Tyranny In The United States
At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, fifty-five men attend. They are all wealthy, and they are all white. The newly-formed United States of America is in need of a stronger central government. This is because the Articles of Confederation are too weak to properly govern. Tyranny, which means cruel and oppressive government or rule, was one of the main focuses of the leaders of the new United States of America. In this essay, tyranny and guarding against it is the main focus.
The United States couldn’t keep all of its power in its central government. “In the compound government of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments…” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) James Madison believes that there should first be two types of governments. Those are the state governments and the central governments. Without balance of power, people feared there would be tyranny, and I think that’s exactly what James Madison was saying. …show more content…
Tyranny could still be a possibility even with power in the hands of the state and central governments.
That’s why our founders decided to split the central government’s power up even more. Now, we have three houses and they all look over each other, making sure one isn’t too powerful. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47) This is another quote by James Madison that I feel best represents why we have three different houses in our United States government. He’s saying that all the power that the United States government has in either one person’s hands or many could lead to tyranny if we’re not careful and watch over
ourselves.
Finally, it’s very important that the three houses of the central government not only have the ability to check in on each other, but to make sure no house is abusing its power and to each have a fair say in the laws that are imposed on the citizens of the United States of America. “The constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other…” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) In his quote, James Madison properly elucidates how the three houses should work; each should be able to check in on each other and not have powers so separated that they can’t do anything when one seems to gain too much power.
The United States couldn’t keep all of its power in its central government. “In the compound government of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments…” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) James Madison believes that there should first be two types of governments. Those are the state governments and the central governments. Without balance of power, people feared there would be tyranny, and I think that’s exactly what James Madison was saying. …show more content…
Tyranny could still be a possibility even with power in the hands of the state and central governments.
That’s why our founders decided to split the central government’s power up even more. Now, we have three houses and they all look over each other, making sure one isn’t too powerful. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47) This is another quote by James Madison that I feel best represents why we have three different houses in our United States government. He’s saying that all the power that the United States government has in either one person’s hands or many could lead to tyranny if we’re not careful and watch over
ourselves.
Finally, it’s very important that the three houses of the central government not only have the ability to check in on each other, but to make sure no house is abusing its power and to each have a fair say in the laws that are imposed on the citizens of the United States of America. “The constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other…” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) In his quote, James Madison properly elucidates how the three houses should work; each should be able to check in on each other and not have powers so separated that they can’t do anything when one seems to gain too much power.