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Federalist Paper 10

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Federalist Paper Essay 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 …show more content…

According to James Madison, there are only two methods to remove the mischiefs of a faction: the one, by removing its causes; or the other by controlling its effects. There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence as Americans fought for it during the American Revolution; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests which would be impracticable. The first option is impossible as Madison says that you can get rid of liberty, but he says that obviously “the cure would be worse than the disease.” Madison elaborates his analogy to help justify that “it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes a faction.” “Liberty is to factions what air is to fire.” Liberty feeds or sustains factions. In order for there to be a fire, there must be air and in order for a faction to grow, there must be liberty. Removing liberty to prevent factions would be as ludicrous as removing air to prevent a fire, …show more content…

Madison believed that a republic could protect liberties better than a democracy. Madison explains that if it’s a minority faction, voting can fix this, so a democracy can work here, but if it’s a majority faction, a large republic can fix this. Firstly, Madison states that a direct democracy cannot control the conflict of factions because the largest faction dominates and there would be no solution to protect the smaller factions against the actions of the overpowering majority faction. Therefore, a direct democracy wouldn’t be able to protect personal security or the rights of property. Secondly, Madison argues that a large on the other hand would establish a government where representatives are selected to rule the people in order to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. Madison feared that a direct democracy was bad because he thought the people weren’t informed enough which could lead to corruption. This is why Madison yearned for men with intelligence, passion and patriotism towards their country so they won’t make folly decisions, but he explains that the inverse may yet occur. Men of factious tempers, prejudice, and of sinister designs may as well betray the interest of the people through corruption or intrigue. He argues a contradiction by explaining that the possibility of this occurring in a

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