Tyranny of the majority

state government has three branches similar to that of the federal government (Wyman). In addition to federalism dividing powers between the two forms of government, each government has its own form of checks and balances to ensure the prevention of tyranny. In the national government, check and balances include Congress being able to impeach Presidents and…

The Revolution was initially started because of poor representation of the thirteen North American colonies by British parliament, which forced mandatory conformity to the king during the later half of the eighteenth century. Majority of the population of the colonies were opposed to separating from Great Britain, since they were already comfortable with living under British rule. Many colonists did not want to separate from Great Britain because then there would be casualties from war, economic…

while his bad forms of regime are tyranny, oligarchy and democracy. Aristotle describes kingship as the good form of tyranny as they’re each ruled by one man but the goals of those in power are drastically different. Kings are…

Why America Is Losing It’s Liberties And What We Can Do About It. “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln There was a time when the tyrants that America fought to vanquish were easy to identify. They wore crowns, held titles and commanded armies. The threat was real and our objective was clear; if we were to ever win our freedom, we had to rebel, we had to shake off their chains and…

Both The Federalist Papers and Democracy in America largely praise democracy, but they have their fair share of criticism reserved for democratic government as well. The issues of majority factions, persecution of dissenting opinions, and individualism are touched on in one or both works as examples of flaws in democracy. The primary threat to democracy, as James Madison articulated in Federalist #10, is the influence of factions on political life. The existence of competing factions can lead…

How does the Constitution guard against tyranny? Federalism in the Pursuance of the Constitution “Federalism isn’t about the states’ rights. It’s about dividing power to better protect individual liberty.”After the American Revolution, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, the newly freed United States of America wanted to created a framework for government that prevented anything resembling the reign of King George and Parliament. Although federalism was not directly mentioned in the…

James Madison took these concerns, and addressed them in Federalist 10. He argued that a large republic wouldn’t limit liberty or promote tyranny, and that the people would be fully represented. Madison’s first argument was that it was nearly impossible for the government to become a superpower. The Constitution had built in “fail-safes” for the government, and it was difficult to gain enough power to be despotic. One of those fail-safes was the principle of limited government. Limited…

is in conflict with that of white. White says law constitutes society. Mill would be against this because if law constituted society we would live under the tyranny of the majority. In order for law to be law under White, there needs to be a majority of a particular community who is in agreement with that law, causing a tyranny of the majority which will result in the liberty of individuals to suffer. Mill says a society where one person’s freedom or liberty is limited is not free at all. Hobbes…

Final EXAM Part II: C Antifederalists vs Federalists Debate Tyranny and the New Constitution Antifederalists like George Mason’s objected to the new Constitution based upon their fear that the National Government would hold too much power and become tyrannical. The main objection that most Antifederalists shared was the Constitution’s lack of a bill of rights to protect the rights of citizens. Mason argued that since the national laws held supremacy to that of the State laws the…

John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all addressed the issue of freedom and law within a society. Mill's “On Liberty”, and Rousseau’s discourse “On the Social Contract” are all absorbing fictional works which underline the concept of the ideal state of each in the eyes of both these men and present different visions of the very nature of man’s freedom and the law. The three have distinct views regarding how much freedom man ought to have in political society because they have different…