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Delegation of Power and Prevention of Tyranny James Madison, often referred to as the "Father of the Constitution" wrote, "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place oblige it to control itself." In this quote Madison presents the two sides of a collective action problem that he diligently fought …

…endured by African Americans. The creators of the Constitution were deeply concerned with the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, and sought to correct them with an entirely new document. The problem of national collective action was so decidedly important, the framers knew it was necessary to address in the new Constitution. However they were always careful in guarding against the dangers inherent to delegating power to the governmental officials needed to carry it out.