why does the American Form of Government Work?

Katherine Mumm, Period 5
When discussing any form of government, it is important to look at the basics of its functions. The American federal government has many functions, including centralization of currency, control of the military, and the ability to pass laws. However, one fundamental and primary function of the American government is the ability to control the population and maintain order where chaos could ensue.
James Madison discusses this function in his Federalist Article No. 10. He recognizes the presence, and danger, or factions in an unchecked society. He says that in any area there are two fundamental factions, "those who are creditors, and those who are debtors." When discussing these two groups, it is so often that they fall under a "like discrimination", where the majority will oppress the minority if they can, and the minority once it becomes the majority will proceed likewise. Madison continues to describe how there can never be a "small democracy" if those who are in government want to "cure the mischief of factions" and their ability to leave the country in shambles. He says that in order to help rid the faction's power of oppression, we must control their effects, and his proposition is a republic. This republic would consist of a couple people designated to have a larger impact over the states, and would therefore be able to effectively control the effects of the factions formed in each state.
The reason this sounds so familiar is because our government has a similar approach to the power of the republic (now called the senate and house of representatives). Because we have a hierarchical approach to government, where the federal government can overrule the state government, and the states can pass laws to control the people, then we see a system put into place where any factions formed can be controlled.
While speaking of structure, we see another article, no. 51 by Madison come into play again. In this article, Madison chose to discuss how there could be two possibilities for a strong centralized American republic. "First. In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of government into distinct and separate departments." - James Madison, Article no. 51.We will focus on the first, because it pertains to our governmental structure today. Here Madison describes the republic being divided into "distinct and separate departments". This is a key idea of Madison's because at the time the people were most afraid of a dictator coming up and ruling over the people once again. Here we see that the separation of powers will allow for no usurpation, and therefore no rising up. This relates to the previous argument of a republic to control factions, because again it focuses on the control of the effects of powerful political parties in America. This segways into why the American Federal Government has been moderately successful through the years; our government is able to maintain control over our groups and prevent any one powerful political party from taking over and creating a dictatorial nation. Overall, we have maintained control over our factions and created a government where usurpation of power is practically impossible, which in terms of the goals for the colonists is a huge success.