The Founding Fathers Suspicion - Essay Example

During the 1700’s and 1800’s, people’s revolution was inherent and countries like the United States and France achieved their country’s liberties through these revolutions. But the transition of a revolutionary government to a more stable type of government also created certain fears to its founding leaders. Madison then feared at that time that since most of the masses were uneducated, a rule of the majority would turn into a “mob” rule with the majority abusing the rights of minority groups (Bardes et al., 2008, p. 7).

Hence, the framers chose a democratic republic type of government, where sovereignty in the people as a whole as represented by their delegates. The greatest fear of every country is the abuse of authority and the corruption that their government may do to their people. One of the founding fathers Alexander Milton feared the elitist theory of choosing a few or small number of people “who exercise power to further their self interest (Bardes et al., 2008 p. 9). . Madison [1803]) and prevent them from any form of abuse in their power and discretion.

Framers of the Constitution have been aware of this possible abuse of authority that the government may have, and even if not specifically provided in the U.S. Constitution, debates at the Constitutional Convention justifies further this power, with Madison strengthening the judiciary saying that "A law violating a constitution established by the people themselves, would be considered by the Judges as null & void." (as cited in Ferrand,1911, p. 93). The framers where well aware of the possible corruption that even a democratic type of government may experience and even in our modern times, the same issue is relevant.

La Porta et al. said that “the executive and the legislature may enact policies and pass laws that benefit themselves, democratic majorities, or allied interest groups ” (as cited in Cordis, 2008, p. 380) Through this power of judicial review, the judiciary that is considered as apolitical is removed with doubts of possible “majotarian politics” influence that would restrict them to adopt measures that infringe on the basic rights of some, in order to follow the initial agreements that legislator or other elected official may have taken from their constituent in exchange for their votes (Hirschl, 2004, p. 4) Another important aspect that may be noticed in the United States Constitution is how the framers provided and made sure that each state had their own rights protected and independent from the federal government.

The Tenth Amendment provides independence and power to the states for all other powers not specifically granted to the federal government. Through this, states may provide for