How the Framers Stopped Tyranny
By Aidan Holmberg
Federalism
Federalism is James Madison's idea of division of power between the central and state governments. This makes sure that neither the states have all the control, nor the fedral government has all the control. They have different piwers, but they also share some powers. The powers they share are, to tax, to borrow money, to set up courts, to make laws, and to enforce laws. Both governments control different things though. The state goverment have more power over local and personal issues like education and marriage, because they are more in touch with the local culture, while the Federal Governemtn deals with more important problems like problems that effect the whole nation.
Seperation of Powers
Seperation of powers is used to make sure that a single person or a group of people don't have total control over the government. Everything needs to be divided up into three branches, the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judcial Branch. This was also to make sure that a group of people didn't all have to do one thing. The Legislative Branch holds the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The Executive Branch hold the President, who works together with the Vice President. Finally, the Legislative Branch holds the Supreme Court, where Judges usually Judge for life.
Checks and Balances
Checks and Balances is a system the government uses to make sure no one branch has more power than the other two branches. All the branches have equal power. For everything that one branch does, at least one of the other branches checks it. For example, if the Legislative Branch decides to right up a law that does not abide to the constitution , the Judicial Branch can declare it unconstitutional and its gone.
Larger States vs. Smaller States
Larger States wanted representation in the government based on population whereas the smaller states wanted it to have equal representation. They couldn't have both, or could they? What happened to make everything fair was the government decided that the states would have equal representation is the Senate, which made the smaller states happy, but the states would have more representatives in the House of Representatives based on there population which made the larger states happy. This was done to make sure the larger states didn't over power the smaller states.