Constitution Guard Against Tyranny Dbq Analysis

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DBQ ESSAY The constitution is our very best defense against tyranny. Tyranny is when one person or group of people is in total control. The constitution is a written set of rules that everyone has to live by. Our constitution was written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in May of 1787. How does the constitution guard against tyranny? It guards against tyranny with Federalism, the separation of powers, checks and balances, and with the Big State Little State Compromise. One way that the constitution can guard against tyranny is with Federalism. Federalism is the distribution of powers between the state and the federal government. This prevents both the state and the federal government from having too much power. For example, in Doc A, it says that only states can set up schools, but only the federal government can set up post offices. This makes it …show more content…

The separation of powers separates the central government into three branches. The three branches are the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch. All of the different branches have power over specific things. This guards against tyranny because it doesn’t allow any of the branches to do whatever they want. In Doc B, it says that the great departments of power should be separate and distinct. This helps because if they all had the same power, they would have control over anything they wanted to. A third way that our constitution guards against tyranny is with checks and balances. Checks and balances are ways for one of the three branches to stop one of the other branches from doing something that isn’t right. For one example of many, in Doc C, it says that the Legislative branch can can veto the president (executive branch) after he (or she) votes on a law. This protects against tyranny because if one of the branches does something bad, the other branches have ways to stop

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