Sovereignty In Federalist Papers And John Calhoun

I very much agree with most of what Madison argues in his papers. But I feel it’s important to examine the counter-argument to Madison’s point. With the benefit of hindsight, we are able to see how national power has grown, and that was a definite concern of people who were in favor of smaller state governments. As a result, the arguments Madison makes seem less valid when observing today’s government structure. While the federalist system may have many checks and balances to keep one

n the Articles of confederation, the states had sovereignty, but in the Constitution, the states and national government share sovereignty. So the States were sovereign under the Articles but have shared power under Constitution. The power could have also been limited under the constitution. sovereignty is ultimate authority over a certain territory. In the Articles of Confederation, it was the states that had the ultimate authority. In the Constitution, it was the states and the national government that shared the authority.

James Madison first talks about the number one problem in the government: factions. He thought factions had very dangerous behaviors especially in popular government. They cause the governments to be unstable which contributes to “unsteadiness and injustice”. This document goes on to explain what factions are; a faction is a group of passionate people with the same interest. Madison believed these people were only interested in themselves and ignored the community. Factions are formed most likely because of the unequal distribution of property. Usually the government job was to protect and regulate anything that had to do with property. This hurt people.

One way the constitution guards against tyranny is federalism. In Document A it states the central government has enough power to help the country's major needs. The power given to the states is broad enough for their needs; the state's needs are more specific than the central governments. “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” What James Madison is saying is the states and central

When our founding fathers agreed on seceding from Great Britain, the goal was to let loose from the leash that King George III had the colonies tied to. The initial goal of separation was accomplished, and with it came the Declaration of Independence formally stating that the United States was then its own new country. However, soon after, they realized that by becoming a new country and although a president had already been appointed, there was much power to distribute if they wanted to avoid having the new government become a replica of what they had experienced with Great Britain. They viewed King George III as a tyrant because he implemented heavy taxation, laws, and acts that negatively affected the populous; therefore, to avoid this,

State’s rights were the main interest of John C. Calhoun during the nullification crisis. He argued that states had the right to nullify a law or an act passed by the government, such as a tariff, and render it void. Through a convention held in South Carolina discord arose as the result of the convention clearly expressed that the tariff’s taxes were not to be collected within that state. Although it was Calhoun that approved the convention’s ruling, it was the majority that favored the idea of stronger state’s rights, and the ability to nullify what they viewed as unconstitutional. Consequently this resulted in a swift response from Jackson in the form of the Force Bill, allowing the use of military to enforce the acts in South

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 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.

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 United States framers had to devise a plan that would prevent the federal government from ever having absolute control; therefore, federalism came into existence (Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir, Tolbert, Champagne, Harpham, 2013). With Federalism preventing the national government from having unlimited control over the United States; therefore, it allowed states to govern themselves. States establish their own rights, power, laws, and responsibilities (Ginsbert, et al, 2013).

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.

When speaking in terms of the purpose of government, the origins of federalism, sovereignty, and the role of states are all in result of one another. To begin the U.S government was established with a federalist conception, from there we branched out with the idea of sovereignty, and in result gave the states a direct role in making our government.

Madison’s primary focus throughout the beginning of this paper is factions. He holds a deep disdain for them as he thinks that they solely focus on themselves, while hurting other Americans, which is evident in this quote, (“…united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the

Madison is trying to point out that the power of the government needs to be spread out and that there needs to be checks and balances. There needs to be checks and balances in order to prevent one branch of government from gaining too much power and making decisions on its own. John Dalberg-Acton said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." as quoted in Letters of Thomas Jefferson Concerning Philology and the Classics, Volume 137

Madison also stated more points in the Constitution through which state governments would have more power than the national government. He says that the only way the national government could take over the state governments would be if the people continuously elected men to office that wanted to betray both people and states.