America, as a nation, has seen a lot to grow its democracy and be a nation that is a home for the many. Since the time of exploration by the Europeans, tyranny has divided people based on their social and economic statuses. Because of the abundant resources found in states such as Mississippi, the Spanish decided to explore, further oppressing the natives in the region. They were exploited and not allowed to own what was rightly theirs; this led to struggles against colonialist leading to loss of lives and property. Those with political, social, and economic power oppressed the weak, and the vulnerable, this kind of leadership is what dominated in the US for a long time. It is this kind of leadership that even shaped and influenced the natives and the non-Americans, the practice to them is the only way to get what one needs, oppressive and cruel kind of government. Tyranny is a type of government in which the interests of the elite are at the center. Since the time of Spanish exploration, tyranny has been produced, and in turn opposed.
The different institutions set by the government then tried to do away with tyranny because it was a kind of dictatorial rule, the majority decided everything. The government did this as a way of making America home for everyone. As such, the institutions did their best to end tyranny. First, the country’s constitution is a sign that the nation invested its resources in fighting tyranny, the constitution fights tyranny in different ways; one is by ensuring that the rights of every American are not interfered with. The constitution has ensured that the three arms of government have distinct powers with checks and balances. It has ensured that the executive government is not given too much power to make decisions.
The US’s Judicial System is one of the institutions that played a key role in ensuring that tyranny is reduced. Unlike other country’s Judicial system, the US judicial system is independent and is not influenced by anybody, the decision that is made by the body is final. The courts played a role in reducing and preventing the tendency of some individuals using tyranny to get anything they want.
In the US, the House of Representatives and the Senate play an essential role in the legislative process; to avoid or prevent the tyranny of numbers, their role is equally important when it comes to enactment of laws. For instance, for the enactment of the legislation, the more than half of the Senate must support it for it to pass, even if all of the House of Representatives passed it would not be enacted. Every state has 2 Senators; no state is inferior to the other one, but for the House of Representatives, the more populated states have more representatives than those with less people, and so none of these chambers can pass a law without the support of the other, to prevent cases of tyranny.
The Native American Indians are among the first people to settle in the US about 15,000 years ago. According to them, the US is rightfully there home, and no one should push them out or away. Once settlers began coming to North America, they began implementing systems of oppression to acquire land and resources from the Natives. Although they were mostly seen as ‘savages,’ they saw themselves as intelligent and resourceful individuals; that is why they were competing for critical resources such as trade, power, and land. The US government forced them out of their lands and placed them in reservations. The purpose of taking the Natives to these reservations was to allow the US government to reduce the conflict that existed between them and the settlers.
The Spanish and the British had different reasons to explore America; for Spanish, the search for precious items such as silver and gold. British wanted to explore America because they wanted to have that freedom of worship, and some wanted to spread the Christian faith. Oppressive behaviors such as not allowing the Natives and Africans to go to school were tyrannical behaviors. This allowed for them to remain uneducated and easier to oppress and control.
The early US leaders and the Founding Fathers play a key role in contributing to the new America. These individuals brought together the thirteen colonies to fight the tyrannical British government and systems and implemented a new form of government. James Monroe, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin and others, fought tyranny in every way they could, making a better life for the following generations.
These successes did not come easily, the great achievement led to the loss of lives, destruction of property. The nation divided into two groups, the northern and the southern states, the fundamental disagreement of the two groups led to the eruption of the Civil war, this can be seen as an exercise of tyranny because each of the groups wanted to control the other and to change the ideology of the other leading to the war. The idea of state’s rights being the cause of the Civil War is just not completely true. The right that was being fought over was the right to own slaves. The ideology is oppressive in nature and only would have continued if it had not been for the Civil War breaking out. Eventually, the Union defeated the Confederates after many lives were lost and slavery became illegal across all of the states. The tyranny did not stop there though, it continued even after the war. The southern states made it increasingly hard for African Americans to do anything such as vote. They did this by making the requirements more strict and difficult, and making them favor the more educated and white population.
The truth is, tyranny comes in many forms, and from all directions. The moral standpoint is to fight it in any way we can. The oppression of any type of people cannot be accepted. The founding fathers believed that, they showed that with the procedures and policies they put into place and all the battles and wars fought. It goes back to what Abraham Lincoln said about not letting the deaths of the war be in vein. We shouldn’t let all the work past generations have put in to protect everyone go to waste. We have to continue to fight.
