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Factions And Federalist Essay No. 10

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Factions and Federalist Essay No. 10 The federalist papers were a series of 85 essays written to convince the citizens of New York to ratify the constitution. Federalist essay No.10, written by James Madison, discusses political factions and their effects. Madison’s definition of a faction is clearly stated in the essay. It states, “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” In simpler terms a faction is another term for an interest group, a group of people with a common interest, such as a political …show more content…

In the case of taxation, the more powerful of the two parties would have the opportunity to impose higher taxes on the minority, thus, saving themselves money. Madison firmly believed that the constitution had the ability to solve the problems created by factions. Madison envisioned a large republic that would make it difficult for corrupt candidates to get elected. Madison expressed this by stating, In the next place, as each representative will be chosen by a greater number of citizens in the large than in the small republic, it will be more difficult for unworthy candidates to practice with success the vicious arts by which elections are too often carried; and the suffrages of the people being more free, will be more likely to centre in men who possess the most attractive merit and the most diffusive and established characters. Madison believed the solution, or cure, to resolving the problems caused by factions was to allow a larger number of citizens to vote for their representative. Madison theorized that by doing this the representative would reflect the views of their constituents and would win based on merit, thus, controlling the effects of

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Madison’s essay reflects the fear many had of a tyrannical government and the desire to ensure that the country didn’t revert back to that which it had just escaped from. He notes the necessity to prevent any one faction or group from gaining too much power and oppressing those in the minority. The separation of powers was set in place to ensure that this could not happen. Even if one group decides they want something, the other two have the equal authority to prevent it should it not represent the country as a whole.

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James Madison’s Federalist 10 was written amid criticisms that a republican form of government had never been successful on a large scale. Madison’s argument was that a well-constructed union could control factions. He argued that in order to control factions from their causes, we would need to either give up liberty or free thought. Since we cannot infringe upon these two natural rights, we must move on to controlling the effects. A republic, Madison argues, would be able to do this because the people choose the representatives, and they choose representatives who they feel best represent their opinions.

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Madison emphasized the dangers of factions and warned the division of citizen would cause the government to collapse. He stressed the creation of faction would create a dominant majority or an overwhelming wealthy minority that would ultimately control the

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The Federalist No. 10” is a persuasive argument written by James Madison in an attempt to ratify the Constitution. He wrote a series of documents called the Federalist Papers under a pseudonym to convince others to approve of the Constitution. He says that factions are not good for America, neither is a pure democracy. Madison provides extensive arguments and remedies for the problems he is addressing. James Madison is attempting to ratify the Constitution by analyzing the way to deal with factions, comparing a republic to a democracy, and by comparing a small government to a large government.

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Both Federalist 10 and the Communist Manifesto rely on the idea of sociopolitical class divisions. Madison calls the classes factions, and defines factions as following, “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion.” Madison presents factions as very vague, rather open-ended categorical system, in which notably the impact of a single faction

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Thus causing even more conflict, especially amongst those not in the South. Another controversial issue was federalism because Marshall gave the national government a vast amount of power over state 's rights, and Taney believed more in giving power to the state rather than the national government. In addition, this is when outside groups started forming and lobbying their influence over government decisions, whether it is pertaining to slavery, rights, or economic interests. James Madison regarded “factions” or interest groups with concern when authoring segments of the Federalist Papers. The problem he envisioned was that eliminating them from the political scene was a threat to democratic principles, a cure worse than the disease.

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1.Madison begins saying that faction is a violent break in a well-constructed union. Popular governments have been killed by faction. Madison says that things are not always decided by what is actually just and what is the majority opinion and this is very dangerous. Faction in his definition is when citizens are brought together by a common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the right of other citizens, Madison believed that factions can not be eliminated because it is unwise or it would be worse than the factions themselves so the only way to deal with them is to focus on effects. Factions are what divide men into two parties and keep them from cooperating for the common good.

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Madison describes human nature as its own faction. It is everywhere and stems from different levels. The animosity that comes from these issues drive us to cling to politicians as we fight each other over petty conflicts. Our religious beliefs and political differences produce a force in us that is so strong, we forget about the larger issues at fault that are the root of our differences. Madison’s beliefs on human nature still represent our reality today.

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