Andrew Hertzoff
Government 150
Paper 1
24 September 2003
Federalist 51: Checks and Balances
The Federalist Number 51, by James Madison, is where the proposal of checks and balances is introduced. The idea of checks and balances is that the government as a whole is split up in to groups and those groups will then “control each other; at the same time that each will be controlled by itself” (317). I accept Madison’s reasoning because it protects not only the citizens of America, but all of the minority groups as well. Madison’s idea was to take the government’s different powers and for each power create a group of people, a branch. In these branches, “each department should have a will of its own” and “members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the [other departments]” (315). The aim of the distribution of power was “to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other” (316). First the government was to be separated in to two “distinct and separate departments” (317), one of which was legislative authority, the dominant group. From these two departments is where the branches would be formed from. Each branch was its own identity, and each would take care of its own business and not fiddle with anyone else’s. This independence from the other branches of powers helped make it so each department could make all of its choices on its own.
The freedom to make choices was not completely free; because after making a decision the other branches would check to make sure the choices made were constitutionally just. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary” (316), but since men all have their own biases, the other branches were necessary to make sure decisions were made to benefit the well being of the country as a whole and not just the individual.
A large part of being a republic would be to protect its people from the oppression of the rulers. Having all of the checks and balances provide safety from the possibility of oppression. This, however, was not the only issue; there was also the issue of a majority controlling the minorities. The solution of protecting the minorities was the fact that since the United States was split in to so many states, each state having its own governmental power, there would be so many different groups of people that there would be no true majority. From so many different districts and states, so many different interest groups would arise that there would be more minorities than majorities, and it would be “very improbable, if not impracticable” (318) for a majority to ban together and take over the entire nation as a whole. Having this thought in mind, it was determined that a society so vast and so different minded would in a way control itself. The government would exist to oversee everything, but each sect of individuals would go about their own lives and cater their laws to their own needs. “The larger the society, provided it lie within a practicable sphere, the more duly capable it will be of self government” (319).
The system presented would be one in which it would be essentially self contained-it would control itself and run on its own will. Not only would it protect the people as a whole, but it would protect the minorities as well. Majorities would still exist in individual sects, but no majority could cover and overpower the entire nation as a whole. The government would be fair, stable and just.
Works Cited Hamilton, Alexander, et al. The Federalist Papers. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003.
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