Why does the American form of government work?

The American form of government works because it is a smartly sized and structured representative republic and because the different branches of government balance checks and balances on each other with the right amount of independence and differentiation from each other.

The tenth essay expresses that the American form of government works because it is a large republic (as opposed to a direct democracy or a small republic) and because its legislative system has a smart size and division; these features establish the Union as a means of controlling and mitigating the effects of domestic faction, insurrection, and oppression. Madison writes, “From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual.” By this statement, he means that under a direct democracy, it is easy for a faction to score a political victory and oppress the people when the faction forms the majority of the citizens of a democracy (which, as he points out, is almost always the case). Thus, Madison implies that since the United States government uses a representative system that is hard to sway radically because of its vast and varied population, it acts as a deterrent to insurrection by factions. Therefore, the government works. Madison also emphasizes the strategic size and scope of the legislative system as an effective barrier to factious oppression: “In the first place, it is to be remarked that, however small the republic may be, the representatives must be raised to a certain number, in order to guard against the cabals of a few; and that, however large it may be, they must be limited to a certain number, in order to guard against the confusion of a multitude… 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 render him unduly attached to these, and too little fit to comprehend and pursue great and national objects. The federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures.” In this passage, Madison explains how the size of the US legislature is of the perfect size to neither be swayed by a few radicals nor be swamped by indecisive masses. He also states that the separation between national and state legislatures further strengthens the system because it allows representatives to focus on the most important issues within their appropriate scopes.

In the fifty-first essay, Madison writes that checks and balances in a system where judicial, legislative, and executive powers are separated equally contributes to a functioning government. He writes, “The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.” This statement emphasizes how the separated branches of government must check and balance each other in order for the government to serve its people and avoid corruption and power abuse. Madison also underscores the importance of the separation and independence of different departments of government: “In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit.” This passage explains how the branches of government must be separated and be as different as possible so as to be independent of each other’s influences. This independence and separation must hold true in order for the government to function.

http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-federalist-papers/the-federalist-10.php
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-federalist-papers/the-federalist-51.php