The Constitution Richard Henry Lee Summary

At the core of each of the different arguments of the Constitution is the issue of human nature and how it relates to government. In his objection, Richard Henry Lee points out that human nature is the reason the Constitution is ineffective in securing liberties because too much power is given to too few and this majority can be abused. However, James Madison states that people cannot be left to completely govern themselves, because ultimately human nature causes discord and chaos and there must be a system in place that correctly checks the destructive results of the human nature. In his argument for the Constitution, Madison looks at both sides of the dispute giving greater credibility to his conclusion. One of the issues, that those in opposition to the Constitution had, was the fact that with this system of government certain individual liberties were “given up to society” (Lee, p. 1). Madison does address this issue, insisting that government and liberties are related as a result of human nature itself. He states, “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions” (Madison, pp. 1-2). It is the consequence of human nature that a government exists in the first place, and in order to

3). He also advocates that the very nature of a constitutional government, though it does give power to only a few bodies, ultimately rests on the authority of the people. Because, in order for the different departments of government to operate correctly, they must be separate from any of the other departments; he states that the only way to achieve this is by nature of the people