Foundation of American Government: WHY It works (Federalist Essays 10 and 51)

When asked why our government works, we have to look back to the ideas and ideals of the people that created the country. The documents from the birth of the nation in particular are some of the most descriptive pieces that justify why this system will work over the commonly known British political system. Even through the extremely verbose and more archaic language of these two essays of the later 18th century, there are a few points that stand out clearly which explain exactly why the American government still stays strong.


From the tenth Federalist essay, Madison writes:
"The effect of the first difference [between a democracy and a republic] is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose."

In this excerpt, Madison explain the key differences between a democracy and republic in terms of their raw definitions. He tells why a representative government works on a large scale. By saying that these representatives, chosen by the people, are able to make decisions for the good of the country, Madison shows his stronger feeling of trust in representatives than than in the people themselves because he believes that these people will end up making a majority decision on the best plan of action. In other words, our government works because we are able to choose people to represent our ideas. The best people suited for the jobs of representing general population are voted into office because these are the ones who are most patriotic and most willing to be secure the public good.

Madison follows his spiel of the importance of a representative government with the following quote:
"The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State."

With this statement, Madison is able to explain how, even with the freedom of thought, states are able to stay out of violence with each other even with rivaling ideas. He explains that, due to the variety of sections and ideas, the nation will not fall into a state of utter chaos. Since everybody is able to share their ideas and not everybody will be overly radical or conservative, Madison argues that a middle ground will always be reached, and no one particular movement will taint the entire country. Any upset is going to stay pretty local or centralized in one certain spot rather than spreading. He argues that our government works for this reason. Because all people will balance each other out, country wide fighting is very unlikely to ensue just because of two differing viewpoints between two people, two cities, or even two states.

In the Federalist Essay 51, Madison writes:
"In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit. It may even be necessary to guard against dangerous encroachments by still further precautions. As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified."

Here, Madison speaks of the branches of government and the efficacy of splitting the power up between multiple groups. He explains how, in a usual republican government, the legislative branch would receive the most power because they are the ones that can make the laws. However, he states that he wants to break that in the American system by splitting the powers up even more, giving equal weight and authority to each branch. The reason why this will work is so that each branch will be able to balance the other out, fortifying each ones' opinion against each other equally. By protecting the government from internal strife, Madison argues that this system of government manages to strike a long lasting balance, running into minimal problems.

In Madison's final paragraph of the 51st essay, he writes:
"The second method will be exemplified in the federal republic of the United States. Whilst all authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority. In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the same government."

Finally, Madison ties up his essay by talking about the importance of freedom of the individual in running the country. He explains that the power will come from the people, and the rights of the minority will be equal to that of the majority, which is not allowed to override them to begin with. The rights of each person must be respected equally since the country will contain many sects and divisions and differences. By doing this, Madison believes that people will be able to eagerly and happily live in America due to the security in expressing one's own beliefs. Our government works for this reason. The people are able to feel protected under a political system that values the individual and doesn't always follow the majority, rather the individual and his or her ideas.