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madison on the dangers of factions
significance of representative democracy
madison on the dangers of factions
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A key issue raised by the Federalists in their campaign for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, and by the Anti-Federalists in their campaign against it, was that of factions. In The Federalist No. 10, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” James Madison defines the dangers of factions and elaborates on the effectiveness of a large, representative democracy in dealing with them. In Essay No. 3, the Anti-Federalist Cato argues that factions are necessary and we must preserve them in a large government if we are to prevent single individuals from corrupting the system. In modern America, we see the influence of factions – parties – growing daily, instigating rivalries and stalling political progress. Despite strong arguments from the Anti-Federalists, this modern evidence proves that factions do negatively impact the government when they are allowed too much power.
Factions, or parties, are described in The Federalist No. 10 as groups of citizens “united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest.” According to Madison, these human passions divide the public into competing parties that are “much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.” These parties often negatively impact the rights of other citizens as they pursue their own specialized goals, but it is “the nature of man” to create them. Thus, in order to protect the rights and voices of the people, a successful government must be committed to the regulation of these various factions. A pure (direct) democracy, argues Madison, cannot effectively do this because it offers every citizen a vote in serious public matters, and economic stratification alone prevents th...
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...esentatives – was sadly flawed. The congresspersons we have today more often act as a voice of their party (exactly what Madison wanted to avoid) than as a voice of their constituents. This creates instability, allows for a constant power struggle, and stalls progress. Because of this, I am inclined to agree wholeheartedly with Madison in his fear of factions but to depart from his views when it comes to how they should be handled. Though it is radical, I am in support of the Anti-Federalists when it comes to the size of the Union. Had America been just three nations (East, Central, West) or two (North and South), I believe party politics would be far less controversial than they are now simply because the interests of the people and congresspeople in those regions are much less diversified than the interests of the 300 million people that make up this huge nation.
Madison believed the ways to eliminate factions by removing its causes and to control the effects. Even though factions cannot simply be eliminated, Madison believed that the destruction of liberty or to give every individual the same opinion. Direct democracy is not strong enough to protect its personnel, property rights, and have been characterized by conflict. It is surprising, but Madison recommended a strong and large Republic. He believed that there would be more factions, but much weaker than in small, direct democracies where it would be easier to consolidate stronger factions. Madison concluded his argument by saying, “according to the degree of ple...
This passage places emphasis on one of the three arguments James Madison makes in Federalist 10. Madison explicates the deficit of factions specifically factions that could cause nothing but “mischief” for the United States. In this particular passage, he explains how factions are inevitable in our country, however, controlling the effect of factions would diminish their “mischievous impact.” Thus, prohibiting factions assists in reducing the probability of “[a] weaker party or an obnoxious individual” from gaining power over the minority. These smaller factions that Madison hopes to avoid are a direct result of “pure democracy” that he accounts as have “general[ly]…short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” Therefore, this particular fragment from federalist 10 serves as the precedent to the introduction of a mixed Constitution of a democracy and republic, in this case, a large republic.
The republic should be able to, “guard the society against the oppression of its rulers,” but also “guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.” If a nation is not primarily run by the people, then the government has the ability to oppress them by implementing taxes and laws and revoking basic rights without their consent (as witnessed in the events preceding the Revolutionary War). The separate state governments did not allow every person to have a voice for their country even though “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.” However, if too much authority is in the hands of the citizens, then, “the rights of the minority will be insecure,” because majority groups will be, “united by a common interest.” One analysis of these rights states that the “community will” (good intention of the government) is, “independent of the simple majority,” and that a government placing “power behind a group in society working against the public good” would be detrimental. Madison’s intention discussing factions is that we must strike a balance between representing the common interests of the people while not excluding minorities and placing trust in an unjust popular interest. The government of today takes into account Madison’s extensive concept of factionalism which includes the Republican, Democratic, and
Madison speaks of the problems of the present attempts at a new government saying “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 over-bearing majority”.
In Federalist 10 James Madison argued that while factions are inevitable, they might have interests adverse to the rights of other citizens. Madison’s solution was the implementation of a Democratic form of government. He felt that majority rule would not eliminate factions, but it would not allow them to be as powerful as they were. With majority rule this would force all parties affiliate and all social classes from the rich white to the poor minorities to work together and for everyone’s opinion and views to be heard.
