An Analysis of Federalist No. 51 and Madison’s Argument for the Constitution

Last Updated: 28 Feb 2023
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Federalist No. 51 is one of the essays among a collection that James Madison wrote in favor of the Constitution. In this essay, Madison provides an argument for Constitution by building on his previous argument in Federalist No. 10, and stating how the suggested vision he sees for the Constitution presented. In his essay will provide a platform and nation where liberty is attainable. Rather than overpowering one part of the government as most nations did. Madison suggested a structure for the government. Where there were multiple and equally powerful constituents. This paper will attempt to analyze Madison's argument for the Constitution to show. That Madison foresaw a visionary Constitution for the United States. And he provides a structure that ensures power doesn't stay in the hands of a single person. Moreover, Madison's vision of the United States consisted of the people having power. As he ensured that through the structure he provides there is no danger of being harmed by the violence of factions and obsessive political parties.

Madison states that the method to integrate the separation of powers to ensure. The avoidance of factions is to engineer "the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places" (Madison, 1787). Madison wished to accomplished this by granting each division of the government with its own will power, by making sure that each division is independent enough on its own so that it doesn't need to rely on the other divisions of the government, and by creating a patriotic environment within the government and society that aims to eliminate personal motivations and ambitions within divisions of the government that could pose a possible damage or threat to the overall structure: "The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others... Ambition counteract ambition." (Madison, 1787). Ultimately, Madison strived to create a government where rather than the existence of factions there can be the existence of different divisions within the government who can be given the necessary constitutional means to exercise their own decisions and rights, eliminating a competitive society and rather creating a patriotic government.

In Madison's plan, which can be seen as the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branch as it is today, although each division exercises their own respective powers and laws, each one also has a power that prevents them being overthrown by the other two, However, Madison gives further guidelines for the structure of the govemment by explaining that the legislative branch would need to be separated even more into the House of Representatives and the Senate, because relative to the other two divisions, it holds too much power by itself. Additionally, for the Judicial branch to be fair in relation to the other branches of the Constitution, Madison proposed that the members of this branch must be chosen by the President himself, but with the Senate's approval from the Legislative branch. Madison's reasoning for this is to ensure the judicial branch is filled with qualified candidates rather than temporary figures.

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As can be seen through Madison's argument in his Federalist No. 51 essay, the establishment of a democratic-republic within the United States through a Constitution that consists of three separate branches that have their respective powers can promise liberty for its citizens through avoiding the accumulation of power in the hands of a single group with their particular economic and political interests. And Constitution by building on his previous argument in Federalist No. 10, and stating how the suggested vision.

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An Analysis of Federalist No. 51 and Madison’s Argument for the Constitution. (2023, Feb 23). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/an-analysis-of-federalist-no-51-and-madisons-argument-for-the-constitution/

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