Ratification Of The Government Essay

The American Revolution provided the Founding Fathers with a unique opportunity: they were able to create a nation that was entirely their own. Before the Revolution, there was no real colonial government; the colonists were for the most part under British control. The founders were tasked with creating the plans for the government of a new nation from the ground up. With this task, there was a lot of debate over how to structure the government. Arguably the most important debates of the time period were those that centered around the balance of individual liberties and the social order of the nation. One of the important functions of a government is to provide protection and securities to citizens in exchange for the citizens giving up some …show more content…
Under the pseudonym Publius, James Madison wrote Federalist Paper #10 to try to encourage the state governments to ratify the constitution. In this essay, Madison argued that a Republic, specifically the Republic proposed within the Constitution, would provide the perfect balance between the rights of the citizens and national security. In a direct democracy, there are no checks in place to ensure that the government is functioning as it should. A few dissenters can gather a following and cause problems within the government. This type of government, according to Madison, gives the people too much power and subsequently fails to effectively maintain social order. Madison thinks that the Republic proposed in the Constitution is what America needs. There are enough congressional representatives that a few dissenters will not have a large impact on the government, but there are not so many representatives that the government fails to give the people what they want. The checks and balances put into place on the branches of this government help to ensure that the citizens have rights and a say in the government, but they do not have so much control over the government that it threatens the social order of the