Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Constitution and prevention of tyranny
The separation of powers and checks and balances
Constitution and prevention of tyranny
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Constitution and prevention of tyranny
The purpose of government is to protect the fundamental rights of life, liberty, health and property, but differences in opinions as to what these rights could mean may create a conflict within society itself. As John C. Calhoun suggests, man is driven by his individual impulses, where his needs and desires are more important to him than the needs and desires of others in the community. It is for this reason that a government must be established so that it protects all people who have differing ideas from being oppressed by the opinion of one group or ruler. The question then occurs as to how government can protect the fundamental rights without oppressing the people or abusing its power. James Madison and John C. Calhoun both came up with very similar solutions to this problem; however, both ideas create new problems with society as their ideas are based on the perfect society, rather than the actual society.
John C. Calhoun suggests that since man is naturally a social being with strong individual impulses, then government is necessary to repel violence from abroad and repress violence and disorder from within the republic. Furthermore, a constitution is a necessity in order to ensure the ruler or the majority of the republic cannot oppress the citizens in the republic or abuse power. Calhoun proposes the two principle elements in the construction of the government must include suffrage and a concurrent majority in order to avoid abuse and oppression. The first principle is necessary in order to hold the rulers of the republic accountable to the people so that they cannot oppress the people because they are dependent on the people. Calhoun also advises that the people should be educated so that they know their rights and the in...
... middle of paper ...
...ention of abuse and oppression will occur. Calhoun on the other hand rejects the system of checks and balances and instead relies on the people of the society and government to compromise with all of the interests in society so that it is fair to both the majority and minority and neither side if oppressed.
In conclusion, while Calhoun and Madison hold similar ideas for the solution of oppression and the abuse of powers by government officials or the majority, Calhoun’s constitutional government provides the better system to protect society because it relies more on a system of compromise which better represents the interests of all people in society. Also, the government is directly affected by the people so that the people can determine who rules them, so it is less likely for one ruler to abuse their power since there power depends on the decisions of the people.
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.
James Madison once said,” All men having power ought to be distrusted.” Through these words, Madison made the statement that not all government officials use their authority for good; some abuse that power and use it to gain more for themselves rather than vesting it within the people. This issue may lead to tyranny. Tyranny is when all powers belong to only one person or group. In May of 1787, the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia to draft a better constitution. One of the topics that concerned many was how the constitution would guard against tyranny. Madison and the other delegates wanted a Constitution that would be strong enough to unite the states and the people together without letting there be one person or group gain too much power. They achieved this in several ways. Today, the U.S. Constitution guards against tyranny by including a separation of powers, federalism, and the fair representation of states.
The Disquisition of Government by John Calhoun was written as a document to primarily defend the ideologies of the South. It was a work of that elaborated on John Calhoun’s Political Theory, which mentions the idea of a “concurrent majority”, which is that a concurrent majority on an issue is one composed of an agreement of the most important minority interests in a society. He believed that a constitution having a majority behind it would protect people against the numerical majority. Calhoun tries to show in the Disquisition of Government, that a majority rule by equal and competent individuals counterbalances a minority rule for a society that has a balance of liberty, rights and power.
Madison states several things in his papers that will be used in the United States Constitution. He says: “authority will be derived from and dependent on the society, because society is broken into so many parts, interests and classes of citizens…”, ”government must protect the weak as well as themselves.”. “Principles of justice” and the “general good” of the people are also mentioned.
Secondly, Madison points out that Americans are armed and. that the states control of militias will ".form a barrier." against the enterprise of ambition. "(Madison 242). Again In this argument, Madison goes back to his belief that the The federal government is unlikely to become oppressive because the people grant its power. Both the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists believed.
