Federalist paper number 10. Federalist Papers No. 10 (1787) 2022-11-02
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Federalist Paper Number 10, written by James Madison and published on November 23, 1787, is one of the most well-known and influential essays in the Federalist Papers. The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 essays written by Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay in an effort to persuade the states to ratify the newly proposed Constitution of the United States. In Federalist Paper Number 10, Madison addresses the issue of factions, or groups of people with common interests that may oppose the interests of the majority or the common good.
Madison begins by acknowledging the inherent nature of factions in any society and the potential dangers they pose. He argues that in a large republic, such as the one proposed in the Constitution, there will be a greater variety of interests and opinions, which will make it more difficult for any one faction to gain a majority. This, in turn, will prevent the majority from trampling the rights of the minority or the common good.
However, Madison also recognizes that in a large republic, it may be more difficult for the government to address the concerns of all the different factions. To address this, he suggests that the government should be structured in such a way that it is able to effectively represent the diverse interests of the people. He argues for a system of checks and balances, in which the different branches of government have distinct powers and responsibilities, and are able to hold each other accountable.
In addition to addressing the issue of factions, Madison also discusses the concept of republican government and its importance in protecting the rights of the people. He argues that in a republican government, the people elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf, rather than ruling directly themselves. This allows the government to be more responsive to the needs and concerns of the people, while also protecting the rights of the minority from being trampled by the majority.
Overall, Federalist Paper Number 10 is a crucial document in the Federalist Papers and in the history of the United States. It provides a detailed analysis of the dangers of factions and the importance of a republican government in protecting the rights of the people. Its ideas and arguments have had a lasting impact on the structure and functioning of the United States government and continue to be relevant today.
What is the main argument in Federalist 10?
He will not fail, therefore, to set a due value on any plan which, without violating the principles to which he is attached, provides a proper cure for it. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose. The Federalist Papers Summary and Analysis of Essay 10. Therefore, the idea lying in the essay can be criticized for its vision of the poor majority as a threat and leading cause of fractions. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998. No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.
The papers discuss how the new government system that was beginning to be developed in the 1780s was going to work and be carried out. Starting with the proposition that "in republican Government, the majority, however, composed, ultimately give the law," Madison then asks what is to restrain an interested majority from unjust violations of the minority's rights? These groups were problematic because of how they went against the interest of the people and causing harm. Justice ought to hold the balance between them. Either in 82 or 83, ten millions of hard dollars, if not thirteen, were called into the continental treasury, when there could not be half that sum in the whole tract of territory between Nova-Scotia and Florida. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency. A FARMER CORRESPONDING FEDERALIST PAPER. As for removing causes producing factions, Madison also suggests two ways: either by denying the liberty of all the citizens or providing the same interests and values for all the people.
The Federalist Papers Essay 10 Summary and Analysis
The question resulting is, whether small or extensive republics are most favorable to the election of proper guardians of the public weal; and it is clearly decided in favor of the latter by two obvious considerations. In this paper, Madison discussed factions, a group of citizens with similar interests and issues emerging in democracy, arguing that they often oppress minorities. It will be found indeed, on a candid review of our situation, that some of the distresses under which we labor, have been erroneously charged on the operation of our governments; but it will be found, at the same time, that other causes will not alone account for many of our heaviest misfortunes; and particularly, for the prevailing and increasing distrust of public engagements, and alarm for private rights, which are echoed from one end of the continent to the other. Madison would therefore advocate that interest groups be independent from bureaucracy so as to avoid a situation in which they use power to protect their own interests Epstein, 1984. When writing Federalist 51, Madison had two main objectives in mind; he wanted a government with a separation of powers, and he also wanted minorities to be protected. Shall domestic manufactures be encouraged, and in what degree, by restrictions on foreign manufactures? When one examines these two papers in which Hume and Madison summed up the eighteenth century's most profound thought on political parties, it becomes increasingly clear that the young American used the earlier work in preparing a survey on factions through the ages to introduce his own discussion of faction in America.
No. 10 Is The Best Federalist Paper, And That's Why The Left Hates It
Another statement pointed given by Madison is the collective interest of the majority and minority that are united by a cause with common desire and interest. Some, perhaps British emissaries increasing and rejoicing in our political mistakes, and even those who have settled among us with an intention to fix themselves and their posterity in our soil, have brought with them more foreign prejudices than wealth. And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of Federalists. 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, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interest of the community. He argued that in order to control factions from their causes, we would need to either give up liberty or free thought. Madison concludes that "according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being Republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of Federalists. It could never be more truly said than of the first remedy, that it was worse than the disease.
What are the main points of the Federalist Papers No 10?
By enlarging too much the number of electors, you render the representatives too little acquainted with all their local circumstances and lesser interests; as by reducing it too much, you render him unduly attached to these, and too little fit to comprehend and pursue great and national objects. Does it consist in the greater security afforded by a greater variety of parties, against the event of any one party being able to outnumber and oppress the rest? Besides other impediments, it may be remarked that, where there is a consciousness of unjust or dishonorable purposes, communication is always checked by distrust in proportion to the number whose concurrence is necessary. My countrymen, preserve your jealousy-reject suspicion, it is the fiend that destroys public and private happiness. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. As they have no other weight than their tat flesh, they are hardly worth mentioning when we speak of the sentiments and opinions of America.
Federalist Paper 10 is all about warning the power of factions and competing interests over the United States Government. Over the next few months we will explore through a series of eLessons the debate over ratification of the United States Constitution as discussed in the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers. Hume's work was admirably adapted to this purpose. With a wide range of people, there is a less likelihood of a faction group gaing control, by voting and creating legislative that are more beneficial to those within the group. The diversity in the faculties of men from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.
This is not their fate. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution. Theoretically, those who govern should be the least likely to sacrifice the public good for temporary conditions, but the opposite could happen. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Federalist No. The question resulting is, whether small or extensive Republics are most favorable to the election of proper guardians of the public weal: and it is clearly decided in favor of the latter by two obvious considerations.
Where the statement made by Madison is that the government has become unstable, where the public good is forgotten within the conflicts of rival parties. Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority. Destroying liberty is a "cure worse then the disease itself," and the second is impracticable. Time must elapse before the mercantile interest will be so organized as to govern themselves, much less others, with propriety. The Anti-Federalist belief that the wide disparity in the economic interests of the various states would lead to controversy was perhaps realized in the The discussion of the ideal size for the republic was not limited to the options of individual states or encompassing union. Learn More He also believes that democracy cannot be achieved. What is the main goal of the Federalist Paper 10? In an equal degree does the increased variety of parties comprised within the Union, increase this security.
Critics of the Constitution argued that the proposed federal government was too large and would be unresponsive to the people. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency. Those who thought any national government would be destructive to the liberties of America. Therefore, James Manus has successfully continued the discussion started by Hamilton, adding his own crucial arguments to support the federalist view. The second way was to give everyone the same interests, passions and similar opinions.
