...How did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? By: Eryn Keenan The United States went to war with Brittan to break away from a tyrant, so the new government was designed to prevent this. Our Constitution prevents tyranny in many ways. James Madison defined a tyranny as “a harsh absolute power in the hands of one individual-like a king or dictator”. Since the Articles of Confederation were failing in May, 1787, 55 delegates met in Philadelphia. Instead of adjusting the existing articles they decided to create a new constitution that would completely guard against tyranny. The Constitution prevented tyranny in many ways such as federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the equality of states. The first way the delegates...
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...Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution The Birth of a Nation Joseph J. Zarzycki United States History – 405 Aimee James June 1, 2014 At the end of the revolutionary war the free states of the Union desired some sort of control that would create a unified country. The first such control came from what was called the Articles of Confederation, essentially our first constitution. This document addressed many issues. How should power be divided between local and national governments? How should laws be made, and by whom? Who should be authorized to govern those laws? How could the government be designed to protect the individual rights of the citizens? The Articles of Confederation, as it turned out, were lacking in several key areas and would be considered a failure. After the shortcomings of the articles began to become apparent, the state delegates tried to revise them; but instead, constructed the Constitution. When creating the Articles of Confederation, thirteen states formed a Confederation referred to as the “League of Friendship” in order to find a solution for common problems and concerns. The Articles of Confederation created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state, regardless of population, would have one vote in the house of Congress. Members of the one-house Congress agreed that the new government should be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or...
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...favored the Constitution because it gave Congress the power to govern domestic affairs. Not only that but they were given the power to tax due to the Constitution. They did not trust the people to solve the major problems the nation had so they wanted a strong central government to counter that. The Constitution implemented a check and balance system so that one branch isn't too powerful compared to the others. As long as Congress had power, the federalist were happy. The anti-federalist were the exact opposite. They valued the Articles of Confederation because it gave the states the most power. It prevented the central government from taking control just as they wanted and it is also the reason why the anti-federalist disliked the Constitution. They believed the Constitution would make the nation turn into a tyranny like the British empire which is why they preferred the Articles of Confederation because it is what originally gave them the freedom of tyranny. They opposed having one government having all the power because they feared for the worst. 2. The reason why the political parties started to emerge during the Washington Administration was because of the struggle to ratify the federal Constitution of 1787. The anti-federalist , which were lead by Thomas Jefferson, wanted states' rights over centralized power while the federalist, lead by Alexander Hamilton, wanted a strong central government. Washington ended up losing the trust of Jefferson and the anti-federalist party when...
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...Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=American+History http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_history.html There were many differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. At the end of the American Revolution the free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. Issues arose such as: How should power be divided between local and national governments? How should laws be made, and by whom? Who should be authorized to govern those laws? How could the government be designed to protect the unalienable individual rights? Their first attempt at solving this issue was the Articles of Confederation, which was a failure for the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the articles, the state delegates tried to revise the articles, but instead, constructed the Constitution. There were so many changes made and very little remained the same. The thirteen states formed a Confederation referred to as the “league of friendship” in order to find a solution for common problems such as foreign affairs.The Articles of Confederation was the nation’s first Constitution. The articles created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state would have one vote in the house of Congress, no matter the size of the population. Members of the one-house Congress, such as Pennsylvania, agreed that the new government...
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...State and national government both had power and authority; which needed to be separated and distributed properly. The Articles of confederation obviously ended poorly by giving too much individual power to the states that interfered with each-other. So this is where the founders adopted Federalism. The founding fathers realized that by 1789 the Articles of Confederation was putting the new nation in critical danger. As a constitutional structure, the Articles served as a loose union between the different states and a centralized national government. Unfortunately, the states were so distrustful of a centralized authority, the national government was extremely limited in its capacity to govern. Although the national government could make war and negotiate treaties, it lacked the fundamental power to tax. Without the 'power of the purse' the national government was essentially held captive by the individual state governments. In addition, the powers the national government did have were...
