Essay On James Madison's Views On The Development Of The Constitution

James Madison’s role of the development of the Constitution would be that he represented for Virginia, and he was the one that developed the Virginia Plan. James Madison was on the Federalist’s side and wrote a plethora of Federalist papers that argued why a stronger central government would solidify the country. The Federalist papers were also known as The Federalist Papers, and it was written by both James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. His view of human nature would be from one of his Federalist Papers, specifically 51, stating that “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary… (Woll 45).” This meant that in a government, the

Federal and national attributes of Congress would be that federal meant powers of the new government that were shared by the states or state interests. National attributes, however, equated to the newly acquired power to act directly upon the people, legislate them for national concerns, and represent them through the House of Representatives. Because men were not angels and that government is men ruling over men, separation of powers were needed to check a branch that if one branch goes rogue, then the other branch(es) could check and prevent that branch from performing such transgressions towards the people. As stated in Federalist 47, all three branches intermix to have the ability to check and balance another branch and that “the combination of legislative, executive, and judiciary put together would be the very definition of tyranny (Woll 42).” Furthermore, separation of powers was mandatory to protect liberty in a large republic. According to James Madison, the legislative branch would have the most power due to the fact that it was essentially the true voice of the people. Therefore, a separation of power within the legislative was mandatory to prevent abuse of the legislative’s power. That is why government today currently has a House of Representatives and the Senate within the legislative