James Madison's Essay On Federalist 10

The political theory of that states that all interest groups should compete for influence in the government is formally referred to as pluralism. James Madison understood that there will always be a conflict of interests in a society, resulting from factions, and instead of trying to remove the factions, he sought to control their effects. He illustrates how this can be done in his essay, Federalist 10, while he argues in favor of a representative form of government, that includes separated powers. He believed that if there were multiple factions competing for influence, the governments interests would shift from term to term due to the changing factions in office. This type of majority rule is referred to as a Madisonian Majority, which is

Under this type of government one groups interests are always expressed, and consequently, there is always a perpetual loser. This is not what Madison had in mind when he wrote Federalist 10, instead he argues that as long as there are multiple factions competing, the control, and therefore interests of the government should be moderate, as well as changing. He goes into more depth, arguing that a representative form of government is ideal, due to the representative’s ability to effectively represent smaller populations, such as states. He continues to explain that factitious leaders might be able to “kindle a flame”, but would be unable to progress their movement throughout the states due to a series of checks and balances. He describes to the reader that each branch of the government would have some control over the other, balancing out the governmental power, thus keeping the effects of factions to a minimum. Madison makes a compelling, and intelligent argument in Federalist 10. As stated previously, he builds this argument on the assumption that factions are part of human nature, and thus, cannot be controlled. This is key because most, if not all readers would agree they prefer to associate politically with like-minded people. This opens the door for Madison to further his argument by explaining how he plans to control the inevitable effects of factions. This is one of the strongest points of Madison’s argument, he simply explains how the power will be strategically divided, limiting the faction’s