Federalist HW - Homework on James Madison original paper PDF

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Homework on James Madison original paper...

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Questions for Federalist #10 1. How does Madison define “faction”? What are some examples of factions today? Madison defines a faction as a number of citizens, not necessarily a majority, who are united and actuated by a cause that is adverse to the remaining citizens or to the aggregate interest of the community. Factions today include interests groups like the NRA. 2. What are the two methods of curing the mischiefs caused by factions? The two methods are by removing the causes of the factions, and by controlling the effects of factions 3. What are the two ways of eliminating the causes of faction? Why are both unacceptable? The first way of eliminating the causes of faction is to destroy the liberty of people, thereby not even allowing factions to form. The second way is to ensure a uniformity of interests among all the people so that all people are always united in every cause. The first is unacceptable as liberty is the basis of political life. The second is impractical people are allowed to acquire different amounts of kinds of properties and as a natural consequence will always accordingly split into different interests and parties. 4. According to Madison, what is the primary cause of conflict? The primary cause of conflict is the possession of different degrees and kinds of property by people, which naturally causes them to have different interests and hence form factions. 5. What issues divided mankind in 1787? Are those issues similar to the causes of today’s divisions? Issues that divided mankind in 1787 were things like property – people with and without land, debtors and creditors, and specific interests like manufacturing interests and other mercantile interests. All these interests are quite similar to the ones that exist today, although there are many others as well.

6. What are the two remedies for controlling the effects of factions? The first remedy is to prevent the existence of the same passion in a majority of the people at the same time. The second is when, in spite of the first remedy, the same passion has anyway manifested in a majority, to render them unable to carry out their scheme of oppression. 7. Why are factions more easily controlled in large republics?

In large republics, the task of government is carried out only by a small set of elected representatives, and since the republic is large the representatives themselves are many in number. The tendency of oppression by the majority is checked because the elected representatives, who are likely to be people of greater wisdom than the average citizen, will be able to reject taking any oppressive action. Furthermore, even if in a small republic it is possible to have a set of corrupt representatives who favor oppressive actions of the majority, it is less likely to happen in a large set of representatives of a large republic. There would likely be many who disagree and thereby prevent the oppressive action. 8. How does federalism control factions? Federalism controls factions because there are two sets of elected representatives (federal government and state government) who have authority over the same region. The power of factions in one is checked by the other. 9. What portions of Madison’s argument are the most persuasive? What is the least persuasive? The most persuasive portion of Madison’s argument is his recognition that human nature will always lead to the creation of factions in government and that only the effects of factions can be controlled. The least persuasive portion is that the election of representatives will likely prevent the formation of oppressive majorities within the elected representatives.

10. Does Madison have an optimistic or pessimistic view of human nature? How did this viewpoint impact the drafting of the constitution? Madison had a pessimistic view of human nature, because he believed that people could always be susceptible to following their immediate self-interest rather than that which results in the public good. This viewpoint made the drafting of the constitution be constantly watchful of not allowing power to be granted unchecked to any governing entity, resulting in federalism, a system of checks and balances, and a separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary. 11. Was Madison right, or have factions sometimes gained control of our government? Factions have never gained control of our government as there has always been a two party system in the government....