In today 's government political parties are a large part of government operations and how decisions are made in the government. In Madison 's The Federalist, No.10 Madison talked about how factions can control and cause harm to the government. A solution to this control was the use of a republic in order to limit the power of factions and keep them from having complete control. In our government however, factions have become a major part of the government system with political parties having complete control over the different branches of government. The use of this two political party system creates many problems within our government as the two parties fight for control over legislature and control over the government. Despite using a republic system as Madison mentions in his paper, factions continue to control and affect our government today. Madison 's views on government branches also affects our government today. Our government being in branches does help our government from being affected by corruption by each branch being independent from each other. These independent branches help prevent corruption by each branch having independent leadership and control and not being affected by the views of each other. At the same time these branches having unique views and control can lead to problems as the branches of government may not be able to interact properly with
James Madison, an American statesman and political theorist that was present at the constitutional convention. Many of the ideas proposed by Madison are part of the reason that the Constitution has withstood the test of time. Madison was ultimately prepared to deal with one of the biggest problems this new government would face in his eyes, factions. Factions, which as defined by Madison are “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 interests of the community” (Madison 156). Madison addresses various ways that he sees factions can be cured of its mischiefs such as removing a faction’s causes and also controlling their effects. Madison points out that this is would potentially create an even bigger problem than the factions themselves by stating, “Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an ailment, without which it instantly expires” (Madison 156) Madison also stated that the way for a government to remove the cause of faction was either to destroy the liberty that causes factions to exist in the first place or to give every citizen the same beliefs and opinions. Madison deemed this impractical, because it is nearly impossible to give everyone in a given place the same opinions and destroying the liberty would take away the very thing that the colonies fought for 4 years earlier. The fact is Madison knew that the country wouldn’t be able to count on a well-educated statesman to be there any time a faction gets out of hand. Madison knew the only viable way to keep factions under control is not to get rid of factions entirely but to set a r...
He addressed as one objective of the Union that was to become the United States “break[ing] and control[ing] the violence of faction”. Madison acknowledges prior failed attempts at establishing popular government, but he asserts that the American Constitution is one of stronger rhetoric that improves upon inherent flaws, such as “the instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils”. The new Constitution, Madison claims, is well equipped to reduce the malignant effects of faction. The method of representation that the Constitution details prevents “the public good [being] disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties”, with fortune favoring the “the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority”. It is necessary to note that Madison refrains from mentioning specific individuals and events throughout the essay; doing so reinforces the concept of republican democracy in that each individual, and not specific men, possesses the ability to influence public policy. Madison furthermore defines a faction to demonstrate his understanding, and that of the public’s, in the presence of a disease others deem detrimental to the preservation of the general public’s rights and interests. Madison does not present a distinct, succinct thesis in Federalist No. 10, though a statement resembling a thesis follows the definition of a faction. Madison states, “There are two methods of curing the
Following the failure of the Articles of Confederation, a debate arose discussing how a centralized government ought to be organized. The prevailing opinion ultimately belonged to the Federalists, whose philosophy was famously outlined in The Federalist Papers. Recognizing that in a free nation, man would naturally divide himself into factions, they chose not to remedy this problem by stopping it at its source; instead, they would limit its effects by placing strict structural safeguards within the government's framework. The Federalists defined a facti...
James Madison was a very intelligent man and was one of the forefathers for our country. In Madison’s Federalist Paper Number 10 he describes the need to control factions in the United States and how the government is to do so. The Federalist papers are a key point in describing how to control “factions” that are so dangerous to the young government, or so Madison feels. In Madison’s paper he clearly lays out his idea on the sources of factions, his feelings on democracy versus a republic, and how to control factions.
In Federalist No. 10, James Madison stresses 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.” Madison philosophized that a large republic, composed of numerous factions capable of competing with each other and the majority must exist in order to avoid tyranny of majority rule.# When Federalist No. 10 was published, the concept of pluralism was not widely used. However, the political theory that is the foundation for United States government was the influential force behind pluralism and its doctrines.
In Madison's Federalist 10, it is evident that he was not in favor of the formation of factions. He states, "…The public good is often disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties…" Madison made the point that the dangers of factions can only be limited by controlling its effects. He recognized that in order to abolish political parties from the government completely, liberty would have to be abolished or limited as well. For this reason, the government had to accept political parties, but it did not have to incorporate them into being a major part of the government. He says that the inclination to form factions is inherent, however the parties effectiveness can be regulated. If the party is not majority than it can be controlled by majority vote. Madison believed that in the government established by the Constitution, political parties were to be tolerated and checked by the government, however the parties were never to control the government. Madison was absolutely convinced that parties were unhealthy to the government, but his basic point was to control parties as to prevent them from being dangerous.
According to James Madison’s Federalist #10 a faction was a group of citizens, either large or small, who came together and act on common grounds for the rights of other people and/or their community. He believed that we as citizens naturally broke up into factions because of differences in opinion especially political ideology. Also Madison expressed that the distribution and collection of riches and property is so unequal that it causes the development of common faction. Although stating that factions are more of an inevitably harmful thing he does believe that they still are a way for the people to express their viewpoint to their government. Madison does argue for the control of factions, which he proposed in two ways. One of his methods
In conclusion, Madison thinks the human nature is ambitious, and the fixed outcome of human ambitions is people create factions to promote their own interests. In the case of preventing corrupt or mischief by factions, he believes majority and pure democracy is not a solution. The method he advocated is a large republic with checking system. He converts human ambition to provide internal checks and balances in government. His point of view stimulated the approval of the proposal of the United States Constitution.
Both Jean-Jacques Rousseau and James Madison shared a profound fear of factionalism. Rousseau envisioned a disastrous scenario in which “particular interests,” or the private desires of citizens, overtake the “general will,” or the singular will of all citizens that is only concerned with the prosperity of the whole. Madison calls factionalism a “mortal disease” that America must find a way to overcome. In order to prevent such factionalism, both authors propose various solutions to grapple with it.