ORGANIZING GOVERNMENT TO
PREVENT THE ABUSE OF POWER
LESSON 5
DO NOW
Do you
think
people are
naturally
good or
bad?
FOUNDERS BELIEVED…
People are naturally bad
FEAR OF GOVERNMENT
• “Absolute power corrupts
absolutely”
• History of religious
persecution
• No representation
• Over-taxation
• Unlimited power of a King
• Belief about human
nature…
VOCAB WORD
Tyranny – cruel or
oppressive government or rule
• Derived from the Latin tyrannus meaning
“illegitimate ruler”
• Tyrant – an oppressive ruler
• King George III
• Over-taxed his subjects
• Did not listen to their concerns
• Passed laws without their consent
REFLECTION
Based on what you know about the
Founders fears of strong government,
how would YOU organize
government to prevent it from
becoming TOO STRONG?
DO NOW
Take out your reflection response
from yesterday.
Be prepared to share how you
would prevent government from
becoming too strong.
PREVENTING THE ABUSE OF POWER
• Constitutional
Governments try to
prevent the abuse of
power by doing two
things
1. Separate the powers of
government into
branches
2. Balance the powers
among the branches
SEPARATION OF POWERS
• The United States has 3
branches of
government
• Legislative Branch
• Executive Branch
• Judicial Branch
• “Checks and Balances”
• No one branch can
dominate the other
branches
PURPOSE OF EACH BRANCH
LEGISLATIVE – makes the laws
EXECUTIVE – enforces the laws
JUDICIAL – reviews and interprets the
laws
EXAMPLES OF CHECKS AND BALANCES
• Congress is split into twohouses
• House of Representatives
• Senate
• President can “veto” a
“bill” passed by
Congress
• Supreme Court can
judge a law that
Congress passes as
“unconstitutional” and
strike it down