Importance Of Fanctions In The Federalist Papers
In high school, during lunchtime one, would be able to witness different cliques the popular kids, skaters, and, etc. They separate themselves into groups with like-minded people, this is exactly what a faction is. A faction today would be the NAACP in which people fight for African Americans’ rights. Factions are important because they can help educate and unite people and fight for injustices. Sometimes though, large factions can intimidate other factions causing them to take over just like how popular people in school, would dominate other students. This is what Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wanted to prevent. Federalist papers 10, 51, and 70 showcases how tyranny caused by large factions can be stopped.
Federalist paper 10 mentions how factions need to be controlled because Madison feared that, “the unpropertied classes would come together to form a majority faction that gained control of the government” (Lang 9). Tyranny of the masses is the last thing he wanted which is why he came up with the solution to control the effects of factions. He must focus on the effects because he also wanted to protect people’s liberty, not allowing them to form factions would be denying them of their liberty. Madison figures that a large republic will be able to control the negative effects of factions without getting rid of their liberty.
Madison says, “if men were angels, no government would be necessary” this is a good summary of federalist paper 51. In this paper Madison goes into detail about how a large republic would function and help, with the negative effects of factions, he previously mentioned in federalist paper 10. He mentions how this government would function by having three different branches, legislative, executive, and judicial. This information sounds intimidating so Madison makes a note of saying that just because the government is large, it doesn’t mean it would suppress peoples’ liberty. If they had a smaller government it would be easier for the people in charge to be bought by a large faction resulting in tyranny, but with a large government, every faction will have a chance to speak up about their issues. A large republic is good because it means there would also be a large number of people who would separate themselves into smaller factions. This is good because it prevents the issue of one large faction forming and dominating everyone. The takeaway is that a large government that’s separated by three branches would protect people’s liberty and protect them from having large factions take over.
In federalist paper 70, Hamilton expresses how there needs to be one leader in charge of the republic. If there happened to be an issue, there would be one specific person to count on instead of wondering who must be held accountable. The president would also further prevent tyranny because he would be able to veto laws, he finds unjust or that could give too much power to one faction. Of course, the president would have to be someone who won’t use their power for the worse which is why he must get paid so it would be less likely for him to accept money in return for favors. A powerful and honest president is necessary for this republic to succeed and prevent any faction from taking over.
In conclusion factions are something the authors of the federalist papers were worried about. They wanted to prevent one large faction from taking over causing tyranny. To prevent this from happening they designed a plan that consists of a large republic. In federalist paper 10 he explains why we need to control the negative effects of factions, federalist paper 51 explains the concept of checks and balances and how it would help prevent large factions, and paper 70 explains how we need one guy in power that would be held accountable and further prevent tyranny. Together these papers help control large factions without getting rid of liberty.
Works Cited
- LANG, ROGER E. ETHICS, GOVERNMENT, AND PRESIDENTS. LANG Book Publishing, LIM, 2018.
