Why has the U.S. government been successful in maintaining a republic? The answer lies in the ingenious founding fathers, who at once recognized the importance of liberty balanced with the importance of a strong but just government, and laid out a plan that has been in use for over 200 years.
In Federalist Essay #10, Madison explains that form of government best-suited for America is a republic. He begins by stating that in any society, there will always be “factions” of people that are united “by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” He states the importance of creating a system of government in which factions can be either be prevented from gaining traction or effectively managed so they do not dictate measures that would only be of interest only to their own members. Madison explains,
“Those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, . . . a landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a monied interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern Legislation.”
Society should not be influenced by a group of people acting only in their own interests, but it is impossible to stop these groups from forming. Madison proposes that the only way to manage the factions is to their effects.
The way this is achieved in today’s constitution is in a representative form of government where different factions are checked against each other, attempting to prevent either one from gaining complete control over the country. If in one state, there is a “rage for paper money, for abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project,” it will not spread to other states like a fire, but instead remain in only one.
Federalist Essay #51 focuses on the necessity of a system of checks and balances in America’s government. The importance of this system arises from human nature to act in one’s own self interest if one has the power to do so, as is addressed in this excerpt:
“Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal … Ambition must be made to counteract ambition … It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
This general idea was recognized in a variety of ways by different philosophers before the time of Madison. How it was argued differs, but most agree upon one thing: because of human nature to act in self-interest, a government is necessary. Baron de Montesquieu, answering the question of how to ensure the government does not abuse its power, wrote of the system of checks and balances, which is in use in our government today.
Madison adopted this solution in his essay, explaining that in American government, “each may be a check on the other; that the private interest of every individual, may be a sentinel over the public rights.” In this way, each section (legislative, executive, and judicial) should have power over the other two, and in return, the others have power to keep it in place, preventing any one section from becoming too powerful.
Much like Essay #10, which explains the importance of preventing any faction from gaining control over the country, Essay #51 focuses on preventing individuals from gaining too much power and therefore abusing it by acting selfish. Both essays also point out that these measures are necessary because humans inherently act thinking of themselves instead of others. The systems mentioned in these essays are crucial to the success of American-style government today.
I liked that you pointed out, that in the Federalist essay #10, Madison explains that in order to prevent factions from creating some sort of disruption in the community, it is important to maintain the citizens with common passions and interests in order to avoid groups from forming with their own passions and interests. Of course it can be seen that this is almost impossible to keep every single person passionate about common things, but it has been possible to have at least the majority of citizens have a common interest to pursue.
ReplyDeleteI like how you use Madison's thoughts on factions and connect theme to how the government/ Constitution is made to manage them and continues to do so.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the necessity of having checks for both factions and individuals. It's interesting that the conflict between different powers can escalate, but still check each others' powers.
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