Similarities Between Madison And Tocqueville

James Madison and Alexis de Tocqueville are both giants in American political theory and both have deliberated extensively on the tyranny of the majority in democratic societies. Since both are from different eras, the way each of them talk about the problem is framed in different terms and different contexts. Madison offers a solution to a perceived problem, and Tocqueville observes and critiques the solution. In the many Federalist Papers Madison published on the issue, there is one solution that is most conductive to reducing the powers of the tyranny of the majority, and this is solution is the checks and balances between the separate branches of government and between the federal and state governments. Tocqueville’s assessment of this attempted restraint is poor, he sees the government as becoming increasingly centralized in power and state and local governments losing their prestige and influence. …show more content…
The first major claim he makes is that the three governmental branches will seek to be independent from each other in an attempt to keep their governmental powers from being encroached upon. This is particularly explicit from Madison in Federalist 51, “But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.” Again, the idea of separate branches comes as a central point in the containment of federal powers. Additionally, Madison also recognizes that the legislature will always be the more powerful branch and is once again stopped from becoming too powerful by use of the bicameral system (Federalist