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The federalist papers 10
The federalist papers 10
Summary of federalist papers 10
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The federalist papers 10
The federalist papers 10
Summary of federalist papers 10
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The federalist papers 10
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.
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
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).
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.
Throughout Federalist 10, Madison warned his audience of the dangers of factions. Madison believed that as long as people espoused differing opinions, came from different backgrounds, and especially, as long as there was an unequal distribution of property, people would form factions with like-minded individuals whose ideologies they shared. This grouping of people of America, in his opinion, would lead to great violence in the country that could harm the nation’s wellbeing. In order to remedy this problem, in which he viewed unequal distribution of property as the main culprit, Madison decided that setting up a Republic which would be composed of only the most qualified candidates and would be composed of a multitude of factions would be
To combat this issue, and the others within the Articles, the Constitution was drafted to provide a layout for the country with a stronger government without invading the liberty of the people. The government under the Articles were subjected to the will majority in any conflict and Madison claimed that “there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual”. The liberties of the people and the authority of the government were drastically diminished when faced against a majority in a purely democratic country because of the full control that party gained to push their own agenda. James Madison’s argument on the Constitution’s ability to fight faction was, “Whilst all authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself will broken into so many parts… the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.” The government will still be able to possess authority over states and people, however, instead of just two contrasting parties where there has to be a majority, a republic forges multiple differentiating groups and ideas that makes factions less probable.
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.
A combination of cultures and ideas can swell and burst if not contained in an appropriate vessel. This is the idea that drives the idea of the Union. Any chance to drive a stake through the cracks in this vessel must be taken advantage of if any entity wished to disband this precariously rising force. One potential stake to investigate is war. Their writers account for this by continually reinforcing the idea that a perpetually unified nation provides the best defense against potential conflict.
Madison begins the paper by supporting the constitution as the capable of controlling the damaged and the violence caused by factions- groups of people who gather together to protect and promote their economic and political perspective. These factions are random, but regularly they are against the public interest and violate the rights of other. Madison believed that a “well-constructed” united nation would end with the violence of faction, a "dangerous vice" in popular governments. In the paper he states two ways of removing the causes: Destroy the liberty essential to their existence. This remedy would be worse than the disease.
Madison expressed that it is impossible to destroy liberty because one cannot make everyone have the same ideologies, so it’s impossible to extinguish factions. Madison expressed that he preferred a small republic over a large republic. With a large republic a representative would have been picked by a big number of citizen in a large republic than in a small republic. In a small republic it would make it more challenging for ineligible candidates to gain a position in
James Madison, founding father and fourth president of United States wrote the federalists paper number 10 in favor of the constitution. He believes that constitution is the only way to keep balance and control any problem this country faces. He uses faction as an example and talks about how it can cause problems but most importantly how to deal with the problems. He defines faction as groups of people who came together to promote their own interests and opinions. He said that these groups take advantage of the public and violate their rights.
Madison makes it clear that one of the benefits of the proposed Union, was the quality of breaking and controlling the violence of a faction, which he defines as “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some
Though a small republic can 't resist the mischief of faction, there is a way for a large republic to be able to resist. In small republics the number of people is a low amount, as for large republics the number of people is higher and there is a difference of opinions. The fact that large republics have a more numerous amount of people this means that the factions will be numerous as well and will also be smaller and weaker. Because they have so many different factions it is very easy for the government to just ignore them. It is stated in the handout that Madison is refuting, "the Anti-federalists ' argument that a republic would soon crumble under the pressure of factional divisions."
In 1787, a final draft of the Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification. Those who were in favor of the ratification were called Federalist or nationalist. Among these federalists, were James Madison of Virginia, John Jay of New York and Alexander Hamilton. They had a concrete proposal. They wrote a collection of 85 essays defending the principle of a strong national government.
If we do not win this debate, our liberation from Great Britain would have been pointless. I support the Antifederalist for this exact reason. We need a Bill Of Right to protect us from the government crushing hand. The Federalist want us to go along with a promise! Just a set of pretty words and an system of checks and balances!