The Genius of the American Constitution - 1000 Words

The Genius of the American Constitution Since the advent of human government, one of the principle fears held by the constituents of the government has always been to prevent any form of tyranny or abuse within it. Tyranny can be loosely described as one person or a group of people having total power in a government leading to the subjugation and oppression of people’s rights. Many new nations wish to eliminate any aspect of their government that may eventually lead to tyranny. The United States was no different in this respect; the framers of the Constitution longed to have no signs of tyranny in their government because they had gone to war with Britain for that very reason. In 1787, a group of fifty-five delegates came from†¦show more content†¦James Madison in Federalist Paper #51 writes â€Å"Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.† This idea of Federalism allows the governments to be supervised by the others while having control over itself. The powers of the government are spilt between the central and state government so neither government could gain more power over the other. The powers that state governments have are more specific to the state then the powers given to the central government. For example, states were given the powers to pass marriage and divorce laws, establish schools, set up local governments among others because these issues differ largely from state to state. Hence, it would make it illogical to give the central government these types of rights because these issues vary from state to state making it an act of tyranny by the majority against the minority. (Document A) The framers of the Constitution recognized that if one person or a group of individuals gets all the powers, tyranny was inevitable and to prevent this it became evident that a separation of powers must be established. The framers acknowledged that it wa s possible to have a tyranny in a democracy as stated in Federalist Paper #47 â€Å"The accumulation of all powers†¦in the same hands†¦, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective†¦ is the very definition of tyranny.† Thus, it was decidedShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Genius of the American Constitution 1094 Words   |  5 Pagespowerful. The challenge was to write a new constitution that was strong enough to hold the country and states together, secure the rights of the people, and not allow a single person, or a group of people to become tyrants. 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