Why Does the American Form of Government Work?

Why Does the American Form of Government Work?

Federalist 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."


Madison says through this section that even if destroying a factions right to free speech is the easiest way to get rid of it, by doing so you also destroy the political life of your nation. This is obviously a really important idea in America, the right to free speech and differing political opinion.


Federalist 10: "The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.
The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose. On the other hand, the effect may be inverted. Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people."

Madison's distinctions between creating a pure democracy and a republic were essential to the formation of the structure of government we know today. He argues that a democracy would not create a clear vision of public view, to refine the views of the crowds through a more intelligent and put together citizen. He does also recognize that corruption isn't impossible, and that someone could lie to corrupt the word of the people to his own agenda. 

Federalist 51: "In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others."

The three branches of our government are all created to keep each other in check, so no one branch can go and ruin everything. They're also set up so that the branches can't go and ruin each other, because they are independent.

Federalist 51: "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger; and as, in the latter state, even the stronger individuals are prompted, by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the weak as well as themselves; so, in the former state, will the more powerful factions or parties be gradually induced, by a like motive, to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the more powerful."

This passage is an extension of that American spirit of chasing justice and defending the weak, but it also does serve a very practical purpose. It states that the government treats parties equally, so that all states are represented fairly.