Federalist Essays No. 10 & No. 51

Question: Why does the American form of government work?

The American form of government works because it is a democratic republic and it has different branches that can "check and balance" each other.

Madison argues in Federalist #10 by setting up a republican, rather than a "pure democratic," government, the different factions that are inevitably formed by people can check and be checked by each other, and coexist. Pure democracy and republicanism differ, as the former depicts people as the representatives and the latter, representatives for the people. Madison realized that the power of factions often clumped together to make the majority, thus often ruling out the minority and causing major conflict in the government. If factions, which were usually divided by how much land and wealth one had, could "control [their] effects" through the republican government, then they would not need to be destroyed (which Madison states would be impossible anyway). However, for the people's best interests, the representatives in the republic should be elected by the people in order to truly represent all factions. This democratic republic is the supposed structure of our US government today.

In Federalist #51, Madison expands greatly on an idea he brings up in #10: the splitting of government into branches and the checking and balancing of them by one another. The branches should each "have a will of its own...and have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others." No branch should fully depend on each other, but they should also not be completely independent. As quoted from Madison, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." Humans most definitely are not angels, especially when handed power, and the concept of checks and balances makes it so that no one branch/department will ever accumulate absolute power. However, because the United States is so large, even in a republic setting, the security of a balance in power can be easily threatened. The double security of having both federal and state governments comes into play: "The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself." Now, the complex network of the double democratic republic secures all factions' representation.

The democratic republic and system of checks and balances has proved to serve the US government well in the past few centuries. Yet still it seems that there is still a slight problem in representing the minority successfully, whether it is income level or race. However, the US government has maintained (and continues to do so) the American values of liberty well enough that today the country is an influential superpower, best known for opportunities and freedom.