The Dangers of Factions Explained in James Madison's The Federalist No. 10

James Madison, Jr. was one of the most influential leaders in the ratification effort of the U.S. Constitution. Known to many as the “Father of the Constitution”, Madison was instrumental in the writing of the Federalist Papers, an 85 page collection of newspaper articles and essays encouraging the ratification of the Constitution. These papers helped explain how Madison intended the Constitution to defend against tyranny. Madison describes how factions can ruin governments, concluding “There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects” (Madison, Federalist 10). He also claims tyranny can be avoided with a republic, with a governmental structure of both national

As long as there is liberty, different opinions and factions will form. Madison simply wishes to establish a system in which the detrimental effects of factions on the whole government are reduced and kept in check. He argues that a pure democracy cannot mitigate the threats of factions and that only a republic can. He believes that a system of government that allow every citizen to vote directly for laws is dangerous as common people's decisions are affected by their self-interest, instead he advocates a different form of government in which citizens elect a small body of representatives who then vote for laws. Madison’s trust in a republic is fueled and bolstered by his lack of confidence in the people’s capacity to make well-informed

The main argument that Madison discussed was that a strong central government would be able to control the violence of factions. As long as there is humanity, there would be factions. Destroying the causes of factions would be highly impractical and unwise. Instead Madison felt that it would be better to control the effects that these factions could potentially cause. He also stated that there were stark differences between a Direct Democracy and a Republic and their control of factions. A Direct Democracy would be controlled by the will of the largest faction, and thus the weaker minorities will have close to no say in their government. To combat against this, Madison felt that, “The Federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures” (Madison). The Federalists main argument behind their style of government was that everyone’s voice would be heard and would not be drowned out by the voice of the majority, something that only a Republic could

10 was one of the main factors that allowed for the ratification of the modern constitution and government system. Idealistically, Madison’s ideas about government are possibly the best possible solution to the conflict of factions, yet in reality, Federalist No. 10 has been manipulated in ways that separate people more than unite them. While Madison is probably right in that republicanism is better than simply a popular democracy, his writing essentially did nothing but flip the party in power. Before, the power was held by the majority common people, which was bad because only their interests were being addressed, but after Madison wrote Federalist No. 10, the elite group was the group from which delegates were being elected. Madison was one of the property owners, and he feared that the common sort would prevent him from remaining in power so he had to switch the way the system worked. Through his rhetorical analysis he convinced the people that electing delegates was the way to go, and in the end only the members of the elite group were elected. He wanted a government that protected the rights of the rich property owners from the common sort and he was successful in doing so. He says “a rage for paper money” will hinder the abilities of those elected and therefore should not be. This prevented anyone who was poor from being elected. Now, Madison also makes the assumption that the people elected will somehow throw

James Madison, the 4th president of the United States, wrote "10th Federalist (1787)" in regards to the safety of the size of a republic and "factions" inside of the commonwealth. He writes about larger republics being preferred than smaller republics because people are likely to form special interest groups to keep the population more diverse. Having special interest groups known as "factions" are known to be more effective in a larger republics. Its due to the fact that there are more people in large republics, individuals are more likely to join the group and have more supporters. These groups can range from being harmless or being as dangerous as home grown terrorist groups. The political theorist states his theory of republic size, and the relationship between the size of a republic and the factions that grow with in it.

The new system of government outlined in the Constitution had allotted provisions so the number of representatives in the legislative body would not be “proportion to that of the constituents,” as suggested in the New Jersey Plan. Madison advocated this system of government because it would guard against the “cabals of a few” and the “confusion of a multitude.” The republic would be large enough so that the power of the legislation wouldn’t be placed in the hands of a few (oligarchy), but not large enough that Congress wouldn’t be able to pass any laws because there are so many opinions.

