Us Constitution Essay

Constitution DBQ

During the Constitutional days, tyranny was a big scare for the people, and also for the survival of the U.S. In 1787, the Constitution was written to establish a federal government as well as protect from tyranny. Tyranny is when a single person or group gains too much power and takes over. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways which were federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and large states and small states.

The first guard against tyranny was federalism which means the division of power between central and state governments. The states had the power to establish more local things such as education and building schools. The national government had the power to make more laws effecting the country as a whole like printing money (Doc. A). These protect from tyranny because they both have enough power so that one can't overrule the other. Federalism protected against tyranny because no one government holds all the power. Federalism was not the only thing in the constitution that protected against tyranny, however.

A second guard against tyranny was separation of powers which means holding powers in different branches. There are three branches in the government, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. The power was spread out among these branches so that one branch cannot control the others. This was important to have because the each branch had their own duties. For example, the legislative branch powers were invested in Congress to make laws. The executive branch powers were invested in a President and Vice President to enforce the laws and declare actions against foreign nations. The judicial branch powers were invested in one Supreme Court which declares if laws have been broken and determine if laws are Constitutional. Separation of powers protected against tyranny because no one branch holds all the power and no one group can dominate each other. Separation of powers was a very effective way of protecting against tyranny.

The third guard against tyranny was checks and balances which means they can control each other. Checks and balances were a way of controlling each other. For instance, Congress made a law, the judicial branch can announce it unlawful. Also, the President can appoint