Federalist 10 Analysis

I cannot begin to tell you how horrible and difficult I found this essay to be. Besides the fact that we don’t even talk like that anymore, the people writing this stuff are the elite of high society so they have a high education level. They are talking about government and that’s about all I know or understand. So I have to go find other papers that will explain what the hell this guy is talking about. And finally what I understood was that Madison says that when people get together in an organized group it can cause trouble for the government. The fundamental main point of federalist paper #10 is that factions are very damaging to the government, the constitution is established to provide damage control. I now know that I belong to the Anti-federalist

No matter what the government or its people try to implement to disable factions, another will always rise due to the nature of man. Destroying liberty is the most heinous crime imaginable for Madison and I agree, every citizen having their liberty is what this country was founded on and it should therefore be untouchable. Madison’s idea of giving every citizen the same ideals and interests is blatant sarcasm to illustrate how factions are unpreventable and simply part of human nature. No matter what you may do to try and prevent it, there will always be new movements and ideas that people rally behind and their freedom to do that is part of what makes America special.

“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

In “Federalist #10”, Madison describes the dangerous effects that factions can have on Republican government and on its people. Madison defines a faction as a group of citizens who unite under a shared cause, and work against other groups in order to achieve their means. Their means of achieving their goals may achieve adverse effects upon the rights of other citizens. Put in more modern terms, a faction could be reasonably compared to a special-interest group. The sort of faction that most endangers the liberty inherent in United States society are factions that contain a majority of the whole. The weakness of a popular government is its susceptibility to the effects of factions. However, a well-constructed Union provides numerous

James Madison wrote The Federalist No. 10 to inform the people about the problems and possible solutions for the formation of factions. Through multiple statements concerning the dangers of factions and the benefits of a republic, Madison’s major argument was in favor of the United States Constitution. Madison defined a faction as "A number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion or interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." (Madison p. 1) Factions can be compared to the modern day lobby group; or as groups of people with a common self-interest. These groups are only involved for

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).

The only way to manage faction is to remove its causes and to control its effects. By removing its causes Madison believes that liberty will be destroyed, or that by giving every citizen the same opinions, passions, and interests, would be impossible because people can never all be the same. Madison wanted the United States to be a republic, a form of democracy in which power is vested in representatives, so there will be a greater number of citizens represented and we will also be able to have more control over the factions effects.

In Federalist 10, Madison defines a faction as “a number of citizens…who are 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” (168). Essentially, Madison believes that factions are groups of people that contribute to the detriment of the common good. Madison believed in the notion of public interest, or of the idea that the government should act in ways that benefit the general population. Madison argues that factions never contribute in favor of public interest because they are

The Federalist Papers Number 10 is written by James Madison and explains the necessity of the Constitution to protect our country from factions. A faction is “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent aggregate interests of the community (Publius, 72).” Publius states that there are two ways to get rid of factions. The first way to eliminate a faction is to take the Liberty away from all of the people in the faction. The other way to cure a faction is to give everyone the same opinion. Both of this solutions are not possible

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.

Madison makes three major claims in Federalist #10. The three claims Madison makes arguing for a larger Republic are that corruption and bad behavior can be better controlled, a large republic will unify the country, and a large republic will protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. The title of #10 is “The Union as a safeguard against domestic faction and insurrection.” As the title suggests, factions are the main issue in the reading. “Madison defines factions as “A number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Factions still exist in the country today. Madison believes that the biggest faction is the poor. A large republic would make factions larger. When factions become larger, it is harder for them to become unified because of so many other interests. So essentially, Madison believes that by chopping the large factions up, it would make it more difficult for the faction to unite, and therefore the minority will still be heard. Madison also touches on the issue of corruption. He claims that the larger the republic becomes the chance of corruption declines.

The two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, have turned their backs on Thomas Jefferson’s adaptation of Locke's ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution. James Madison was an enthusiastic Federalist who sought the power of a strong, central federal government. Locke would support James Madison’s Federalist 10, containing claims of warning of factions. Madison clearly describes factions as the interest of like minded individuals overwhelming contrary to the people. This includes special interest groups, corporations, and political

Madison’s statement on how pure democracies cannot cure factions is evident through the example of Athens during Ancient Greece. The Athenian model of a pure democracy is the product of a majority self-interested faction who overruled the government, and this ultimately leads to mob rule, as Plato explained in The Republic. Athens, one of the world’s first direct democracies, had been created on the belief that average man could be depended upon to do what is right for his community. A direct democracy, by definition, is a democracy in which the power to govern lies directly in the hands of the people rather than being exercised through their representatives. (The Free Dictionary.)