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An Analysis Of James Madison's Ideal Form Of Government

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The quote from James Madison consists of two parts. First is his statement that “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” This is an affirmation of John Locke’s social contract theory which seemed to be widely accepted at the time. That is to say, without laws the state of human nature is chaos, but by agreeing to a social contract in the form of laws and government, order and harmony emerge. If men were angels, their nature would not be towards chaos, and thusly no social contract would be necessary. Since men are not angels, government is needed to maintain order.
The second states that “If angels were to govern men, neither external or internal controls on a government would be necessary.” Madison acknowledges that since people are fallible, those who lead must not be allowed absolute power. A perfect ruler would be the ideal form of government, a perfect ruler does not exist, and even if one did, they would eventually be followed by an imperfect one. As such, the government must be structured in such a way to prevent outstandingly imperfect leaders from causing too much damage. This is the idea behind the checks and balances of our Madisonian democracy.
In Madison’s model, the power is …show more content…

The 20th amendment in simply changed the date of the presidential inauguration to be earlier, and the 21st repealed prohibition, both being ratified in 1933. In 1951 the 22nd amendment limited presidential terms to ten years. The 23rd granted representation to the District of Columbia in 1961, and the 24th banned poll taxes in 1964. Ratified in 1967, the 25th spelled out how a president would be succeeded and outlined a procedure for filling the vice presidency. The 26th in 1971 expanded voting rights to those over 18 years old, and the 27th in 1992 prevented senators from increasing their pay in the middle of a

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