The Americans fought long and hard in their Revolution and deservingly so defeated the British and won their independence in 1783. From there, the US transferred to a government set by the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not turn out to provide a much better life than the Americans had under the British, with the states not able to work with each other. The lack of state's collaboration brought about this idea of too much Democracy. After the disaster that the AofC was, there was a new Constitution being drafted; however, many Americans were divided upon which path the new Constitution should take, one with or without a strong central government. This distinction in ideology put the country's elite at odds. The …show more content…
The main argument that Madison discussed was that a strong central government would be able to control the violence of factions. As long as there is humanity, there would be factions. Destroying the causes of factions would be highly impractical and unwise. Instead Madison felt that it would be better to control the effects that these factions could potentially cause. He also stated that there were stark differences between a Direct Democracy and a Republic and their control of factions. A Direct Democracy would be controlled by the will of the largest faction, and thus the weaker minorities will have close to no say in their government. To combat against this, Madison felt that, “The Federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures” (Madison). The Federalists main argument behind their style of government was that everyone’s voice would be heard and would not be drowned out by the voice of the majority, something that only a Republic could
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
Once America was free of British rule, U.S citizens were on their own. They had no form of government to keep them together. The Articles of Confederation were the American’s first attempt at their own government system.
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
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
Through “Federalist No. 10”, Madison explains his reasons for his belief that the new government and Constitution would prevail and be superior to more democratic forms of government since the representation proposed would allow for more security and would “refine and enlarge the public views” (Madison 1). The Constitution would also call for a separation of national and state governments, allowing there to be specific representation for states along with other representation occurring for the country as a whole which would take into consideration the roles of the state governments as well. This form of government, Madison argues, would make sure that the “encreased variety of parties, comprised within the union, encrease [the] security” of each party and of those represented through the government (2). Through the republic formed through the Constitution, there would be enough democracy for the people to be represented by delegates through elections and would even allow for more security since the democracy present before the forming of the Constitution was “incompatible with person security, or the rights of property” since there was too much freedom provided to the people (1). The republic, Madison argues, “promises the cure for which [they] are seeking” (1).
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
Although James Madison despised factions as explained in Federalist Paper No. 10, Madison believed factions were an essential part of government, that needed to be revised through careful governmental intervention. Madison was careful to ensure his vision for the country 's future would protect the given right to liberty; therefore he found in the Constitution multiple outlets for these factions to dissolve. However, the government itself was corrupt so the three branches had to be separated to prevent tyranny and be successful in stopping the dangerous factions. Therefore, in Federalist Papers No. 10 and No. 51, Madison would outline his goals for creating a more cohesive country.
Madison’s idea of a division between central and state governments is compound. A “compound” is two or more pieces. The two pieces that fabricate Madison’s compound government is the “central” federal government and state government. Another word for this compound government is federalism. This compound government provides “double security” to the people because the governments (state and federal) check and balance each other so that one doesn’t get too powerful. Power given to the states have smaller influences i.e. that the state only impact the states, is patterned in the power the Constitution reserved for the state governments. Federalism guards against tyranny by dividing power between groups so that no one group has more control and power. James Madison, in the Federalist Paper #47, says “The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny....(L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” The main idea of Madison’s quote is that accumulative powers should be separate yet distinct. Madison hints towards a possible tyranny in a democracy because the “accumulation of all powers....whether of one ...and
When debating the Constitution, the Founding Fathers were concerned with factions and their impact on society. Many feared that the government would not effectively mitigate the effects of factions. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and other Federalists argued in support of a confederate republic because direct democracies would not be able to protect society from factions. Madison states, “in the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a Republican remedy for the diseases most incident to Republican Government” (173-174). Their argument is void in that their definition of a faction is one-sided and the examples they use to support their argument on factions are superficial. However, the Federalists effectively communicate that confederate republics mitigate the harmful effects of factions better than pure democracies.
Tyranny is manifested in many ways. In 1787, our founding fathers met in Philadelphia to discuss the problem. The articles of the Confederation did not work. Then, after a long debate, they decided to abandon the Confederation and adopt the Constitution. How will this sheet of paper protect against tyranny?
After the defeat of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, America was faced with many challenges. Some of these challenges brought upon the Americans grew from the weakness of new national government. This government was founded upon the Articles of Confederation, America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation resulted in a weak national government and strong state governments, making it seem as though each individual state were its own country. With the Articles of Confederation failing to serve America properly, the debate arose about whether or not to make a new constitution for America. The Federalists and Anti-Federalists were the two groups that debated the ratification of
After the American Revolution the people of the United States came up with a way of organizing their government called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation consisted of a weak Central Government and strong State Governments. As this plan was being tested, Shay´s rebellion occurred and the people realized that this way of governing was too weak to handle the people.In that case, people decided to attempt a Constitutional Convention to see what new types of governments they could search for and apply.In addition, while this process was going on, compromises also occurred and people took started taking sides between the consitution.
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
Federalism is one of the ways that helps defend against tyranny. Federalism granted powers to the central government and to the state. They share a portion of the powers between them, as shown in the diagram, like the power to take and borrow money (Doc A). With overlapping powers, neither groups would have complete control, yet would retain enough power to subdue any uprising made by the other party. Also, with the certain rights given to the states, if one person dislikes certain laws made by the states, they could change their residence to another state with more favorable laws, if they prefer. James Madison himself wrote that "The different governments will control each other at the same time that each will be controlled by itself." (Doc A). The reason Madison brings this up is because under the Articles of Confederation, the central government had little control over the states. The states were not required to pay taxes under the Articles of Confederation. If this were in act today, then the government