But this led to despotism. Indeed the government that will follow the majority will disregard the opinions of the minorities. This is also an infringement of the freedom of thought which is included in democratic system. Moreover, this kind of tyranny is contradictory to the notion of equality because it made one opinion (the majority opinion) greater than another one (the minority’s opinion). In short, democracy society with the
Some supporters say that a state should have more power than the federal government and then there are others who say the Federal government should be the ruling body alone. You have a central government that functions to keep the country working as a unit, but also works to keep the states from encroaching on individuals and becoming too intrusive. The same works for states. The states have a lot of control over what their citizens should be subject to. For example, criminal laws, property laws, contract laws...etc are decided by the state, not the federal government and they aren’t allowed to govern those areas.
Major Problems Chapter 2 Documents 1. Alexander Hamilton Address the Convention a. What is Federal i. Grouping of independent states b. A national government must be set up so as to address the problems of the nation i. So that the states don’t indifferent themselves from each other ii.
Federalism, combined with the three governing branches, allowed for the states and central government to balance equal but separate power. Within this paper, I will attempt to explain the three branches of government, discuss the history and the formation of branches, provide their interactions within the system, discuss their successfulness, the characterizations of the branches then and now, and present possible ideas for a more efficient constitution. Before one can completely understand the sole purpose behind why the forefathers of the United States were compelled to form and divide a new government into three separate branches, one should become familiar with the meanings and functions of each branch. The Executive branch of the government is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land (USA.gov 2000-2012). The functions of law under the Executive branch, is administered and enforced by the United States President, who is first elected by the citizens of the country.
James madison said "hence a double security arises to the rights of people the different government's will each control each other ,and at the same time each will be controlled by themselves" which simply states that Federalism prevented tyranny by dividing the power between the nation and the state. With no one power having control over the other tyranny was prevented ,once delegates decided that Federalism would be the base of our government they went to work and decided that a separation of powers was the next step. ("Wikianswers.com") In the beginning stages of fixing this issue it was said that "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)("Wikianswers.com"), which in a nutshell means that to much power can not be placed in the hands of an individual or a group because either way it's tyranny. In oder to prevent this separation of powers was brought into play with a set of checks and balances that prevented the legislative, executive, and judiciary each power over the other.
Explain the principle of the separation of powers found in the US Constitution. The separation of powers is the main underlying principle of the US Constitution whereby political power is distributed amongst the three branches of government – the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The branches act both independently and interdependently. The idea was originally of French political thinker Baron de Montesquieu, it was then incorporated by the Founding Fathers into the 1787 codified document. The principle was adopted by the Founding Fathers due to their fear of totalitarianism.
Democracy means that power is with the people making it appealing to many nations across the globe. By putting the power with the people, voting plays an important role in democratic nations. In the United States, the constitution states that race and color shall not be discriminated upon in terms of an individual’s voting rights . Voting puts people in seats of power therefore in order for one to gain power the individual must gain the support of people. The federal system gives states the power to pass its own laws including laws that may restrict voting to only a particular group.
Therefore the law did not resolve conflicting interests but imposed the interests of one group over another. While this can still happen today it seems that the law does try hard to make sure everyone is satisfied and everyone’s interests are accounted for. Rudolf von Jhering said that the law is the main way of ordering society, his views was that the rights of the majority should take precedence over the individual. He said that society is made up of conflicting interests that cannot all be satisfied and that the role of the law was to balance them out so the individual conformed to the needs of society. Roscoe Pound said that interests are both individual and social and that conflicts are only resolved through considering them on the same level.
Class Conflict between the Nobles and the People (Topic #3) This paper wishes to explore Machiavelli’s belief that class conflicts can and have to be managed within a republic in order to foster a stable republic that offers an even distribution of power among the ‘Nobles’ and the ‘People’, and enforces an impartial set of laws that have to be followed by each class respectively, which, ultimately, gives a tangible feeling of liberty to all. It is Machiavelli’s belief that every city is formed of two classes, the ‘Nobles’ and the ‘People’. This separation of classes leads to conflicts among themselves, which for Machiavelli, is because “the populace do not want to be ordered about or oppressed by the elite and the elite want to order about and to oppress the populace” (31). This difference of their ambitions and values offers an excellent means to regulate governmental affairs. Since if the ‘Nobles’ wish to have power, they must ensure sure when they exercise it, they do in a way that satisfies the ‘People’s’ wishes.
The Structure and Philosophy of the Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States of America, formulated in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, shaped the way the government would divide it's powers in respect to the states and the people. The Constitution was conceived to establish a stronger federal government, as the predecessor to the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, weakened the role of a central government thereby making it difficult to enforce laws and taxes consistently throughout the existing states. The Constitution draws it's inspiration from a few different sources. One source in particular, the Magna Carta, issued in 1215, set the proverbial ball in motion that would help establish a government that recognized the rights of the people, and a representative body of government that would create and enforce laws rather than the arbitrary rule of a king. The Magna Carta acknowledged some of the basic human rights such as property rights, protection from over taxation, and the rights of due process.