He states that the government had too many leaders and not enough followers. That the government administrated by too many people who had a different motive on running the state. In addition, Madison agreed to what Hamilton was saying. Therefore, Madison helped Hamilton settle this dilemma. “It has been seen that delinquencies in the members of the Union are its natural and necessary offspring; and that whenever they happen, the only constitutional remedy is a force, and the immediate effect of the use of it, civil war.” (Hamilton) Hamilton father explains why this would be a problem with government and predicts what might happen if it reaches to that point. “To this reasoning, it may perhaps be objected, that if any State should be disaffected to the authority of the Union, it could at any time obstruct the execution of its laws, and bring the matter to the same issue of force, with the necessity of which the opposite scheme is reproached.” (Hamilton) Both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison wrote the 18th and 19th Federalist paper. The 18th article spoke about contradicting the argument of anti-federalists that proposed a monarchical rule in America. Madison states that if the anti-federalist and federalist do not collaborate on the rule that they established for the people. They would become like the people in Greek history. “Instead of this obvious policy, Athens and Sparta, inflated with the victories and the glory they had acquired, became first rivals and then enemies; and did each other infinitely more mischief than they had suffered from Xerxes.” Demonstrating a jealous view of power and disorganized fashion. “Their mutual jealousies, fears, hatreds, and injuries ended in the celebrated Peloponnesian war; which itself ended in the ruin and slavery of the Athenians who had begun
The Constitution of the United States is one of the most iconic and important documents of all time. However, when it was first generated, its writing and ratification caused some major concerns. The purpose of the Constitution was to address the great number of issues of a new nation. To be more specific, the Constitution was meant to resolve the political, economic, and social problems of the country. Nevertheless, the document spurred much discussion and concern over people’s rights, the economy, and political corruption.
“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself,” are words written by James Madison in The Federalist Papers No. 51. The Federalist Paper No. 51 is one of several documents that compose the Federalist Papers, a series of essays written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton promoting the ratification of the Constitution. In this particular paper, several principles are used as arguments for ratification. Specifically, a main argument discussed is the means this government would have to self-regulate itself. Following the sentence quoted above is, “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” The auxiliary precautions Madison refers to is one of the many principles of our government that is still in action today, a system of checks and balances. Such a principle was born from the Constitution as a result of the existence of three branches and their division of powers.
...e protection of individual liberties as well as the expression of self interest were of the highest importance when creating the Constitution and a new system of government. The idea of separation of powers along with checks and balances, coupled with an encouraged environment of expression eventually led to the ratification of the Constitution with a Bill of Rights in 1791 and the birth of dual federalism.
The United States Constitution has received much criticism, both before and after its ratification in 1789. A wide array of thinkers from across the ages of the republic have offered criticisms about the nature, scope, and even fine details of the Constitution, sometimes providing solutions they think better themselves. Truly, however, two major schools of criticisms arise: those condemning the implications of having a document like the Constitution supreme over the nation, and those condemning specific parts and clauses of the document itself. Both criticisms based on the view that the Constitution is pro-slavery and those arguing against the nationalist nature of the document are unfounded.
During the construction of the new Constitution, many of the most prominent and experienced political members of America’s society provided a framework on the future of the new country; they had in mind, because of the failures of the Articles of Confederation, a new kind of government where the national or Federal government would be the sovereign power, not the states. Because of the increased power of the national government over the individual states, many Americans feared it would hinder their ability to exercise their individual freedoms. Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused. The “lackluster leadership” of the critics of the new constitution claimed that a large land area such as America could not work for such a diverse nation.
After reading Calhoun’s position on slavery, I have come to a realization that I entirely disagree. In John Calhoun’s speech he had mentioned a variety of different facts, that weren’t supported by any sources. In his speech, Calhoun continued to emphasize the importance of slavery in the south. I believe everyone is inclined to their own opinion no matter if my opinion is the complete opposite. John Calhoun had described slavery as a beneficial aspect to the south, but in my opinion it was unrewarding. As a reader, I disagree with Calhoun’s opinion, which includes: slavery is beneficial, slavery is better in America, and it is a learning experience.
As James Madison said, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” What James Madison is trying to say is that the central and state governments have enough power that they don’t control everything. The central government has enough power to help some of the country’s major needs, and the state government has enough power to help the state’s needs because the state’s needs may be more specific. From this, you may conclude, that dividing powers between the central and state governments prevents tyranny. The first guard against tyranny was Federalism, which means a system of government in which power is divided between a federal government and state government.
In conclusion, both of the constitutions are similar but they have their differences. One focuses on our individual rights while the other on the state. The states have reserved powers and their own governments. In the end, the governments are made to separate power and protect our rights and freedoms. What more could we ask
The men who wrote the American constitution agreed with Thomas Hobbes that humans were naturally evil. Therefore, they agreed that in order to prevent a dictatorship or monarchy, the citizens should have influence in the government. The writers wanted a more ideal constitution, but they realized evil human motives would never change. One of the main goals of the constitution was to create a balanced government that would allow the citizens to prevent each other from being corrupt. The writers wanted to give citizens liberty, but they did not want to give people so much liberty that they would have an uncontrollable amount of power. The writers agreed that a citizen’s influence in government would be proportionate to that individual’s property.