A Study on the Government of the United States of America

The belief that majority rules is a rather popular one in American society. From the casual usage of the phrase, it is evident that it has permeated every layer of our life, starting from the government. However, is it true that, in the American government, majority truly rules? Take the electoral college for example. It is entirely possible for one of the candidates for president to have the popular vote, but the other to decisively win the election. But, in this government, most everything has a reason for being, including this seeming contradiction. The widespread idea that democracy is the leading force in this nation is not, purportedly, wrong. The Federalist Papers offer a comprehensive, though, perhaps, biased, look at the decisions made in the Constitution, as they were printed to promote the ratification of said Constitution. Specifically, Federalist No. 10 focused on how the issue of warring factions were addressed within the Constitution, while Federalist No. 51 focused on the balance of power issues within the three branches of our government.

The aforementioned issue of "majority rules" is addressed in Federalist No. 10, written by James Madison. Madison begins by telling of the tendencies of true democracies to be ruled by factions and, thus, only special interest groups working only for themselves. He argues that, within any truly democratic government, it is easy to sway individuals and create a large majority. It is from this idea that democracies are short lived and violent that he proposes a Republican model for America. He goes on to state that a government in which the representatives, the chosen few, may lead to public good, yet it may also lead to corruption. The solution to this was to have a large nation to govern, and thus a larger population to sway. This would serve to keep corruption at a minimum and factions small and numerous, so that none would gain a decisive majority. Therefore, the basic foundation of the political structure of America is to simultaneously unite and divide. Even as it is necessary for the nation to be large to sustain a republic pledged to the good of the people, the reason that it is necessary to have a large nation is so that there will be numerous special interest groups, all separate from each other and none with a majority. Thus, neither the poor nor the rich, the young nor the old, will be able to steer the country in favour of themselves. Therefore, without demolishing either the freedom that America was founded on or embarking on an impossible quest to make all citizens the same, the factions of America were preserved, and yet pacified. This model manages to maintain the balance between liberty for all and the true interests of the country.

The basic structure of this new model of government - the three branches of government, checks and balances, appointments, was discussed in Madison's The Federalist Essays no. 51. This paper also takes into account the issue of factions, this time not within the nation as a whole, but within the more selective federal government. To prevent a single faction from gaining a majority, he proposed that, just like in the United States as a whole, they split the power into separate branches of government - the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. As James Madison say, "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. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself" (Federalist No. 51). It is, essentially, the same principle as the splitting of the factions in greater America. By creating multiple factions within the government, each with a small measure of power over the others, none will gain a true majority and be able to exercise complete control, as, if the other branches are also seeking this control, they will also seek to control the usurper, and if they are simply working for the good of the country, they will seek to stop the rebellion.

Truly, the foundation behind the government of the United States can be described by one quote: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself" (James Madison, Federalist No. 51). The founding fathers recognized that the people of America were human - prone to mistakes, ambition, and corruption. And yet, they also recognized and mirrored their want for freedom and liberty. The Constitution was almost a merging of the two ideas, allowing both for the freedom of the people, as well as keeping corruption in check and the government directed at the good of the nation. The American Government itself works as both a check against the evils of men, and a way to preserve the freedom and liberty of those selfsame men.