...In America we rely deeply on our Constitution to lead us into a better future for our country and us, and something that the constitution does is protect us from tyranny. Tyranny is when absolute power is put into the hands of a single person or group then that power is misused. To counter this problem our Constitution set up our system of Checks and Balances which basically does not give one branch of government complete control over this country but spread power evenly among among the branches. Also the Constitution has The Amendment Process and it is a way to add in amendments that the Constitution might of missed, or to fix a horrible problem. Our system of Checks and Balances and the Amendment Process keep us out of the horrible hands...
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...the Constitution Part One: Table of Primary Principles of the US Constitution Self-Government | Self-government is government that is provided by or voted on by the inhabitants of the country or group as opposed to having external governing forces. The Constitution names Self-government as the ultimate and proper means of government. The US uses majority rule as part of self-government. | Separation of Powers | Separation of powers is the division of governing powers among separate branches of the government. This idea was widely favored as many states started drafting their governments and was used as a founding principle of the US Constitution. Basically, separation of powers assigns one group of people as task and another group another task. This helps in many ways, primarily it makes sure that each group is skilled at the powers assigned to them. It also paves the way for Checks and Balances. | Checks and Balances | Checks and Balances is an elaborate system that is written into the US Constitution that requires the divided branches of government to all work together to make any major decisions. Originally, this system was designed so that no one branch of government overpowered the others. A single branch cannot act decisively without the support of the other branches. The three branches of government in the US are designed to overlap so that Checks and Balances can succeed. | Checks and Balances Over the years, the US system of Checks and Balances has...
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...It has been argued that a constitution written in the eighteenth century does not work in the twenty first century. The US constitution is codified as it is written in one place and is the supreme law of the United States. Arguments that support the view that the constitution does not work in the 21st century include it giving too much power to the Supreme Court, some provisions being outdated and the amendment process being too difficult in modern context. The two contrasting views can be summed up in the following quotes. William Gladstone quipped that the constitution was “the most wonderful work ever struck off by the brain and purpose of man” while Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated “I would not look at the US constitution if I was drafting a constitution in the year 2012”. One argument that supports the view that a constitution written in the eighteenth century does not work in the twenty first century is the US constitution handing too much power to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has made several controversial and contentious decisions which arguably have weak constitutional foundation in cases such as Citizens United 2010 and Roe vs. Wade in 1973. Because there is no appeals process, these decisions cannot be challenged. There is an amendment process that could overturn these decisions but this is difficult to achieve in modern circumstances. The Supreme Court is an unelected body that is given too much power and can make decisions at the expense of elected representatives...
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...There are both similarities and differences, when referring to checks and balances and separation of powers. Both have to do with the Government. But separation of powers is a model of government in which different parts of the government are in charge of different tasks; in the United States, these parts are known as the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. Checks and balances is a means of trying to ensure that these three parts of government stay equal, and that one does not try to take over another. Separation of powers was first introduced as a government model in ancient Greece, and was used largely in the Roman republic. Under this Government model, the state is divided into separate and independent entities. The normal separation of branches is into executive, a legislature, and judiciary. The legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch enforces and carries out the laws to the public, and the judicial branch interprets the laws. Interestingly, not only does each branch have a certain power, each branch has a certain power over the other branch. This is done to keep them balanced and to prevent one from getting too much control. This is known as “Checks and Balances.” The concept of checks and balances comes from the United States constitution. The different branches of government check each other’s power so that no branch has more power than the other. An example would be if the legislative branch wants to pass a law, they first present it as...
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...How Does the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? We fought the American Revolution to get rid of tyranny of being under a king. After the Revolution, we created a new system of government outlined in our Constitution. Fifty five delegates representing twelve different states got together in Philadelphia,1781 to fix our government. How does the constitution guard against tyranny, and what is tyranny? Tyranny is when a person or group of people have too much power. The constitution guarded against tyranny by establishing a new government that included the principle of Checks and Balances. One of the principles that guards against tyranny is Checks and Balances. This means there are certain ways that branches of the government can check on...
