Bar Exam Practice Questions 2026 - Free Bar Exam Practice Questions and Study Guide

The primary fear of the founding fathers regarding government structure was rooted in the potential for power to become centralized and lead to tyranny. Many of them were influenced by their experiences with British rule and the excesses of a strong monarchy, which instilled a deep concern about the concentration of governmental power. This fear motivated them to establish a system that included checks and balances among the branches of government—executive, legislative, and judicial—to prevent any one branch from gaining too much authority and potentially oppressing the citizens.

While there were concerns about the judiciary and the executive branch's roles, the overarching anxiety was about the centralization of power itself. The Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution, demonstrated the dangers of too weak a central government, but the founding fathers were equally wary of creating a powerful federal government that could infringe upon individual liberties. Thus, their commitment to a system that divided power among various levels of government was primarily driven by the desire to avoid tyranny.