Federalist 10 Analysis

Federalist paper number ten is by far one of the most famous American essays to be written. James Madison begins this essay by stating that one of the greatest accomplishments of the constitution, is its ability to be capable of controlling violence and damage caused by factions. The paper was written to address the problems with factions in a republic and Madison’s proposed way of guarding against factions and the damage that they can cause. Madison defines factions in the federalist paper as groups of people who gather together to protect and promote their special economic interests and political opinions, ”a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse

The first way he states, is to remove the causes of a faction. This first way is impossible as there are only two ways in which to accomplish it. In order to eliminate the causes, you would first have to either destroy liberty or create a scenario in which all citizens have the same opinions. He describes destroying liberty as a “cure worse the disease itself” as this cure would destroy the idea of the constitution itself, restricting the rights of all citizens in the pursuit of happiness for the sake of creating an illusion of equality. Another way to remove the cause of factions would be to give every citizen the same opinions, passions, and interests. This may be looked at as a utopia which on paper sounds good, but is impractical as in a republic you may not force an individual to believe something. These two ways are impossible and we are left with the only other way which is to accept that there will be factions and create a government that has the ability to control its effects and regulate them in a way that will retain liberty and the founding principals of our

Madison attempts to let factions exist while controlling their effects, while Hobbes seeks to eradicate factions altogether by limiting individuals personal freedoms. Both these paths would lead to the same conclusion; both men understand that factions are a threat to society and are the building block for a crumbling internal structure. I myself would also agree with this conclusion as factions as we see today may be the difference to a functional nation state. Everyday in current events, we see as states around the world are struggling either for the good or bad at maintaining a successful society. The common theme behind these states dissolving as they know it is that factions are created who will have their own political agenda and wish to promote it agains the will of the status quo government. This may be seen in many middle eastern states today who are struggling to reman in power due to uprisings by these factions. We also see ways in which states are able to deal with the factions and either eliminate or control them. Hobbes theory seems to be true as in states with a monarchy with that much power or even states like that see little resistance. Examples of this may be Saudi Arabia who is the last true absolute monarchy in the world, and North Korea which may not be a monarchy but retains a sovereign leader who controls all aspects of