Nolan King
History 9 - B Block
April 13, 2010
Constitution DBQ
Can you imagine if the United States had one supreme ruler who had complete
control? This would never happen now because of the Constitution of the United States.
55 delegates from 12 of the 13 states gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to fix the national
government. How did the Constitution guard against tyranny? Tyranny is a type of
government in which one person or a group of people with the same beliefs are in charge
of the government and abuse their powers. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in
several ways which were Federalism, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances and
Large and Small States’ rights.
The first guard against tyranny was Federalism which means powers were divided
equally among state and federal government. In Document A, James Madison clearly
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.” This quote from Madison is saying that the government is split into two
groups, state and federal. Another example is the note at the bottom of the box in
Document A. It states “Madison’s idea of division of power between central and state
governments is known as federalism. Federalism protects against tyranny because the
state governments do not individually rule, thus there are no issues between the states.
Not one state will go to war with any of the other states over disputes because there is a
federal government. Federalism prevents against the US government becoming a
tyranny.
The second guard against tyranny was Separation of Powers which means that
each branch had different powers. This is shown in Document B in each of the three
articles from Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. Article 1
says that the legislative branch shall consist of the Congress of the United States, which is
split into two divisions, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Next, Article 2
says that the executive branch consists of the President, the Vice President, etc. In
Article 3, it is explained that the judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court and a
lot of smaller courts as well. The articles are telling that the government and its powers
are divided between three branches. Another example is the quote in Document B in the
box from James Madison’s Federalist Paper #47. It says “(L)iberty requires that the
three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” This quote shows that
the powers in the government should be separate and split equally between the three
branches of government. Separation of powers protects against tyranny because not one
of the branches of government can take complete control over the United States and the
way that the government works. There are many different people with different opinions
in government due to Separation of Powers. The founding fathers included Separation of
Powers in the Constitution to protect against tyranny.
The third guard against tyranny was checks and balances which means that each
branch checks over what the other branches do. The first lines from Document C state
“the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that
they may be a check on each other…. (The three branches) should not be so far separated
as to have no constitutional control over each other.” This quote explains how checks
and balances work and how each branch is able to look over what the other branches have
done. A second example from Document C is the chart in the middle of the page. The
chart shows the checking powers that each branch has. Checks and balances protects
against tyranny because one branch cannot abuse its power and pass unfair or
unreasonable laws. Not one person or group can put in a set of laws that only benefit
themself/ themselves. Checks and balances clearly prevents against tyranny.
The fourth guard against tyranny was large and small states rights which are that
the large and small states benefit equally from the Constitution. In Document D, Article
1, Section 2, House of Representatives, it says, “Representatives…. Shall be appointed….
According to…. (population). This statement clearly benefits the large states. They
included this in the Constitution because if they didn’t a small populated state could have
more say then a largely populated state with more people. The average person in the
smaller states would have a bigger say then somebody in a larger state. On the other
hand, also in Document D, there is a statement in Article 1, Section 3, Senate, which
reads, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each
state.” This statement benefits the small states because the large states do not get more of
a say in government just because they have a larger population. Large and small states
having equal say protects against tyranny because some states are not more powerful than
others. If some states had an advantage over other states, people would move out of
certain states and move to others. No one would want to live in some states. States
having the same say in electing the Senate and House of Representatives definitely
protects against tyranny.
The Constitution guarded against tyranny in several ways, which were federalism,
separation of powers, checks and balances, and every state, large or small having an
equal say. The question, “How did the Constitution guard against tyranny?”, is certainly
significant today. It is significant because if it hadn’t been for the Constitution of the
United States protecting us from tyranny, the United States of America would be a totally
different country than the one that we know and love today. We could have monarchs
and kings or a dictatorship in which we would have NO SAY IN GOVERNMENT AT
ALL. Tyranny was prevented by the founding fathers in the Constitution of the United
States in several different ways.