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...The US Constitution, written in Philadephia in 1787 by the Founding Fathers was the product of the revolutionary war of independence, with it’s foundations strongly influenced by the works of political theorists such as Montesquieu and Locke. The Founding Fathers favoured a government that prevented any individual or particular group becoming tyrannical. Furthermore, they strongly opposed the notion of excessive government power, seen as the potential threat to individual freedom, wanting to protect minorities as well as the population as a whole, from arbitrary or unjust rule. Consequently, the Founding Fathers outlined main provisions within the US constitution in order to avoid tyranny: the separation of powers, a federal structure of government and also providing citizens inalienable and entrenched rights through the implementation of the Bill of Rights. Arguably, these provisions as a result mostly ensure, as the Founding Fathers had hope to achieve, limited government, in so much as the size and scope of the federal government is limited to an extent in which it is necessary only for the common good of people. The separation of powers prevalent in the USA, whereby political power is distributed between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary branches of government, were adopted from the Founding Fathers by the principles of Montesquieu, who argued for a separation of powers into legislative, executive and judiciary branches in order to avoid tyranny. This framework...
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...In 1787, the framers signed the Constitution “in Order to form a more perfect Union” (US Const. Preamble). They intended to establish a central government without granting it too much power. To ensure that, the framers both, limited and empowered the government in certain ar- eas. But since the original seven articles of the Constitution are over 200 years old, the framers could not foresee the expansion of the government’s power that has happened until the present day. With the “war on terror” being one of the governments priorities, questions arise if the gov- ernment has become too powerful, especially with regard to practicing surveillance. This essay aims to analyse the limits and powers given to the government by the framers in the seven Arti- cles of the Constitution, and finally apply these Articles to the government’s practice of sur- veillance today. The most essential points limiting the government’s power is the separation of power and the system of checks and balances. The federal government itself consists of three branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial branch; in other words, Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. The power is divided between these three branches in order to keep any of them from becoming too powerful. Thus, the framers intended to prevent a corruption of power and tyranny over the states by imposing controls on each branch. The legislative branch, for in- stance, is kept in check by the President, who has the power to veto...
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...three branches in the Constitution” (Mount, 2014). The idea of a separation of powers first appeared in the political philosophy of Montesquieu. He advocated for a government where each branch had clear cut rules on what they could and could not do. This idea of a separation of government, or a government that was for the people would be perpetuated by other philosophers throughout the Enlightenment era. The founding fathers sought to create the United States government in the same way. Each branch is empowered with distinct powers. The government is set up this way in order to prevent abuse of power. Each branch is able to exercise a form of control over each other. Within the constitution are articles. Within each article, it outlines the separations of powers for each branch of the government. Article one outlines The Legislative. Which is made up of The Senate and the House of Representatives Article two is composed of The Executive branch. This entails the President, his Vice-President and the state departments. Article three explains the judicial branch. This also covers federal and the Supreme Court. With this kind of system in place, it creates a kind of safety net against abuse. This is the vision that our Founding Fathers had in mind. It was not to create a prefect government. Just to create one, which ensure that one person was unable to take total control of the government. With a system of checks and balances in place, it makes for a system that is resistant to tyranny...
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...All of the many people who suggested their ideas for the Constitution, got them by thoroughly studying other governments and places. The United States now runs by an indirect democracy. All in which was took bits and pieces from many other governments. The major influences on the making of the United States Constitution were ancient civilizations, the British government, and the Enlightenment. One of the many influences on the US Constitution was ancient civilizations governments that were studied extensively by the framers. Ancient Rome consisted of a strong representative type of government, a republic. The Roman Republic consisted of different types of governments, or a mixed government. Their republic included elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. The government worked in which a way where the decision were based off of the need of the people. In this type of government citizens were able to vote for congressmen and representatives. Likewise, the Constitution illustrates a republican form of government. In the United States, people elect senators, members of the house, and have some say in who the President shall be. Under British rule, the Americans were involved in a monarchy. The colonist...