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...The Federalists and Anti-Federalists were two different groups that worked on the Articles of Confederation, and together created what is now our Constitution. This wasn’t an easy task to accomplish, there were many debates in order to create this document. To create the Constitution, 55 delegates met together at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to discuss how to adjust the Articles of Confederation to the new, developing country. Due to the “weaknesses” that presented itself within the Articles of Confederation, many delegates were split into two groups; one was the Federalists, which consisted of prominent businessmen, the second group was the Anti-Federalists, which consisted mostly of farmers and workers. The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were: 1. Each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of the size of the state 2....
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... Constitution). However this definition is constantly changing and took a long bumpy road to get where it is today. The United States constitution was drafted on September 17th, 1787 and ratified on June 21st, 1788. The United States became a sovereign nation on July 4th, 1776 at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but they needed a Constitution. The Articles of Confederation were drafted on November 7th, 1777 and ratified on March 1st, 1781. This document was signed by the thirteen original colonies that made up the United States of America and served as its first constitution. After becoming sovereign nation it became clear to many that the Articles of Confederation would not be able to hold a nation together. Under the Article of Confederation there was a unicameral legislative that provided no separation of power. The central government appeared to be too weak because under the Articles of Confederation most of the power was retained by the states. Congress had no power to tax therefore, they were unable to finance their operations. It was also extremely difficult to amend the Articles of Confederation because it needed unanimous approval from all states. Federal laws had to be approved by nine of the thirteen states which proved to be difficult for everyday business of government. Congress did not have to power to regulate commerce which permitted unneeded competition between states. With...
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...Tyranny is what causes horrible human beings. Dictatorship has created human killing machines that destroy human rights. The government has decided to come up with a new plan to prevent tyranny. They threw out the idea of the Articles Of Confederation and came up with the Constitution. The Constitution is what guards against tyranny and limits the powers that tyranny had given to people. This document was written on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia. It was written to give citizens certain basic rights, but people started building up questions on why the government had come up with another document. So the question is, how did the Constitution guard against tyranny? Tyranny is the absolute power belonging to an individual or group. Many people...
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...Not only are your natural given rights protected under the new constitution but it also provides reciprocity among the states. This is enforced under the “Privileges and Immunities” and “Full Faith and Credit” clause. Under the “Privileges and Immunities” clause, no individual can be discriminated or denied their rights based on their state of residency. Similarly, the “Full Faith and Credit” clause enforces each state to respect the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every state. The Constitution possesses the guidelines we need to thrive as...
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...of British rule, but found themselves in need of a government to keep peace and prosperity among the different states. The Articles of Confederation was finally put into place in 1777 that was intended to do just that. However, not all states agreed with the Articles of Confederation. At that time, each state counted for one vote regardless of size, which was fine for smaller states, but the larger ones felt that their votes should have more say in matters due to its larger population. Congress had little power to tax for much needed funds, nor to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. When Congress would pass laws, there was no executive branch of government to enforce the laws. There was no national court system when issues would arise and any amendments to the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote (Barker, 2012). Each state wanted its own individual power and money and rejected any idea of one government controlling them all. This caused problems with the economy because states did want to give up its own money to a central government. They felt like it would turn into something similar to the British Monarchy. With each state printing its own money and having their own military, it was difficult, if not impossible for the government to create any unity among the states (The Articles of Confederation, 2015). The Articles of Confederation presented a good platform to work with, but clearly needed revising if the Unites States was to work together as one country...
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...After the Revolutionary War ending in 1783, the United States needed a framework for their government. The Articles of Confederation had already been established in 1781, however, the debate over the necessity of a Constitution was underway. The Constitutional Convention, beginning in 1781 in Philadelphia included delegates from 12 of the 13 states. During the convention, the delegates discussed issues to be resolved in their proposed Constitution. Public debates outside of the convention also emerged where the common people debated over the Constitution as well. In the late 1780s, following the Constitutional Convention, two groups, the Federalists and Anti-federalists, debated over the necessity and potential dangers of the proposed Constitution....
