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Constitution Guards Against Tyranny

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High taxes. High tension. A society breaks away from an absolute leader who has been ruthlessly running their lives with cruel and unjust tactics. A government built on bribery of judges and occupation of populated villages begins to crumble as the one wearing the crown of absolute power loses his colonist pawns and they become independent and determined to found their own country and defend what they believe in. Tyranny is what drove our great nation to be formed, and what drove the most appreciated American patriots to make sure it could never be probable in their young new country. How did they do it? They created The Constitution. This document was written to establish a structured framework for the government of their country. It was …show more content…

This system between the three branches, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, keeps one branch from becoming too powerful. Each branch is able to ¨check¨ the power of another in one way or another, in order to prevent bad decisions from being made or complications being created due to a single branch having an unlimited amount of power. For example, the President, or the head of the Executive branch, can check the legislative branch´s power to pass a law by vetoing it. This power extends to the Judicial branch, as well. If an unreasonable and unconstitutional law passes through the Legislative and Executive branches, the Supreme Court judges can determine it unconstitutional and prevent it from being established. This process is called ¨judicial review¨. Another example of checks and balances in action is if the President nominates a judge for the Supreme Court who is unfit and will not do a sufficient job on the court, then the Legislative branch can prevent that person from being appointed if they can deliver reasonable points. As James Madison put it, ¨...the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other…(The three branches) should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other¨ (Document A). The checks and balances system …show more content…

Federalism is the governmental system that separates the federal and state governments and gives them shared and individual powers. This helps our country avoid tyranny because if the federal government passes a law that does not fit a certains state, then that state can alter that law reasonably. For example, the use of recreational marijuana was outlawed by the federal government, but it was legalized by Colorado´s state government. This concept was explained by James Madison in the words, ¨In the compound government 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. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people¨ (Document A). This double security of people being able to have influence in both their state and federal governments is the reason why this system was established in the Constitution. It was a fair and unique plan that was supported by many. Federalism is another way that the Constitution guards against

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