate while the larger states were more satisfied with their representative in the House of Representatives. This is because since the small states did not have high populations they did not get many representatives to represent their states. While the larger states, having high populations, had more say in it. Although in the senate each state had 2 senators, meaning the small states had an equal say in the senate. Thus, having this compromise between large and small states in the House of Representatives and in the Senate helped the constitution protect the United States from tyranny because it made sure that no one state go too powerful.
Our US Constitution shielded against the creation of tyranny. It successfully did this in many ways, which include federalism, separation of powers, a system of checks and balances, and a compromise between small and large states. This guarding against tyranny has shown how far our government, and people have come. If it had not prevented the forming of tyranny in the United States, our lives here would be very different. We would not be able to have rights, say how we feel, or live free in this great country in which we live in.