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A Document Review Of The Limitations Of State Tyranny

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A Document Review of the Limitations of State Tyranny in the Declaration of Independence (1776), The Bill of Rights (1791), and Grassroots Tyranny: The Limits of Federalism by Clint Bolick

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The Continental Congress created the United States Declaration of Independence to break away from the British government, and also, to protect the newly formed government from a tyrannical state. This document defines the liberation of the English colonies from the British government under the tyrannical governance of King George III. This document was created in Philadelphia in what would become the state of Pennsylvania. On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Continental Congress to confirm …show more content…

Constitution. Originally, Madison sought to include thirty-nine amendments to the Constitution, but it was a series of twelve amendments that would become the Bill of Rights. However, these amendments were not put into the Constitution. Instead, the Bill of Rights serves as an addendum of limitations of tyrannical state. Madison intended these rights to protect the individual from state sponsored tyranny against freedom of speech, religion, freedom of the press, and other aspects of tyranny imposed on the colonies under King George III. More so, the idea of a representational government limited the power of the president through the elected members of Congress. Finally, Madison sought to limited the power of Judicial Branch to use the law to support state tyranny through a checks and balances of government. In this manner, Madison sought to define the rights for the citizen against the state, which was meant to support the grievances of the Declaration of Independence against the British monarchy. During the constitutional conventions, Madison sought to include the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, but it was never included. These individual rights define the undercurrent of freedom for the individual citizen. The Bill of Rights is an expansion of the Declaration of Independence in that it identifies the specific qualities of citizenship and legal rights that were to be expected in the new U.S.

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