Why does the American form of government work?

In the Federalist Essay No. 10, Madison explains how he believes a republic is better than a true democracy because of its ability to deal with factions more effectively.  Hamilton explains what a faction is in the quote "By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." A faction is a group of people who have a specific view that maybe does not reflect the wishes of others in the community.  An example of a faction could be the Republican party.  Furthermore in the quote " When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed."  A true democracy that gives power to the majority through voting would allow a faction of the majority to get exactly what they want.  It would not matter if 49% of the population was against a measure, nor would it matter what the measure is, so long as the majority is voting in favor of it.  This would allow a majority group to legally suppress the rights of minorities.  An exaggerated example would be if all the puritans who are the majority voted to enslave all the Catholics who are a minority.  There needs to be some check to voters power.  That is why Madison suggests republicanism as a more effective system of government.  Hence, it clearly appears, that the same advantage which a republic has over a democracy, in controlling the effects of faction, is enjoyed by a large over a small republic,--is enjoyed by the Union over the States composing it. Does the advantage consist in the substitution of representatives whose enlightened views and virtuous sentiments render them superior to local prejudices and schemes of injustice?  The system Madison suggests resembles our government today.  People do not vote for the laws they want passed, they vote for the people to represent them and make an educated decision.  This serves as an extra precaution against factions because although the revolution was fought to bring power to the people, the regular person cannot fully be trusted to make the best decisions for the state.   Thus the power cannot be fully invested in them alone.

In the Federalist Essay No. 51, Madison advocates for a separation of powers in the government.  Madison favors a system of government with checks and balances so that the power is not invested in one individual like the king, which is what the revolution was fought for.  Separation of powers would be a check against tyranny.  It would also prevent all the power from being put in the hands of the wealthy elites which is what Bacon's rebellion was fought over.  Specifically the type of branches that Madison wants is shown in the quote "Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistrates should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another."  This mirrors the ideas of Baron de Montesquieu, a french enlightenment thinker.  Montesquieu thought that if these three branches were all given 1/3rd of the power, no one leader or group could take control.  Today we have a president, the congress, and the supreme court.  This is exactly what Madison was in favor of because the president is the executive, the congress is the legislative branch and the supreme court is the judicial.  Although we think that the president is the most powerful of the branches today, Madison thought that the legislative was the strongest "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. It may even be necessary to guard against dangerous encroachments by still further precautions. As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified."  Our legislative branch is divided into the congress and the senate just like Madison suggested.  The main argument is contained within the quote "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. Second. 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."  This embodies the ideas of John Locke that their is a social contract that the people surrender a little bit of their freedom to the government in exchange for its protection.  To make sure that this contract is honored, the three branches exist as a means to protect the people from the absolute rule of the other.

In conclusion, the federalist essays show the reasoning behind the system of government that we have adopted today.  It shows that the American government is a very complex system that works because it has many precautions that can prevent the freedoms of all from being infringed upon by a party, branch or person with more power.  It works because it predicts that everyone is selfish and out for their own gain.  That way it is certain that everyone will be equal and America will never go down the road of tyranny and the suppression of liberty.

Source: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed51.asp