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How Did James Madison Influence The Role Of Government

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One of the greatest purveyors of our United States constitution was James Madison. By many he is regarded as the father of our constitution and his ideals about the nature of man helped shape the role of government, as well as the role of its citizens. Madison was the U.S. Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809 as well as our nation’s president from 1809 until 1817. Madison felt as though his generation, as well as the fellow founders, could revive popular government from its past blunders and that ultimate success was in the form of a more self-governed legislative body. During 1787 and 1788 Madison co-authored, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, a commentary on the principles of the constitution called the Federalist Papers. Being …show more content…

Madison described factions as a number of citizens “united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”[1] In a society of majority rule minority factions are not seen as constitutionally dangerous, due to them lacking the means the legally acquire power. However, if a faction is deemed the majority then the very essence of freedom and government are threatened. Madison argued that factions are a product of prejudice and self- interests that stem from the nature of man. Madison believed that the key to preventing an unjust majority was a governing body that reflected the principle of representation for a very large and diverse base of constituents. Representation prevents unjust views and special interests from guiding and establishing public decisions. The role of the representative is also to listen to their body of constituents and overall public interests to promote a consensus founded on the good of the public. Madison believed that true representation is a two way line of communication between the representative and the represented, and from that an overall consensus can be reached. Madison’s ideas of representation are still very much a part of our government today, as seen in the very structure of our modern day legislative bodies from district to state as

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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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679 Words | 3 Pages

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

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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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1620 Words | 7 Pages

Early Life One of America's Founding Fathers, James Madison helped form the U.S. Constitution in the late 1700s. He likewise made the establishment for the Bill of Rights, went about as President Thomas Jefferson's secretary of state, and served two terms as president himself. Conceived in 1751, Madison experienced childhood in Orange County, Virginia. He was the most seasoned of 12 youngsters, seven of whom lived to adulthood. His dad, James, was an effective grower and claimed more than 3,000 sections of land of area and many slaves.

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Madison is analyzing the way to deal with the growing faction problem. He begins his essay by defining factions for the reader. “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of

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Federalist 51 is a primary source from the time of the creation of the constitution. It was written by James Madison on February 8, 1788. It is an essay describing the Constitution 's usage of checks and balances system and why it was needed. At the time, the constitution was newly written. So, under the pseudonym of Publius; James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and James Jay: three federalists (people who supported the constitution and favored a strong central government with power shared between states), wrote the Federalist Papers.

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As “The Father of The Constitution”, James Madison was obviously one of the most important people in American history, though no one would have ever suspected it due to his sickly, “momma’s boy” demeanor (Stagg. LBP). Although Madison acted this way as a child, he grew to be one of the most influential people in the history of the United States. Madison is important to the study of American history because he drafted and sponsored some of the greatest documents that America still uses today, he, along with Thomas Jefferson, founded the Democratic- Republican party, and he was the fourth president of the United States. (James Madison Biography, totallyhistory.com, history.com, Frank Freidel)

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A key concept in Madisonian Democracy is preventing the domination of a factions, or “groups motivated by selfish interests against the common good” (Bianco). Also important to the concept of a Madisonian government is pluralism – the idea that having a variety of contesting parties will ensure that no one group can completely control the majority vote and take power. One can see the basis of a Madisonian Democracy in the modern United States government and the understanding of those who work in it. Illinois State Senator from the 9th District Daniel Bliss said, “when I find something immensely frustrating, I ask myself am I frustrated because something is broken and corrupt or because I didn’t get to be the emperor? And every time it is option B, I remind myself that is actually a positive thing, because this way we never have

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James Madison is known to many as the “Father of the Constitution” he was a firm believer in freedom and expressed it through the Articles of Confederation. Madison was in favor of more freedom when it came to religion and the governing of the people of the states. Another work of writing he is famously known for is the Federalist 10, in this writing he expresses thoughts on liberty, opinions, and democracy. Between the years of 1607 through 1789 many of his work and his thoughts created many changes to freedom and government. Throughout the years many of the proposals by Madison are very present and effective.

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Due to his interest in debating current issues and discussing the Colonies’ independence, he landed himself as a delegate to the Virginia Convention, drafting the Virginia Plan later on; which was presented by Edmund Randolph at the Philadelphia Convention. The Virginia plan was the plan that dictated that the amount of people in Congress should be based on population size of each state, and also suggested a bicameral legislature and a three part government, which are used in the United States’ government today (ourdocuments.gov, 2017). Some time after in 1787, Madison was the main constituent in creating the Constitution, which is still the basis for the United States’ government. His ideas on a bicameral legislature elected by the people, an independent judiciary, and an executive chosen by that legislature was popular in that time, and his notes were highly detailed. Madison was persuasive and well-read enough to have written out his plans for earning the title “Father of the Constitution” (Stagg, 2017).

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James Madison’s presidency can be very controversial, many had thought that he had a difficult time pulling away from wars as well as making uninformed decisions that ended up hurting merchants, but even with those setbacks, he is still considered an amazing statesman. This is because he had a lot of history working in the government such as how Madison had completed graduate studies within the law before he had begun involved with the government. This means that he had plenty of knowledge and experience with laws in the government, he had first started out with local politics and began working his way up to the Secretary of State under Jefferson's presidency. His position in the house of representatives from 1789-1797 and the secretary of

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Progressing towards a conclusion, Madison and Calhoun agreed that in a system based on majority rule, there was a danger that the majority would oppress the minority. But Madison believed that this issue was best tackled and would be likely resolved through the rules and mechanisms that would make the majority act more fairly and consciously. Calhoun proposed a very different solution. Madison’s solution is best articulated in Federalist No. 10 and No. 51, he argues that “the danger of a majority oppressing a minority is much greater in a state or city, where there are usually just two or three factions contending with one another, than in a large, diverse republic like the United States, where there are many different factions and interests, no one of them constituting a majority.”

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