Guarding Against Tyranny
By:Kareem Alsamman
Federalism
Federalism prevents the national and state government from gaining absolute power over the nation and the nations people. The national and state governments will check out each others powers. So then the powers will be leveled. State governments have more power over local and personal issues. How does federalism guard against tyranny? It prevents the national and state government from gaining absolute power over the nation and the people.
Sepertation Of Powers
There are three branches. The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. They each check out each other to level out the power so their can be no tyranny. The Judicial branch has power to interpret laws which means to deciding meaning of the laws. The Executive branch has power to enforce laws, make treaties, appoint judges, and to appoint executive department heads. The last branch is the Legislative branch. This branch has the power to create laws, approve judges, and approve budgets. How does the separation of powers guard against tyranny? You prevent one person or group from doing whatever they want.
Checks and Balances
The checks and balances exist to level out the power of the branches. For example, The president nominates judges. The Senate confirms the president's nominations. Congress can impeach judges and remove them from office. The President can veto congressional legislation. The court can declare presidential acts unconstitutional. The court can declare laws unconstitutional. Congress can approve presidential nominations, override a president's veto, and impeach the president and remove him or her from office. How does checks and balances guard against tyranny? It level out the powers so one branch won't have too much power.
Big States vs. Small States
There was the 3/5 compromise which made bigger states get more representatives because the bigger states had more slaves and population. In the 3/5 compromise each slave counted as 3/5. The larger states got benefited from this compromise and got a lot more representatives. Big states would get more happier with their representation in the house because they get more representatives. Small states would get more happier with their representation in the senate because everyone is equal. How did the small state and large state compromise guard against tyranny? It made sure that large states didn't get too much power and that small states didn't get too little power.