Madison's Form of Government

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the advantages of a republican form of government in the United States, according to James Madison in "The Federalist Papers: No. 10." The paper discusses how it was that the new American republic would be able to control factions. It then describes why Madison's views were a powerful argument to Americans in 1788.

From the Paper:

"This argument was especially attractive in 1789, when the new nation was forming, because relations between Northern and Southern states were already quite tense regarding the status of slavery. The South wanted a loose confederation to keep its slave status, but the Founding Fathers believed a stronger federal authority was necessary. By having elected representatives, interests could be advocated on a state-by-state basis, rather than by sheer, numerical popular will of all of the states. This would satisfy the desires of Southern states for some regional expression of slave interests. But in a republican form of government, if one state had an interest that was at odds with the rest of the union, because of the nature of republicanism, it could not dominate all the other states. "The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States.""

Sample of Sources Used:

• Madison, James. "The Federalist Papers: No. 10" The Avalon Project. Yale University. 13 Oct 2007. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed10.htm

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