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gov After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, many were skeptical on how promising the new Constitution would be to the neoteric country. One of many outspoken supporters of the Constitution was federalist James Madison. In an effort to support the Constitution, James Madison had the “The Federalist No.10” published in New York newspapers. Here, Madison not only defended the Constitution, but also analyzed the republic and discussed how it was much more effective than pure Democracy when dealing with factions. Madison defined factions as being 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 interests of the community.” Madison further asserts in the federalist article that there are two ways of removing factions. First, by destroying liberty and second, “giving every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” He then continued to illustrate his point of view by comparing liberty to faction. He says, “liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires.” In other words, Madison is stating that liberty is essential to political life because it nourishes factions. In addition, Madison explains that creating a society in which people have same opinions is impractical because “as long as the connection subsists between reason and self-love, opinions and passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other.” Here, Madison is asserting that individualism causes people to have different opinions; hence, it would impossible to have every citizen think the same and have the same opinions. A pure democracy by definition is a decision making system where the people have a direct say in what happens in the government. A republic, on the other hand is a government in which the majority express their views through several representatives. Madison saw that the peoples self-interests could be accomplished by representation and better bring about the peoples will collectively. Many representatives would give the new republic a broad enough vision of the self-interests of all people and thus limit the power of large factions. Madison felt that the only way for our country would run efficiently and effectively would be if our government had representatives for the people. "Under such 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." Madison felt that citizens would not take into consideration all the different circumstances behind a significant issue. For example, if a debated issue arises, citizens might be swayed to vote one way in a pure democracy without knowing the full account of the issue. In a republic, the representative will see the full account of all the different issues. Thus, Madison felt representatives were much more proficient than a pure democracy. Moreover, Madison asserted that if you “extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other.” In other words, Madison is stating that if there are too many groups with different interests, nothing will be accomplished. Thus, Madison feels this is a clear advantage over pure democracy in controlling the effects of factions. In addition, the Constitution directly relates to what Madison believed in. In Article I, it sets up a bicameral legislature with delegates that are elected by the people and for the people (House of Representatives and Senate). Moreover, there is also a plan for separation of powers in the Constitution. This was called the Madisonian Model. Generally, in the model, the legislative branch (Congress) passes the laws; the executive branch (president) carries the laws out; and the judicial branch (the courts) interprets the laws. Apart of the separation of powers includes the checks and balances. Checks and balances prevents any branch from becoming too powerful. Each branch’s independence is protected. For example, the president can appoint the justices to the Supreme Court, but only with the approval of the Senate. In a pure democracy on the other hand, a handful of voters can control the laws that are passed and not passed causing tyranny in the governmental system. The Preamble states, “We the people of the United States…establish this Constitution.” James Madison, “The Father of the Constitution” believed that a republic was far superior to pure democracy. Many of his political ideas were stated in “The Federalist No. 10” article and the United States Constitution further supports his ideology. Overall, it can be concluded that Madison was an important figure in the development of the Constitution Bibliography:

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