Federalist 10 Summary

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Madison begins Federalist 10 by stating that a well-functioning government should be able to prevent and control factions and their effects. A faction is any group of people who hold a shared interest and whose common interest either hinders the rights of others in society or harms society as a whole. Although factions cause confusion and violence to occur in a society, no government will be able to stop factions from developing; Madison states that this is because, in order to destroy factions, one would need to destroy liberty. Along with not being able to abolish factions, Madison asserts that it is impractical to try to control factions because individuals will always have differing opinions; he also articulates that the main purpose of governments is to protect …show more content…

However, the legislative branch of the new government proposed in the Constitution is able to control the malignant effects of factions because the representatives are able to pass legislation that affects large portions of the nation instead of individuals. Madison then states that a pure democracy, in which ordinary citizens govern themselves, are not able to control the effects of factions, but a republic, in which citizens elect representatives to govern, is able to. The reason that republics can control the effects of political parties is because the representatives have to consider the good of the whole nation; Madison hopes that their patriotism will override their temporary interests. Furthermore, representatives, given that they are elected into office, should be men of good morals and intelligence; Madison believes these men of this caliber are more fit to govern a country than average citizens. In conclusion, Madison discusses in Federalist 10 what factions are and how they work, and why a republic is the best government to combat the negative effects of