Tyranny

The writers of the Constitution wanted to do something so that no such person could get all the power, or too much power. The Articles of Confederation was the first step to try and guard against tyranny, but that failed. It was missing things like a central government, president and court system. The writers of the constitution came up with four methods to guard against tyranny which are federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the big states and small states compromise. The first method used to guard against tyranny was a form of government called federalism. Federalism is the division of powers between central and state governments. The chart on Document A shows which powers are given to the states and which powers are given to the central government. The powers the central government have are, regulation of trade, printing money and declaring war. The powers given to the states are, to pass marriage and divorce laws, hold election and set up local governments. The central government can’t take control of the powers given to the states and vice versa. This guards against tyranny because the powers are divided in a fair way. The second method used to guard against tyranny was to divide the central power into three branches. Document B shows the three branches, which are the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and what each one consists of. The executive branch consists of the President and Vice President. The legislative branch consists of the senate and House of Representatives. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme court. The constitution prevents a branch from gaining any more power than another. All of the powers each branch has is distinct and separate which guards against tyranny. The third method to guard against tyranny was to create a system of checks and balances, which means each branch can check up on each other. The diagram on Document C shows how each branch checks up on each other. For