How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny?
DBQ: How did the Constitution guard against tyranny?
Americans desperately fight against the poison of tyranny with their best weapon, the Constitution. During the Colonial Period, King George III, demanded many things from the colonists. These demands were caused by the aftermath of the French and Indian War. England had increasing debts, so the king raised the taxes of both America and England. The increase of taxes caused anger to rise from the Americans, which allowed a roll of events to unfold. After many harsh exchanges between the colonists and King George III, America declared its independence on July 4, 1776. Soon after the declaration, things began to heat up as fight over representation in government began to be more debated. Many times tyranny was mentioned, allowing the creation of the Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways: federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, big states vs. small states/ The Great Compromise. One part of the Constitution that helped Americans was federalism. The central and reserved government share powers, but also have separate powers. (Document A) Federalism prevented one person or group from obtaining absolute power by creating two governments that have shared but separated powers. A quote by James Madison from Federalist Paper #51, 1788, states that “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments.” The word “compound,” from the beginning of the quote means two pieces or two pieces of government, called a bicameral government. The part where it says, ”…the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments,” means there will be two parts in government concerning the
Americans desperately fight against the poison of tyranny with their best weapon, the Constitution. During the Colonial Period, King George III, demanded many things from the colonists. These demands were caused by the aftermath of the French and Indian War. England had increasing debts, so the king raised the taxes of both America and England. The increase of taxes caused anger to rise from the Americans, which allowed a roll of events to unfold. After many harsh exchanges between the colonists and King George III, America declared its independence on July 4, 1776. Soon after the declaration, things began to heat up as fight over representation in government began to be more debated. Many times tyranny was mentioned, allowing the creation of the Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways: federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, big states vs. small states/ The Great Compromise. One part of the Constitution that helped Americans was federalism. The central and reserved government share powers, but also have separate powers. (Document A) Federalism prevented one person or group from obtaining absolute power by creating two governments that have shared but separated powers. A quote by James Madison from Federalist Paper #51, 1788, states that “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments.” The word “compound,” from the beginning of the quote means two pieces or two pieces of government, called a bicameral government. The part where it says, ”…the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments,” means there will be two parts in government concerning the