James Madison said, ¨If men were angels no government would be needed.” But men are not angels therefore a limited government is needed in order to rule over a free people. Because the United State's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, proved to be too weak, the leaders of the country recognized the need for a stronger central government. In the summer of 1787, delegate from the states met in Philadelphia to frame a new government. Their challenge was to create a stronger federal government without giving too much power to any one person or group, thus creating a tyranny. The result of their efforts was a new constitution divided into three separate branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. In what ways does the Constitution shield us from oppression? The Constitution guards against tyranny in three ways: federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances.…
The first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution embody a series of protections for individuals against various types of interference by the federal government. Page 106…
At first, some of the first people in America didn’t want to have a federal government that had too much power. The Founding Fathers created the Constitution of the United States of America after the Articles of Confederation failed. There are numerous documents in the Constitution that limit the federal government in many ways. For example there is a system called Checks and Balances that gives certain powers to each branch. In the United States, there is something called the Separation of Powers which also limits the federal government. It keeps one branch of government from becoming too powerful against the other branches. Furthermore, the Bill of Rights also limits the federal government. Also known as the first ten additions or amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights protect individual liberties. As you can…
Our founding father, Patrick Henry, said, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” Our founding fathers created a strong government for the people of the United States in order to protect their rights. They established a framework that our contemporary government is supposed to adhere to. Today, the American government has drifted away from the ideas embedded in our Constitution. The contemporary American government fails to work the way our founding fathers intended because of the representative government we have today.…
The rights and responsibilities listed in the Bill of Rights explain the relationship between "we the people" and the government by formulating a balance between the two by insuring that the people get their basic rights and that the government isn't allowed too…
The first amendment of the US Constitution has come into a lot of political controversy because it gives us some of the very essential rights to be whom we want to be. Under the first amendment we as United States citizens have the right to “freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble”, which some people don’t want us to have these rights and will try to come up with laws to restrain us from using them so it can benefit their cause (Ivers, 2013). I feel that the government wants to have the power to keep us in control and be able to do what they want, when they want with us.…
Secondly the government is what makes and enforces rights and liberties. To agree with liberties we first…
The U.S. Constitution was created so that they can provide rules for the government. The principle of limited government is fundamental and is essential to a democracy. One way the Constitution limits the power of the national government is by specify not only the powers of government but also those things that the government is prohibited from doing.…
A limited government is imperative to, not only the freedom, but the success of a country. The revolutionary war, as well as the civil war, was fought because one side thought the government needed to have more restrictions then it already did. Are government was designed with an intricate system of checks and balances that made us the country we are today. These checks and balances give us our freedom by limiting our government. How? Because our founding fathers knew that man is fallen, and evil. The only way to ensure freedom was to give more power to the people than to the government. The idea to have the three branches of government actually comes from the Bible. The Bible mentions Prophet, Priest and King, which correspond to the judicial, legislative and executive branches of our own government. Prophet being the legislative branch, who makes the laws. The Priest being the judicial branch, and making sure the laws do not contradict what the Bible (or in this case the constitution) says. And the King being the Executive branch, and enforcing the laws. The expressed powers of our government are explained in the first few articles of the constitution.…
The fourth amendment is very important, and keeps the government in control just how we like…
I feel like the government wants to help and keep everyone safe but at the same time they don’t really prove anything such as the police as an example. If it looks like someone's taking out a gun they automatically shoot without hesitation. Yeah they want to protect themselves but they need to protect the people too and learn how to shoot. One amendment that I talked about was the first one which is having the freedom of speech. I feel like I wouldn’t change any of the amendments because they’re all pretty self explanatory. Another amendment was the fourth amendment which is not to be violated on your property. Like I said I wouldn’t change them but I feel like the government and everyone needs to follow all these amendments so that there really isn’t any complications within everything. “ The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” - Benjamin…
To ensure that our government does not violate our natural rights we have put certain mechanisms in place. Natural rights are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence (Preamble). These mechanisms include a separation of powers, and a system of checks and balances which are all under the constitution. This is under our constitutional government and has worked for our country for many years.…
When James Madison put in the Bill of Rights he had explained that it was suppose to limit the power of government. It would provide a second limitation on the power of government. The Bill of Rights is more than just a way to generally limit the power of the federal government; the rights protected by the Bill of Rights were those that were most effective in empowering people to control and limit their government. Not only did the Bill of Rights create limitations on government, but it specifically identified areas of freedom which, when exercised, could further help to limit…
This is because the founders wanted to protect the society’s rights. This idea pertains to the principle of Limited Government, and Popular Sovereignty. Limited government and popular sovereignty both give limited power to the government, and more power to society. The founders tried to protect these principles in the U.S constitution by relating them to the first ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. These amendments discuss human liberty.…
The preamble of the Constitution states, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” This perfectly describes what the founding fathers envisioned when thinking about what the American government’s role in the people’s lives would be. According to the preamble, the role of the government is to secure the liberty, safety, and happiness of the people, which can be accomplished through a loose interpretation of the Constitution. Evidence towards the security of the…