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Federalist 10 Summary

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Federalist 10 and the Danger of Majority Faction James Madison proclaims in Federalist 10 that a strong union must be ready to deal with the threat of factions. A faction, under Madison’s definition, is a group that shares an interest that contrasts from the interests of other individuals or groups. Citizens are inclined to voice their concerns and in society “measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” Madison believes the American form of popular government is certainly an improvement over the preceding attempts of “both ancient and modern” societies, but the system is still vulnerable to the threats presented …show more content…

The greatest differences between a republic and pure democracy are the delegation of elected officials, and a republic allows for the government to govern a much larger area. In a republic, elected officials, noted for their wisdom, must be capable of making decisions for the public good despite any of their personal interests. The system allows the public’s voice to be represented by representatives that are more inclined to political action of the good of the whole society. However, such a system relies heavily on the election of beneficial …show more content…

Hamilton believes this European notion can shake inter-state relations and prevent blossoming economic growth. Through the establishment of a union, Hamilton writes, “we may counteract a policy so unfriendly in a variety of ways.” A union has the potential to lead foreign countries to bid for privileges to to American markets, create a federal navy, become a force in European politics, and foster greater unity among states, mentioning “A unity of commercial, as well as political, interests, can only result from a unity of government.” In unity, European countries are forced to negotiate with the country as a whole instead of individual

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In Federalist 51 Madison talks about the need for elected government officials to be controlled by a system of checks and balances. He talks about how each part of the government must be made sure as to not get too powerful as they might overpower the others. To do this Madison states that power must be distributed equally between each part, and divided as much as possible. For example Madison says “In the republican form of government, the legislative branch tends to be the most powerful.”

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The Federalist #10 paper was the first contribution that James Madison did to the Federalist essays. His warnings and concerns were that the when a number of people rules whether it is by majority or minority, it can become dangerous to the republic. These people will ruled by their own interest not to all the citizens of the country. He described it as "faction". A faction is an organized group within a bigger one.

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Micah Johnsen POS 2041 3.1 James Madison, The Federalist, No. 39 Federal or National, which side does the new proposed plan of government lean towards? James Madison begins his article, The Federalist, No. 39, by defining what a republican form of government is. It seems as if the people had forgotten what exactly a republic is. In Madison’s words a republic is “a government that derives all its power directly or indirectly from the great body of people; and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period or during good behavior”. Those who criticized Madison say that there should be a federal form of government as said in the Articles of Confederation.

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Perhaps the most famous Federalist paper, Federalist 10, starts off by saying that one of the biggest arguments that favors the Constitution is that it creates a government suited to minimize the harm caused by factions. Faction, in this case, is defined as a group of people whether a minority or majority based on class, race, and profession that all share a common interest. It was inevitable that factions would occur and perhaps the defining characteristic was the unequal distribution of property. This would ultimately lead the poor without property to become the majority in a “tyranny of the masses.” Madison believed that there were two solutions in preventing majority factions, 1) Remover the causes, and 2) Control the effects.

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A faction is best defined as group of people who are associated by a belief or idea. These people are often connected by their concern for the rights of individuals in their community, as well as the future of their society. Madison believed a constitution was necessary for a unified form of government. On the other hand, Madison looked deeper into the democratic form of government and how it would influence the community. By utilizing the principle of majority rule, he thought it would change the factions and enable the government to work together more often.

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403 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout Federalist 10 Madison addresses the issue of political factions, or parties, and how they are a problem, and how to deal with them. Madison describes factions as like minded people who come together to impose their views on others. The first method Madison proposes is to remove the causes that make the faction, and the second being by controlling its effects. In order to do those things Madison says that we must destroy liberty, and give everyone the same opinions, passions and the interests respectfully. Neither of these ideas would work however because if you destroy liberty just because it gives rise to factions, you would be destroying something that is good just because it has a small side effect that can be seen as

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Madison suggests removing the problem of faction “by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence (book).” He then goes on to say right after that in the fifth paragraph that destroying liberty would not work because it defeats the purpose of creating a free society and in the sixth paragraph he calls it impractical (need to cite?). Calling it impractical is a good point because if someone were to try and take liberty from everyone people would revolt and fight for their rights and possibly become more set in their faction which is the opposite of what they want. “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire” what Madison means is that wanting to get rid of liberty because of factions is like trying to get rid of air because it fuels fire, and without air we would die(book). The other thing Madison states in his first argument is the idea of “giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests (book).

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501 Words | 3 Pages

1.) What does Madison mean by the term “Faction”? What is a modern term we would use today? Madison uses the term faction to refer to groups of individuals arguing not for the rights or good of the community as a whole, but rather that which would benefit those who hold similar positions or interests. Different factions represent different ideas, leading to conflict and debate.

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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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10 in an attempt to ratify the Constitution, the new form of government for the United States. In the Federalist Paper No. 10, Madison analyzed the way to deal with facts, made a comparison between a pure democracy and a republic, and made another comparison on whether a small government or a large government would be the best for America. He informed the people that there is not a way to completely get rid of factions, but there are ways to deal with them. One great way to deal with factions is by having a government that knows how to control and deal with their effects. Madison believes that a republic can do that job better than a democracy, because a democracy is a small society of people who can not admit there is a cure to factions.

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Federalist paper #10 is called “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection” I think the most significant point in Federalist paper #10 is that Madison wanted to do away with “Factions”, or political parties. He believes that factions are not the best idea for the country

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In the Federalist Paper No.10, Madison share his ideas about factions and discusses the problems associated with factions. According to Madison, faction is 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, advised to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community (Madison, 1787). In this essay, Madison mentioned that there were two ways to remove the causes of factions, or political parties. First way was destroyed the liberty essential to their existence. This remedy would be worse than the disease.

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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.

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1) I learned about James Madison’s “The Federalist: Number 10.” This was my first time reading “The Federalist” despite hearing so much about it. James Madison came from a wealthy background. He later became an influencer on the Constitution, President of the United States of America, a member of Congress and Secretary of State. Prior to reading this week’s reading, I had not realized he served in politics for such a lengthy time before his presidency.

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Many people believe that the election plays the most important role in democracy. Because a free and fair election holds the government responsible and forces it to behave on voter's interest. However, some scholars find evidence that election itself is not enough to hold politicians responsible if the institutions are not shaping incentives in a correct way. In other words, the role of the election on democracy, whether it helps to serve the interest of the public or specific groups, depends on other political institutions. I

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