In order to correct “factious spirits that have tainted our public administrations”(Madison, 72), the government must control the effects of factions. He argues, “as each representative will be chosen by a greater number of citizens in the large than in the small republic, it will be more difficult for unworthy candidates to practice with success... will be more likely to centre in men who possess the most attractive merit and the most diffusive and established characters (Madison, 77).” With this statement by creating an extended republic with more representatives, the tyranny of a majority could be avoided with the addition of more qualified, democratically-elected representatives. As a result, Madison felt that creating an extended republic with more representatives with more people voting would quell the effects of

Federalist papers are one of the most important series of essays government papers and are being used against the Anti-federalist that are trying to ratify the constitution. Madison has written Federalist 10 for main purpose of discussing the word “factions”. What madison says in any government, “people are going to inevitably join factions and have common interest”. What madison fears is that the largest faction of them all, equal distribution of property and he is saying because of the division of property and a few with a lot and a lot without anything and the largest faction is going to be the poor. Since the majority is the poor working class men this might create tension and a disagreement of ideas that are dissimilar then the wealthy few. Madison says there is only two things you can

The Federalist Papers are a collection of eighty-five articles that explain the United States Constitution, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers were written in response to the Anti-Federalist attacks on the ratification of the newly written U.S. Constitution in 1787. Federalist Paper 10 was authored by James Madison and published on November 22, 1787 under the pseudonym “Publius.” In Federalist Paper 10, James Madison addresses the question of how to guard against “factions.” To accomplish this, James Madison describes the meaning and importance of factions, explains how “Liberty is to factions what air is to fire,” and elaborates on why a republic could protect liberties

James Madison first talks about the number one problem in the government: factions. He thought factions had very dangerous behaviors especially in popular government. They cause the governments to be unstable which contributes to “unsteadiness and injustice”. This document goes on to explain what factions are; a faction is a group of passionate people with the same interest. Madison believed these people were only interested in themselves and ignored the community. Factions are formed most likely because of the unequal distribution of property. Usually the government job was to protect and regulate anything that had to do with property. This hurt people.

"Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than it's tendency to break and control the violence of fraction" ( ) The federalist paper #10 was written by James Madison and published on November 22, 1787. In this paper Madison discusses how to gaurd against groups of citizens or factions that have interest that conflict with the rights of the public and community and are ulimatly useing their conections with others to get what they want.

The Federalists Papers were created to help ease the introduction of the Constitution. One of the leading Federalists, James Madison, had strong feelings towards both democracy and political factions. Madison feared a large democracy would soon lead to tyranny because he believed they could not carryout such an enormous task. He believed the solution to a possible tyranny would be a representative government. Madison thought that by electing representatives, the voice of the majority would be embodied. He assumed that people would not completely trust the process of a republic, so he assured there would be checks and balances inserted to ensure the rights of the people were not in jeopardy. James Madison saw political parties as groups of people with similar interests, but he also seen them as a danger to any government. In order to better control these factions, Madison believed that interest groups would eliminate or detain other factions based on the group’s interests. Federalists like James Madison believed that a strong republic would help solve the issues of both political factions and a direct democracy.

According to James Madison the problem was the factions. He suggests that we keep the problem in hand by removing its cause and also by controlling its effects. I would be smart if he did not remove its cause because it may destroy liberty and give everyone the same opinion. If he controlled the effects then he will have two different types of factions a minority and a majority. So he might want to control the cause.The first problem with the factions was that they were very violent. “ its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” This quote explains that the factions are becoming out of control and may need to be handled by James Madison. “ The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils, have,

In “The Federalist #10” Madison argues that the greatest corruption found within a popular government is its vulnerability to the problems that arise from factions, which is a group of people who ban together to protect their own self-interest and are prone to intrude upon the rights of others. Due to different self-interest, man will support what he believes in, even at the expensive of others, if he is given the freedom to do so. Madison expresses that by nature, man possesses different opinions, abilities, and self-interest and therefore factions are inevitable to human nature.

In Federalist Paper No.10, Madison defines factions as groups of people who have a common self-interest. They would be different to the individual rights of other citizens because they were involved with their own benefits. He states that factions are inherent to human nature and citizens are no longer living under a state of liberty. Madison states, liberty is to faction what air is to fire , this means that with out liberty there cannot be any factions. By destroying the liberty, which is essential to its existence, the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests. The difference between those who have and those who don’t would always be in existence, and is in fact one of the most common unavoidable cause of factions. Individuals will always continue to associate themselves with those who are on the same level, as long as we have different property and economic statues.