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...The Constitution was built by our founding fathers and was instilled in order to keep the democracy o the united states strong and running for centuries to come. One concern that was discussed in terms of this great new power that the US had become is that of tyranny and the abuse of such power, in not only the US but the world. In order to insure that our government did not turn into a dictatorship with the president being the one with all of the power, James Madison came up with a solution. James Madison was aware of the threat of what is called “tyranny of the majority” which means that the majority rules and the fear is that this would negatively affect individual rights. Therefore, Madison’s solution was a system, included in the Constitution, of Checks and balances and the separation of powers. This means that not one branch of the government holds all of the power but rather three do, and in regards to checks and balances each branch has some sort of pull over limiting another branch when necessary. The branches become a system that work together...
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...beyond recognition from the vision of the Founding Fathers.’ Discuss this view of the modern US constitution. In many ways, the US constitution has changed and shifted since its creation in 1787. It has changed, with power being put into the hands of bodies not specified in the constitution and certain constraints on power no longer existing. All in all, however, the constitution has maintained the very thing it was created for- to limit the power of the government and protect the people from tyranny of the executive. In this sense, the constitution is still very much embodying the vision of the founding fathers and is relatively unchanged given the lengthy period of time they have existed for. The powers of the president remain relatively unaltered and the intricate set of checks and balances established by the founding fathers remains pretty much the same. Several amendments to the constitution have happened more recently than the time of the Founding Fathers and these change the way in which the constitution can be seen as the same. During the presidency of Bill Clinton, there were 18 votes on proposed constitutional amendments, an unusually high number. All these votes occurred during the 6-year period when the Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress. The power of the executive has changed greatly since the creation of the Constitution. The President has taken on some powers not given to him by the Founding Fathers, giving him...
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...Do you know how the constitution guards against tyranny?A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. The constitution for the us was wrote on June 21, 1788 in Philadelphia at the Convention.Tyranny is the cruel and oppressive government or rule. The Constitution guards against tyranny by using four important practices: federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and by ensuring representation of large and small states. Federalism divides power between a central government and the state governments. Our federal government has three parts. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 workers) Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts). The President of the United States administers the Executive Branch of our government.The two bottom corners are the Judicial Branch and the Legislative Branch – also called Congress. Each part of the government is connected to the other. Each has its own responsibilities and powers. A system of checks and balances prevents one branch from gaining too much power....
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...PD 5 10-8-17 Distrustful The U. S Constitution is the story of us, from beginning to end. It's the start and finish of one of the most powerful countries in the world. The constitution includes: preamble, seven articles, and 27 amendments. But why so much? Well, that's because it was created to make sure that every single individual no matter what path of life they walk have rights. Still, there's more to the surface than just “basic human rights.” The U. S Constitution reflects a distrustful view on the government, because it created checks and balance so the government wouldn't have to much power to become a tyranny. The United States government has three separate branches: the executive...
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...Asses Strengths and weaknesses of the US constitution The constitution is the basic set of principles and precedents of the federal government, this law of the land stands supreme established by the founding fathers, the constitution is complied of the bill of rights, which are the first ten amendments and the other amendments. The codification of the constitution allows there to be a working balance between the state and federal government as they both keep each other to account this called keeping the checks and balances this enables each branch of government limit each other, ensuring that no branch becomes too powerful this is the element of balance. The checks system makes sure that each decision that is made is deliberated carefully and evaluated for example congress has the ability to pass laws however if the President doesn’t agree they can veto. However when the president Veto’s a law the congress can exercise its powers by passing a law without the presidents support but to do this the need at least a third of the support from the rest of the congress. The checks and balances system makes sure that the rights of the people are protected by not allowing any one branch of the government to rule over the others completely and make decisions without the best interests of the people. Without the constitution to enforce this principle it could mean that laws and bills are passed without the best interest of the citizens or that one branch of government can hold the sovereignty...
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...tyranny so in 1787 they had a Constitution convention and in the end, they had made a constitution which hopefully would prevent tyranny. Now what is Tyranny? Tyranny is when one person rules over everyone, like home. The Constitution guards us against by Big states and small states the same say in Senate, separation of power, Federalism and checks and Balances. Giving equality to the big states and small states helps prevents tyranny. I infer this from Article 1, section 2, House of representatives...
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