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Analyzing James Madison's Essay 'The Federalist'

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Federalist Precis A group of like-minded men who are considered to be the “Founding Fathers” of America, made up of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, wrote and published a group essay so to speak, under the pseudonym “Publius” (which refers to one of four roman aristocrats who overthrew a monarchy) full of their collected individual essays and entitled the collected group works “The Federalist” (1787). The 14th essay, a work of Madison, is deemed to be of particular importance in which Madison argues against critics that claim America is too large to be governed as a republic, and explains the concept of central government in the interest for the people, by the people. Madison furthers his argument by explaining the benefits of unity, and that a republic in the mold of America has never been seen before and requires the utmost unity for it to be successful. Madison effectively argues by addressing the counterargument in the opening paragraphs, which allows the audience to consider all the points of views and thus see the logic in Madison’s argument as he explains by saying: …show more content…

A democracy, consequently, will be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region” (Madison 1) He also explains his second point by appealing to Americans’ hearts as well as their heads. By demonstrating that there has never been a republic like America has never been seen before, he stirs up a spirit of patriotism and deep will for freedom and all the citizens of this new, emerging nation by

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