"All men are created equal" is a phrase that has been taken for granted, and yet disproven many times throughout American history. And yet still it prevails, despite either its ambiguity or its idealism, depending on how it is interpreted. From the Native Americans to the African Americans to the Japanese, this phrase has been challenged countless times, and yet every time it still stands strong. This is a testament to the strong structure of the American government and its ability to protect the rights of the minority parties. 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.
Federalist No. 10:
"There are again two
methods of removing the causes of
faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its
existence;
the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same
passions, and
the same interests.
It could never be more
truly said than of the first
remedy, that it was worse than the disease. 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."
In this passage, Madison discusses possible ways in which the causes of faction can be removed. Specifically, he discusses the effects of taking the liberty that allows allows factions away. He expresses his disgust for the idea, for taking liberty away is "worse that the disease" of factions.From this, it can be inferred that one of America's driving causes is the preservation of liberty. It is easily seen how central of an issue liberty was to the founding fathers. And yet, it is equally true that the "disease" of factions is an incontrovertible "symptom" of liberty. As Madison puts it, "Liberty is to faction as air is to fire." He then goes on to explain this, stating that even though fire is volatile dangerous, you would not take air away to forever douse it. In the same way, even though factions are volatile and dangerous, you would not take away that essential liberty to smite it.
This passage show that, although the founding fathers were wary of the possibility of overwhelming majorities made by factions, they were not willing to take away the liberty that is indispensable to political life.
"The other point of
difference is, the greater number of
citizens and extent of territory which may be brought within the
compass of
republican than of democratic government; and it is this circumstance
principally which 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; or
if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who
feel it to
discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other.
Besides other
impediments, it may be remarked that, where there is a consciousness of
unjust
or dishonorable purposes, communication is always checked by distrust
in
proportion to the number whose concurrence is necessary."
This passage states how the Constitution intends to deflect the aforementioned dangers of factions, which consist principally of the fact that a faction with a majority can easily gain control of the entire nation. Madison contrasts the likeliness of faction within the smaller democratic nations and the larger republican nations.Madison argues that within smaller nations, there will be less faction - less parties and less interests - simply by cause of human nature. Because there is less faction in a smaller nation, he continues, so there were more likely be a faction that will always have the majority, and so will lead the nation no matter that it is a democracy. Within a larger nation, however, its citizens will most likely have a more diverse set of parties and interests. He then admits that humans are human and may truly want to "invade the rights of other citizens," but that within a larger nation, it is unlikely that they will make up a majority. Or, if they do, they will be unlikely to trust each other enough to work together.
From this, it is shown how the American Constitution protects against faction by utilizing a republican government. With a large republic, the people will always be split into numerous different interest groups, with numerous different motives. As such, it is nigh impossible for enough such groups to work together to form a majority in order to repress a minority interest group. This protects the rights of all people within the United States, and not just the majority.
Federalist No. 51:
"But the great security
against a gradual concentration of
the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those
who
administer each department the necessary constitutional means and
personal
motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for
defense must in
this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of
attack.
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. A
dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the
government;
but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary
precautions."
Madison writes this passage to underline the both the necessity on controls within the government and the corruptibility of humans. After stating that all branches of government must be kept as separate entities, he acknowledges that each branch's power may start to encroach upon the others', by design of those within each branch or not. This, he states, makes it necessary for each branch to hold a measure of power over the others, or, a "check". Thus, when one branch covets the power of another, the other branches can keep their powers balanced, so that they have a chance at gaining power or they simply want to keep the separate branches balanced. Madison once again includes a reflection on the corruptibility of humans, stating that if men were angels, there would be no need for government at all, let alone checks on the power of the government.
This passage once again demonstrates the dedication of the Constitution to preserving liberty. Even though the people themselves, already stated to be separated into multiple factions so that none would gain the majority, vote for their representatives, it is acknowledged within the Constitution that those representatives, once in the federal government, may want for even more power. Thus, even though their powers are checked by the people, their powers are also checked by their peers.
"It is of great importance in a republic
not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but
to guard
one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.
Different
interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a
majority be
united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be
insecure. There
are but two methods of providing against this evil: the one by creating
a will
in the community independent of the majority -- that is, of the society
itself;
the other, by comprehending in the society so many separate
descriptions of
citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the
whole very
improbable, if not impracticable... The second
method will
be exemplified in the federal republic of the United States. Whilst all
authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the
society
itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of
citizens,
that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little
danger
from interested combinations of the majority. In a free government the
security
for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It
consists in
the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the
multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend
on the
number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on
the extent
of country and number of people comprehended under the same government."
This passage explicitly states how the Constitution deals with the issue of the rights of minority groups. Madison states that this issue is one that holds great importance within a republic, and there are only two methods with which to deal with it. The first is to create a "separate will" that is not governed by the majority, and thus will protect the minority groups. But this would destroy the very idea of a republic, and so the United States uses the second method, which is to make it so that having a majority with which to take the rights of the minority away very difficult. This is achieved with the aforementioned method which was used to control faction groups.
Although the idea of deliberately making sure that factions are completely split up and separate does not strictly comply with the ideas of a republic, the solution that it gives is one that is completely compliant to those selfsame ideals. In a republic, the rights of the citizens must be equal, or some semblance of such, for it to truly be a republic. If America was truly to work on the idea of "majority rules", it would be a simple thing for any minority party to have their rights arbitrarily taken away.
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