Questions
1) What are the roots of "instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils"?
2) Is faction acceptable in small amounts?
3) Is the number of representatives that Madison refers to in the second half mainly about the Virginia and New Jersey Plans?
4) Aren't there other methods of removing the causes of faction?
5) Is there a way to guarantee that a reliable person will be in a position of power? It doesn't seem like Madison trusts the people enough to let them have complete control of everything.
Quotes
1) "Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens... that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party..."
It is interesting that a man in power, such as Madison, would know the opinion of the average citizen. Normally, one would think that he would not care at all. I wonder if he had these things in mind while the Constitution was being written.
2) "As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves."
I simply like this statement since it is true to me. If one has an opinion on something, he/she would normally be very passionate about that topic. If one really likes psychology, for example, they have a positive opinion toward it. Naturally, that same person is probably passionate about learning the subject since they like it so much. It is not passions that shape opinions; it is opinions that shape passions.
3) "A zeal for different opinions.... disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities..."
This excerpt is especially interesting since Madison basically states that it is human nature to want to pick fights with people. Could it be because of our natural survival instinct? Or is it a matter of personality - for example, the more stubborn and outspoken a person is, the more likely they will get in an argument?
4) "By enlarging too much the number of electors, you render the representatives too little acquainted with all their local circumstances and lesser interests; as by reducing it too much, you may render him unduly attached to these, and too little fit to comprehend and pursue great and national objects."
This is an example of the balance of power between the people and the representatives (sort of). One has to make sure there are not too few representatives in the House and not too many. I sometimes wonder how each district is split up.
5) "The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country...."
This, again, is the idea of a representative democracy. Citizens select people to represent them the the government. Madison trusts the public - to an extent. He says that people should have their own say in government but not directly.
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The Federalist No. 51
Questions
1) What exactly are the "exterior provisions [that] are found to be inadequate"?
2) What is meant by an "absolute negative"?
3)The government is to guard the injustice of the minority but the "many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable" - what does that mean?
4) If the "society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, how will "the rights of individuals, or of the minority," be in "little danger from interested combinations of the majority"? Won't the rights be in even more danger?
5) How exactly is justice the end of government and civil society?
Quotes
1) "...It is evident that each department should have a will of its own..."
Madison is establishing the idea of separation of power here.
2) "Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another."
Madison is outlining the idea of a representative democracy; the people in the three branches, after all, came from one body. People elect others to represent them in government. Also, here, he is going back to the idea that the government exists only because the people allow it to.
3) "It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others..."
This is the concept of separation of power. Each branch has its own unique powers; those powers can balance the powers of other branches as well as be checked by powers of other branches.
4) "If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
I love how blunt Madison is here; he knows that humankind is not always good and acknowledges the fact that someone needs to lay law and order.
5) "In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments."
We talked about the issue about the powers that the federal and states governments have. The ability to make treaties, for example, goes solely to the federal government, while education is controlled by both.
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