Why the American Form of Government Works

“The greater number of citizens and extent of territory which may be brought within the compass of republican than of democratic government...renders factious combinations less to be dreaded in the former than in the latter. The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it; the fewer the distinct parties and interests, the more frequently will a majority be found of the same party; and the smaller the number of individuals composing a majority, and the smaller the compass within which they are placed, the more easily will they concert and execute their plans of oppression. Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens.”

In the Federalist Paper No. 10, James Madison, under the alias Publius, advocates the use of a republican government over a democratic one. Oftentimes in a small society a uniformity will develop in the population, Madison argues, and this development of a majority faction will cause the oppression of those not in the majority. When the United States was a young country, despite its diversity, it was comprise mostly of citizen of European descent. When immigrants from China and other Asian countries came, they faced much discrimination and oppression by the European majority.

However, over time, the United States has grown, along with its cultural diversity. Because we have “extend[ed] the sphere” of our nation, we have diluted the power of the majority. With so many nationalities and opinions in our country, the majority no longer has the ability to oppress minorities it might come into conflict with as easily as it had been in the past as a smaller nation. 

“ Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.”

Despite the fact that the growth of the country would soon balance out the power of factions, in the present time of Madison, he wished to find a solution to this issue to prevent the oppression of any beneath this new nation. Wary of small groups within the people, Madison was more adverse to the idea of banning them no matter the damage they might cause. For, he said, despite the fact that freedom is the lifeblood of factions, nevertheless, it is “essential to political life”, and to take away this liberty would be like “wishing the annihilation of air”. In this statement Madison reaffirms the principles of liberty and freedom that this nation was founded upon. By refusing to encroach on the rights of the people, he set a precedent for justice and tolerance.

Had Madison endorsed the destruction of liberty as means of abolishing all factions within society, he would have destroyed the foundation of this country, without which it could not stand. This adherence to liberty and the rights of all men equally have allowed the American government to continue to function with a minimum of oppression from both the government and the factions. 

“In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. 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.”

In the Federalist Paper No. 51, Madison promotes the idea of “checks and balances”, first introduced by the Baron de Montesquieu. In a republic with only one all-powerful branch, there is no insurance against corruption and oppression within the governing. By dividing the administration into “distinct and separate departments”, totally unreliant on each other, each branch is kept in its place by the powers of the other.  This model is superior to that of an undivided republic in that there is little or no opportunity for any one branch to overpower the others on any matter, and thus the law is served with equality. In America this division is taken one step further through power being “subdivided” among the “districts” or states. By allowing each state to have a certain level of governance over some matters, it ensures that the will of the people is carried out fairly and justly in all things. 

“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? 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.”

One of the main reasons that this division of the government is able to function is through the union of the individual ambitions of each branch and politician with that of the government as a whole. The system of checks and balances promoted by Madison in the Federalist Paper No. 51 hinges on this concept, and without the “ambitions made to counteract ambition”, each member of the government would only be looking out for their own self-interest. With this system in place, however, baser instincts such as greed and selfishness are both halted and harnessed. As Madison states, along with controlling the people, the government must be capable of “controlling itself”. Since it is a ruling body consisting of men and not angels, as Madison points out, the government will be subject to all the flaws and impracticalities that are presented by the inherently imperfect nature of man. Thus, these flaws must be kept in mind while shaping the government so that they might not be a hinderance to justice. 

The reason that the American government is able to yet function is because of the relationship between the different branches. Through the system of checks and balances, “usurpations are guarded against”, and “ambition is made to counteract ambition”. The separate branches are forced to remain separate and unallied, but at the same time, it is necessitated that they cooperate both for their own sakes and the sake of the nation. On the basis of this idea rests the power of the American government.