Analysis Of James Madison 's ' Federalist '

In Federalist 10 by James Madison, he addresses key issues like factions and democracy, all while focusing on the usefulness of the Constitution and the necessity of a strong central government, to defend his Federalist ideology. Personally, I agree with the foundation of his arguments, especially on the topic of forms of government, as well as the role of representation in our government.

“You make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other. Besides other impediments, it may be remarked that, where there is a consciousness of unjust or dishonorable purposes, communication is always checked by distrust in proportion to the number whose concurrence is necessary.”

Federalist 10 has the strongest argument that supports our current Constitution. Madison’s view goes against the traditional view that a small republic is better than a larger one. The proposed government that Madison supports was trying to establish a strong government that would be capable of controlling violence and damage that are caused by factions. Factions being a group of people who gather together to protect and promote their social economic interests and political opinions (Madison, 72). The biggest concern was that the factions would become too powerful and start to over power the government if the United States did not have a strong government. Different factions with contrasting ideas pose a threat to the wellbeing of the people. The factions could be either a majority or minority of a whole. If the factions have closer contact with one another they are more likely to participate in acts of violence, which would effect the way the United States is governed. A small republic would draw attention to everyone’s different interests, therefore highlighting the major contrasts between different

The second way in which a pure democracy differs from a republic is that a republic is much better-suited to be extended over, as Madison puts it, a “greater sphere of country”. This second difference between the two forms of government is significant in ensuring the effectiveness of a large republic over a small republic. Madison holds that there are two options in curing the effects of factions. Factions can be cured by either removing their causes or by controlling their effects. Removing the causes of factions is neither practical nor wise, as there are two ways to remove the causes of factions: destroy the liberty that fuels the formation of factions, or force the same interests and opinions on every citizen. Liberty cannot

Second, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests. Madison defined faction as any group, majority or minority, within a society that promoted its own self-interest at the expense of the common good. Due to this, there needs to be a check on the government. Sometimes public rights can harm the rights of an individual, and Madison wanted to prevent that from happening. Federalism is another way to control factions. A large republic means more factions will

In the first paragraph, it talks about how a well-constructed union needs to be able to control the violence of a faction. There are problems in factions ,for example “the governments are too unstable, public goods are disregard in the conflict of rival parties, measures are too often decided not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor parties, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority”. Majority rule overruns minorities or the rights of minorities.

In the presence of a powerful fraction, there is nothing to protect the minority factions from being overpowered; that a true direct democracy would be incapable of maintaining the protection of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. A large republic government will impart power to elected representatives, making the power of factions to affect the vote is greatly decreased. Madison believes that this type of government should be put in the new constitution.

What Madison is saying is that factions are going to be in a society no matter what. People are going to have different opinions. Factions are always going to exist, and no matter what, the government cannot remove factions because if they do then they are eliminating peoples rights. The constitution protects against this. ?Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.? This is one reason that the Americans had success (Ziegler 216).

One person might say that anarchy would be the only way to have complete and utter freedom, while others would go as far as to believe a controlled communist government is the best route to achieving liberation. Factions (a group of people who agree on certain topics) are inevitable, due to the nature of man. As long as men hold different opinions, have different amounts of wealth, and own different amount of property, they will continue to fraternize with people who are most similar to them. In Federalist #10, James Madison summed up factions

A faction by definition is a small, organized, dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics. These groups are often wound together based off some principle they believe relates to them in some way or another. Madison thought most factions existed through unequal property distribution. Few individuals had a large majority of property while most had little property and others having none at all. Madison even said in Federalist Paper No. 10, “Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed a distinct interest in society” (Madison, 1787). This interest he was referring to was how often these two classes of people were discriminated; the discrimination being labeled as rich or poor. Madison felt through the unequal property and the weak governmental

An example of this is the Anti- Federalist concerns about a republican government not working on a scale this large or diverse. Like the Roman empire, whose government was based on the idea on classical republicanism, they believed it would fall and turn into a monarchy in order to control its people. The Federalist needed a theory to combat this argument so James Madison complied wrote in Federalist 10 that factions were the great enemy of society. Madison defines a faction as “a number of citizens,... who united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Factions are dangerous because there will be a majority faction and then a risk of tyranny will arise, because the

Publius states that it is not possible to smother a faction but what our country can do is control its effects. A republican form of government promises the cure of controlling factions. Through elected officials, the peoples voice will be channeled and there will be, “more consonant to the public good then if pronounced by the people themselves (Publius,77).”

In addition, Madison defined that a faction is an amount of people, whether a popular or smaller, who are combined and motivated by nearly mutual compulsion of desire, or of attention, opposing to the privileges of further residents, or to the durable and collective benefits of the public. Also he explained why the Framers took a representative democracy, a republic, slightly than a clean, straight, democracy as the system of government for our new population. He defined a "pure democracy" as "a culture involving of a lesser quantity of nations, who gather and direct the rule in individual."

One of the biggest sources that factions come from are from the distribution of land. There are two main ones, those with lots and land and those with little land. Even though these groups conflict, the government is obliged to guard the interests of each group. Madison stated two ways to control factions, which were to remove its causes and controlling its effect. Madison says next that he worries about corruption of members of the new government, but says it is less likely because representative will be chosen by a large population. He also discusses the differences between a republic and a democracy, along with that the main goal of the Constitution is to make all 13 states secure from threats and invasion.

faction who believe selfishness is bad. They are also the ones who run the government.