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...Tyranny is like sour patches it can be sweet at some time and it can be sour at other times. Back in 1787 when the article of confederation was existing there was no chief, no executive, there was no court system, there was just one person who made all the rules now that brings us to tyranny. Tyranny is when one person or a group of people have a lot of power. How did the Constitution guard against tyranny? Well, James Madison wrote a new constitution to help guard against tyranny. It included federalism, separation of power, checks and balance and big states versus small states. In 1788 federalism was put into play, Federalism is where and government have and share power. The power surrendered by two distinct governments and portion along...
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...this example to illustrate a similar argument between the Federalist and the Antifederalist over the documents ratification as well as many other disputes. The book acknowledges how enduring the constitution has been due to the way it was written. It is extremely general in its language for adaptation and changes. The historical context of the Constitution The book states the first time many colonist questioned British rule was the Stamp Act of 1765. The king imposed tax on many publications and legal documents to help pay for the French and Indian War (1754-1763) claiming that colonists were benefitting from British protection so the tax was fair. Colonist argued otherwise saying that they had no representation in legislation in the British Parliament. After political solutions failed the Continental Congress declared independence from Britain on July 4, 1776. The heavy task of creating a lasting republic was difficult. Post- Revolution the founder’s first attempt limited the government too much in the Articles of Confederation. A small group of leaders agreed that something had to be done 5 delegates met in Annapolis, Maryland, September 1786. Both James Madison and Alexander Hamilton were able to convince the delegates to meet again in Philadelphia the following May. During that time the country fell into a depression many farmer lost their land. Shays rebellion was a protest in which militia of 1000 farmers attempted to take over Massachusetts’s...
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...Federalism Prof. Rogelio Garcia Political Science 3517 Federalism With the discontent from Britain’s policies and wanting to find a balance form of government, the Framers of the American Constitution decided on a new federal form of government, and created The Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1788), it provided the states to retain sovereignty and more power than the central government. Congress had no power to levy taxes or regulate interstate commerce. Areas assigned to the central government were difficult to legislate, as they had to be approved by nine of the thirteen states. States had the power to veto changes made by Congress. States taxed each other’s goods and even negotiated their own trade agreement with other nations (Government by the People pg.13) and unnamed democracies were on the rise in some states (“Pennsylvania’s’ Constitution”) (Prof. Garcia). Biased popular assemblies were against the privileged and believed that wealth undermined equal rights. Since the Articles of Confederation were weak and flawed to successfully govern the new United States; a new federal form of government of federalism was adopted that recognized the idea that people had basic rights that the government must protect along with separation of powers to avoid the conflicts between the states and the national government. The framework included the following: freedom of religion, speech, and the press, as well as the right to trial by jury and...
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...independent colonies, meanwhile providing a secure central base. This resulted in The United States government adopting federalism. Even though federalism isn’t mentioned in the constitution, the principles of federalism are mentioned in various articles. For example article 1 section 8 displays the power available to congress. It contains the ‘elastic clause’ that potentially gives the federal government so much power over the states. And the amendments provide a list of ‘can’t do’s’ for the states. For example states can’t enter into treaties with foreign powers. As the aspects of federalism is displayed in the codified constitution, signifies the importance for the US to collectively follow this system. However, Federalism is a method of government that also allows the states to maintain their sovereignty, without the fear of intervention of the central government, unless they violate or clash with the constitution. This is evident as each state has its own constitution and its own executive, legislature and judiciary all working within the limits set by the national constitution; executive; legislature and judiciary. An example of a state constitution that has relevant articles to its needs is Idaho. For instance in their constitutions article 16, section 1 the constitution talks of the need for the Idaho legislature to pass laws that protect livestock from disease. The federalism structure helps create an adaptive US state as laws concerning them individually are taken into account...
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