51st Federalist Paper by James Madison - Essay Example

James Madison's 51st Federalist Paper Introduction James Madison starts off his renowned federalist paper, Federalist No. 51, by giving the explanation as to how this essay assists the readers in understanding the frame work of the government makes liberty achievable. Each branch must be, mostly according to Madison independent. To guarantee independence like this, only one branch should not have more power then the others when it comes to choosing members of the other two branches. If this theory was seriously followed, it would suggest that the citizens must opt for the president, the legislators, as well as the judges. However, the framers identified certain realistic problems in making all offices elective. Especially, the judicial branch would face problems because the typical person does not have knowledge about what qualifications judges ought to have. Judges must have great capability, but also not have any political pressures. While federal judges are selected for life, their philosophy will not be inclined via the president who appoints them or the senators whose permission the president will take. Analysis All the arguments were generated due to his past life as he was in aristocratic family in Port Conway so his thinking was also very refined. His personal background did not have anything do with any kind of discrimination of race, class and gender. The background which affected his thinking was his education, refined family background and experience which he gained from Thomas Jefferson Madison's writings are filled with figurative and fancy language. In today's terms, a faction is a special interest group. They are a lot of groups of citizens who make a try to advance their thoughts or economic interests at the cost of other citizens or by methods that conflict with the public good. To be in command of a minority faction, there are two alternatives. One alternative could be to eliminate whatever is the reason behind the rise of the faction. Nevertheless, this is impractical. Thus, a second proposal was prepared. In this proposal Madison states that in order to have power over factions one does not need to its causes, but control its effectiveness. James Madison's Federalist, No. 51, is a transparent expression of views and guiding principle for a new government. He was a strong devotee and member of the Federalists whose key beliefs supported the Constitution. They also thought that the Articles of Confederation required rewriting so that it would be possible for the new central government to control the power of the states. Madison begins possibly the most well-known of the Federalist papers, Federalist No.51, by stating that one of the strongest arguments in favor of the Constitution is the fact that it establishes a government capable of controlling the violence and damage caused by factions. Madison believes that the factions are groups who get together to defend and support their special economic interests as well as political opinions. Even though these factions are different from each other, they often work in opposition to the public interests, and violate the rights of others. Equally supporters as well as opponents of the plan are troubled by the political instability which is caused by opponent factions. The state governments have not been successful in resolving this issue; in fact the state of affairs is so challenging that people are disappointed with all politicians and hold government the reasonable for their troubles. As a result, a kind of popular government that can deal effectively with this crisis has a lot to suggest it. Given the temperament of man, factions are predictable. As long as every man has diverse opinions, have unequal wealth, and have different amount of property, they will carry on socializing with people who more like them. Both severe and small reasons account for the creation of factions however the most vital foundation of faction is the unequally distributed property. Men with better capability as well as talent tend to have more property than those people who do not have enough ability, and because the first aim of the government is to defend and support ability, it is based on the fact that the rights of property owners have to be protected. Property is distributed unequally, and, thus there are a lot of different sort of properties, people have diverse interests; their interest is based on the type of property which is owned by them. For instance the interests of landowners are different from people have their own business. Government should not just protect the differing interests of owners, of property it should, also effectively control the conflicts that take place due to those who are property owners and those who are not. Eliminating liberty of these factions is a "treatment which is worse then the illness itself," and it is also unfeasible. It can be said that factions are caused as it is a component of the temperament of man moreover we have to find a way to handle the effects and acknowledge their existence. The government shaped via the Constitution handles the damage which a result of these factions. The framers formed a representative government, in it the majority elects those who will who govern. Pure or direct democracies don't have the ability to handle the factious conflicts. Due to the strongest and major faction dominates, as well as there is no manner to protect weak factions in opposition to the actions of an insufferable person or a strong group of people. Direct democracies cannot effectively safeguard personal as well as property rights as they have at times resulted in conflict. According to Madison hopes the government adopts the new plan so that the men chosen to office will be sensible and good men, the cream of America. Hypothetically, those who rule must be the last to give up the public good to transitory condition; however the opposite may take place. Men who are members of specific factions, or who are unfair or wicked motives may manage, by conspiracy or dishonesty, to win elections and after that deceive the interests of the people. Nevertheless, the risk of this happening in a huge country, like America, is very less. The probability that public office might be occupied by capable men is greater in