The constitution guards against tyranny (a form of government where the leader or leaders have absolute dictatorship over their people or domain) in many ways, some of which including the concepts of federalism, checks and balances, and the separation of powers. Federalism is the idea that state and federal government should be separated; each should have its own freestanding laws and obligations that are applicable with the overall structure of the constitution. Checks and balances is the concept that each separate branch of government should ‘check’ on one another to keep the system in ‘balance’. Finally, the separation of powers is the idea that there should be separate branches of government, including the legislative, executive, and judicial
