United we stand, divided we fall 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 …show more content…
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).” One way in which a republic deals with factions is the delegation of government to elected officials. The object of the elected officials is “to refine and enlarge the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country (Publius,76).” This in effect will put the power of our country into the hands of qualified individuals. These individuals will be able to hear the voice of the people and decide what is the right decision for the country. Another way that a republic guards against a faction is expanding to include more people. In a large republic each representative will be chosen by a greater number of citizens. The greater number of citizens will make it more difficult for unworthy candidates to gain elected office. Elections are designed to allow people to choose the men that they want to be represented by. People are more likely to choose the man with the most attractive merit and the most established character thus preventing a man with vicious views to gain
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.”
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
For Madison, there were only two ways to control a faction, this was by removing the cause and controlling the effect of a faction. When Madison says that “liberty is to faction as the air is to fire”, it means that air can feed the fire and liberty cannot be controlled by anyway with factions is the same because it cannot be controlled. Federalist papers are more focus on how it is going to control the effects of the factions. A way to control an effect of a faction was with a
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
It all started with the Declaration of Independence. Under British rule, the 13 American colonies were incredibly displeased with the governing of the king and his tyranny. Consequently, Thomas Jefferson and a group of four other men (Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston and John Adams) gathered to compose a document declaring the colonies’ independence from Britain. The Declaration states that everyone is born with a set of natural rights, or rights that a person is born with and cannot be taken away by the government, and if any government infringes upon these rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish it”. These words became the basis of Republican Ideals, or standards the people
Not only did the Constitution guarantee the basic rights of all citizens, but also provided the right to become part of a widespread agreement with others. Within America’s government, the idea of factions has always been present, mainly through the two different political parties. Although the Founders of the Constitution did not plainly state these two
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.
The early years of the Constitution of the United States were full of political strife. The two prominent political ideals were complete opposites. The Jeffersonian Republicans were focused on giving power to the people and maintaining a pastoral economy, while the Federalists supported the control of the government by the elite class, and maintaining “positive” democracy. Both parties feared the influence and effect the other party would have on the public. In Linda K. Kerber's article, “The Fears of the Federalists”, the major concerns Federalists held in the early 19th century are described. Ever since the war with and separation from England, the citizens of America were seen to be continually drive to “patriotic rebellion” as a way to
In the Federalist 10, it is mostly about the constitution. It was written by James Madison, who oversaw it. The main purpose of this article is faction. In politics, faction is people that group themselves. Madison said that in the republic. Madison says that the number one common characteristic is the largest people. The democracy would be possible because you couldn’t create a majority group of people that would have a lot in common. However now, democracy become too big in this scale. People don’t have much in common. That was the anti-federalist concerned. And now Madison came up by saying that just because there are larger group of people that doesn’t mean they are right with what they should say. Majorities are somewhat dangerous; they sometimes do foolish stuff. Also, they somewhat not to be trusted. Now, the fact that the new constitution republic is covering. Democracy is
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.
The Federalists papers are a collection of seventy-seven essays that justify the existence and power of the Constitution. In the “Federalist Paper 10”, Madison begins his introduction with “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed union, none deserves to be more accurately than its tendency to break and control violence of faction.” Madison believed that one of the strongest aspects of the constitution was minimizing and controlling violence caused by factions. This then brings up the dividends within the nation and how factions solely look out for their interests of themselves while working against the best interest of the public. Madison goes on to say that, there will inevitably be factions as long as there was classification
Factions are small, organized, dissenting groups within a larger one especially in politics, for example, in the cafeteria, the way people sit together like one table is the jocks, the other is kids who do well in school and are on the honor society… those are factions. When Madison said that any republican or government people are going to form factions
There is one most important part of the soul which rules over the other parts, reason. Reason is the part of the soul that contains the desire for truth and wisdom and is what helps guide the other parts of the soul, thus the assimilation between reason and the republics rulers. A republic cannot run on its own it needs assistance; the republic needs leaders who will instruct it in the right direction which is toward growth. Socrates mentions that those who rule the republic will be a selected few not everyone is fit for the job, "… the god who made you mixed some gold into those who are adequately equipped to rule … " these citizens will be called guardians" (Republic, III, 415a). Individuals must also be selective of what they let rule their