big countries since there will be new representative selected via a lot of citizens. Due to these candidates will have difficulty in deceiving people. Representative government is required in big countries, so that the people can be protected from the oppression of the minority, but to guard citizens from to the ruling of the mob. Madison argued that in huge nations, there may be quite a few factions; however they may prove to be more weak than they may be in small nations, and in direct democracies it is simpler for factions to make themselves strong. In America , faction's leaders might be capable enough to control state governments to hold unsafe economic and political policies to encourage, the states from being abolished, maintain a great deal of their sovereignty. Suppose the state governments had been abolished by the framers, the oppositions of the future government may include a legitimate opposition. Madison believed that The direct object of the constitution to get the thirteen states of that time into a safe union. Just about every state, would own one boundary be which would be beside the territory foreign nation which would be owned by the foreign union. The states furthest from the heart of the country would be mainly endangered via these foreign countries; they may well find it inopportune to send representatives at lengthy distances to the capitol, however when it came to safety and security they would get a lot from a national government which was strong (Dietze p10). Madison also states that the member of each of the two branch must not be too reliant on the members of the other branches in the regarding salaries. The finest security in opposition to a slow application of power in any one branch is to give constitutional safeguards that may concentration like this one hard. He thought that they may not want to acknowledge that men misuse power, however the very requirement for government is enough proof that men tend to misuse their power , "if all people were angels, then there would be no need for a government." He believed that regrettably, all men are deficient, the rulers as well as those who are being ruled. Thus, the huge problem in shaping a government is that the government should be capable enough to control the people, but in an equal manner what is important, should be made to control itself. The fact that the government is dependant the wish of the majority is certainly the most excellent control, according to him but the past makes it essential that controls should be used. James Madison claimed that the Constitution was less dangerous that it looked because the separation of powers protected people from tyrannical abuse. The Federalists compile a group of essays, known as The Federalist Papers. In No. 51, Madison insisted that the division of powers and they system of checks and balances would protect Americans from the tyranny of centralized authority. He wrote that opposite motives among government office holders were good, and was one of the advantages of a big government with different demographics. In No. 51, he said that there was no need to fear factions, for not enough power would be given to the faction forming people; thus, they wouldn't become tyrannical (Hamilton etal p128). Dividing power assists in checking its growth in any one path, however power cannot be distributed equally, the legislative branch is has more authority in the republican form of government. That is reason as to why the congress was divided in two by the farmers, one was the House of Representatives and the other was Senate, and they also opted for a different process of election in every branch. Further protection in opposition to legislative oppression might be essential. In a representative democracy it is not just essential to safeguard in opposition to the tyranny of rulers, it is just as vital to safeguard against the prejudice which might be caused via particular citizens or groups. Majorities frequently endanger minority's rights. Evil can be avoided by two ways. The first is to create an influential government, a "community will," a "will' like this is stronger than, and sovereign of, the majority. This "solution" is unsafe as such a government may impose its power on a particular group in society which is working against the good of the public. He believed that in America the authority to govern comes from the entire society the people. And under the Constitution society is separated into a lot of a group of people who hold special views and have diverse interests. This makes it extremely hard for just one group to control or intimidate the minority groups. He thought that Justice should be the objective of every government as well as civil society. If government permits or supports groups which are strong to unite against the groups which are weak, then freedom will be nowhere to be found and this will result in a rebellion. And the state of turmoil easily tempts any kind of strong individual as well as groups to surrender to any type of government, no matter how awful, which they expect will guard them as well as the feeble. Madison concluded that he gave the prior arguments as he is certain that those who will not pay attention to those "forecasters of gloominess" who state that the future government are unfeasible. For this founding father, it is hard to believe that these murky voices propose leaving of the thought of uniting in strength the states still interests them. Madison in the end also states that "according to the extent of happiness and pleasure we sense in being Republicans must to be our enthusiasm in valuing the spirit and sustaining the temperament of Federalists. Conclusion James Madison's 51st federalist paper has strong arguments which make the reader clearly understand the entire frame work of the government. Especially arguments like how power in the hands of majorities could be misused. All in all his arguments were well organized; I would say that from all the federalist papers James Madison's 51st federalist paper is the best one. Work Cited Hamilton Alexander, Madison James, Jay John; the Federalist Papers, Hayes Signet; Reissue edition 1960 p128 Dietze, Gottfried, The Federalist: A Classic on Federalism and Free Government. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 p10. Read More