These are arguably the most important essay. There are many important literature pieces of the constitution to take note of, they are federalist papers ten and fifty one. James Madison begins Federalist paper ten by specifying that one of the strongest arguments in the Constitution is the fact that it establishes a government capable of containing the violence and damage that can be caused by factions. Madison would continue and define factions as people who come together and promote and protect their political opinions and economic concerns. Even if the factions most of the time contradict each other, the groups do commonly work to in opposition to public beliefs also to breach the rights of others. Madison begins his second most famous federalist paper, essay fifty one, by explaining that the essay is to grasp the attention of the interpreter or readers to understand how the composition of the proposed government makes our freedoms possible. Madison goes on to say that each branches of government should be independent yet should not have more power in choosing each others delegates.
Federalist essay ten tells that because the unequal division of property the largest faction will be the poor or people without property. Like Shays Rebellion the poor revolted because of power differences. There is no definitive way to control a faction other than two. One may control the source of a faction or they may control the effect of a faction but never both. Madison says ”Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire…”(page 43) and what can be taken from the analogy is that you can not control air nor can you control liberty in a fair way. Therefor the purpose of the paper is to describe how to control the effects of the factions. It also continues on how to protect the tyranny, not of the few, but the mass of the poor. Madison’s explanation on how to regulate the effects of a faction is to create republics. With that being said there are three main arguments that madison makes in this essay. The first stating that the more people you have in a republic the less of a chance corruption will occur. This can be true in which the more accountable the leaders are going to be to the people to get more votes. By having a very closed off or small republic the more likely they will be fooled and deceived. The second argument is the larger republic you have the larger the factions become and least likely they will be unified. The last argument states that without a large republic not only the problem of the tyranny of the majority arises but there will not be an unified country being factionalized.
Federalist paper ten has its contradictions due to its lack of clarity. One statement James Madison brings up to keep corruption away is to have an expansive republic. This can be true but there is the idea of power imbalances will eventually fall through. Like every other situation where the lower classes feel they have less freedom will eventually corrupt. The last statement about not having a big republic and the country not being unified is entirely true. If the country becomes to the point it is elect your own person that represents your own views then the country will corrupt and head towards a war. These arguments go into his views on to suggesting or giving his reasons to destroying people’s liberties. This is an idea that would not work in any way. Controlling a person’s freedoms should never be apart of being a government power. In a way this is subliminal way of a government practicing slavery. Another way he suggest is to have all people have the same opinions. Trying to make everyone have the same views on something is very unethical. This would create a dictator-like way of ruling.
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James madison begins Federalist essay fifty one by explaining how the government makes a person’s liberties possible and protected. James Madison goes on to say that all branches of government should be mostly independent. If branches could have control of one another should not be considered. A branch election process should only pertain to the state or the people of the state and not to other branches. A loophole James Madison kind of points out is the judicial branch. The government should not let the commoners select any delegates for the judicial branch. The government needs to let higher powers elect like the executive and senate. The most powerful branch that James Madison acknowledges is the legislative branch. The reason why the legislative branch is more powerful is because it comes from the people. James Madison explains that it needs power but that power should not be used to turn against other people. The legislative branch is then separated into different parts. Those parts being the senate and House of Representatives. With those two parts they have a checks and balances power between them. By this point the transition this essay puts out is the deliberate design to say it is necessary to think liberties are taken away due to all the different powers in place to protect liberties.
It may not be said that some men abuse their own powers, but with great power comes great responsibility. ‘If men were angels, no government would be necessary’ (page 269). As bad as it sounds, all men can have their imperfections, the rulers and the ruled. Unfortunately, one of the great problems in creating a government is that the government must be able to control the people, but more importantly, must be able to control itself from over ruling. By dividing the powers in each branch can help track growth, but power can not be divided entirely equal. That is why the legislative branch is split in two and still has more powers than the rest of the branches. After giving these observations, Madison points out a few interesting things about the Federal nature of the American Government. This overall system he describes divides the government into two parts then subdivided more into various other departments that keep a check and balance on one another’s doings. This provides a sense of a double security to the people’s liberty. In other words, society has to be planned out in a way that its major faction does not exploit the rights of the minority being the people with different property values than the rich. This can be done either by creating a powerful, authoritarian government which cannot be prevented by the majority, or by splitting the society so that different views can not imposed by different classes. James Madison says that the security of the people will most likely depend on the diversity of religious groups and interests throughout the country. A federal republic is in the interests of the citizens, since a country which consists of many states and confederacies will lead to oppression by the majority in each, and the laws of the republic grant enhanced powers and independence to a certain department or member to counteract against this oppression
