Michael Zanni
Constitution Essay for DBQ
April 14, 2010
What would life be like if our president was a supreme dictator, with absolute
power over everyone in the U.S.? This was what the colonist in 1787 was trying to
prevent. In the summer of 1787, Delegates representing their states met to fix the
national government. Their objective was to make a government without tyranny. The
only problem they were facing was how they were going to do it. The question that I will
answer in this essay is: How did the constitution guard against tyranny? Tyranny is the
abuse of power from one person or a lot of people. The constitution guarded against
tyranny in several ways, which were Federalism, Separation of Powers, Checks and
Balances, and Big States vs. Small States.
The first guard against tyranny was federalism which means division of power
between central and state government. The central government is able to provide an army
and navy, while the state government is able to establish schools. One fact they both
share is that they are able to tax, borrow money and help one another. (Doc A). This
prevents against tyranny because it allows the states to function without having the
central government have complete say over what they did. The colonists wanted to make
sure that all of their needs were set and that they weren’t controlled over, like they were
in England. Federalism guards against tyranny because it prevent the central government
from getting to powerful and also giving the state government power as well, without
them feeling like they are being overpowered.
The second guard against tyranny was separation of powers. Separation of Powers
means that each power is separate and distinct. The congress, which consists of the senate
and the House of Representatives, is given power. Also the executive branch which
consists of the President and the Vice President are given power as well. Finally the last
branch of government, the judicial branch is given power and consists of the Superior and
inferior courts. (Doc B). Since all of these powers are separate and distinct because of
separation of powers, it prevents each of the many powers from getting to powerful and
overtaking one another.
The fourth and final guard against tyranny was big states vs. small states. Big
states vs. Small states means that the small states felt that they were being overpowered
by the larger states because of how many representatives, and how much say in the
government they had as well. Since the house of representatives goes according to
population, it makes the smaller states feel inferior to the larger states. The constitution
prevents this because for all states they have two senators. With all of the bills first
heading to the house it leaves an equal say for the senate because they have final say on if
it is going to the president for approval. (Doc D) This prevents tyranny because it allows
the smaller states to feel like they have equal say in government as the larger states. This
also goes for the big states because it allows them to feel superior to the smaller states but
at the same time they are both equal and there is no abuse of power between them.
Tyranny was prevented in the constitution by Federalism, Separation of Powers,
Checks and Balances and Big States vs. Small States. It is important that we understand
how the constitution protected against tyranny because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t have the
type of government that we have today. Also, we would be living under a ruler who
would abuse his/her power and make living in America a nightmare. It is important that
we know this today because it is how we formed our rights as citizens of the United
States. Another reason it is so important that we know this information is because of how
we live our lives as free Americans and not living in a country with a tyrant.