Federalist 10 & Federalist 51 Assignment

Federalist 51

To the People of the State of New York:

How shall we keep the necessary separation of power among the different parts of government? The only answer that is that the parts themselves keep each other in their proper places.

The separate use of different parts of government is needed to save liberty. As such, each department should have its own powers. The members of different parts should have as little power as possible in selecting members of the other branches. Ideally, this would be happen due to voters elect members of each department separately.

Such a plan would be difficult to carry out, however. Therefore, we must allow certain members of government to be selected by other ways. It would be useful to allow judges to be appointed by other government officials. Judges need special skills, so it is important that they be elected in a way that makes sure that only best candidates are chosen. Also, because judges are selected to the courts for life, they are less likely to be influenced by the men who select them.

"Power Is Divided"

Members of each government branch should be able to keep other parts from overtaking their power. The system should force individuals to defend their branch's powers. 

In a perfect world, we would not need such protections. In creating a government that is to be ran by men over men, it must control itself. This can be done by separating and arranging the different offices of government so that each acts as a check on the others.

It is not possible to give to each part an equal ability to protect itself. In republican government, the lawmakers who make up the legislative branch will always have the most power. The cure to this problem is to divide them into two legislative branches. Each branch should be made different by different systems of election and different principles of action. They should be as little connected with each other as possible.

The division of power between the federal government and state governments offers another protection to the people. In the republic of America, power is divided between the states and the federal government. It is then divided again among the branches of each government. Therefore, government power is divided twice and can be controlled.

"To Guard Society"

It is important in a republic to guard society against its rulers. It also must guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different wants exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority is united by a common interest, the rights of the minority could be hurt.

To defend against this evil, we must make it unlikely that a bad party will gain a majority of support. The people should be broken into many parts, interests and classes of citizens. This will make sure that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will not be in much danger from the will of the majority. The size of the United States, and the number of people under the same government, offers some protection in this regard. There are so many different interests and factions within the country that it is unlikely that any single group will gain a majority of support.

Such safeguards benefit all citizens. Even powerful groups are more secure under a government that protects all parties, including minorities and majorities.

PUBLIUS.