Federalist 10 Summary

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Federalist Paper No. 10, which was written by James Madison, addresses the question of how to guard against factions. He defined “factions” as a group of citizens who are united and have a common interest that is dangerous to either the rights of other citizens, or the permanent and cumulative interests of the community. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against these dangers than a smaller republic. Both supporters and opponents of the plan are concerned with the political instability produced by these factions. The most powerful faction will control the government and make decisions based not on the common good, but only to benefit them self. Both groups and the common good will suffer. Madison states that one of the strongest arguments in favor of the U.S Constitution is the fact that it established a government capable of controlling the violence and damage caused by factions. Given the nature of men, factions are inevitable. As long as men have different opinions, hold different amounts of wealth, and own different amounts of property, they will continue to group with people similar to them. This accounts for the formation of factions. Out of these three, unequal distribution of property is the main …show more content…

One is to remove its causes and the second is to control its effects. In order to remove its causes, they would have to somehow make sure that everyone has the same feelings, opinions, and interests. To ensure this would be very unrealistic. Because people have different opinions about everything, we must find a way to control the effects instead. A larger republic allows for different possibilities and promises the cure that we are seeking. People will be able to vote freely and focus on those who are the most widely known citizens. Therefore it seems as though a republic is more capable of controlling the effects of

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