Madison's Views On The Federalist Essay

Madison addresses the concerns of the Federalist by first defining factions. “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” (Madison). Then he suggests that the only two ways to deal with the problem are to either eliminate factions by removing their causes or limit their impact by controlling their effects. From this portion of the essay, my understanding is that since people have their own self-interests and these self-interests clash with others, the government needs to be able to pass laws for the common good of all instead of any one specific group. This idea

Madison argues that the new government would be able to protect the nation but reassured readers that it would not be strong enough to take away people’s freedom. Their powers would be limited and regulated through federalism and the separation of powers. This is a republic based on the consent of the governed people. All in all, it is way more cost-efficient to run a union government than to support 13 separate governments. Finding administration for each state would be more expensive to staff the separate governments, not to mention funding for their own security and defense. We see this here that Madison eases the concerns of the Anti-Federalists and persuades the Federalist by stating “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking. Let us examine the points in which it varies from pure democracy, and we shall comprehend both the nature of the cure and the efficacy which it must derive from the