The Consequences Of Factions In James Madison's 'Federalist 10'

In Federalist Paper #10, James Madison argued that the government is capable of controlling the consequences of factions. Factions are defined as groups of individuals who have banded together to protect and promote “some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community” (1). Each faction had differing perspectives than the next and their rivalries tended to end in violence or damage that infringed on the rights of other civilians. Madison was most concerned with the political instability caused by such. He presented two methods of removing the causes of factions: eliminate the liberty that has allow for their formation or establish the same opinion/passion/interest for all persons across the board. The first was considered “worse than the disease” (2) and the second was seemingly impossible given the nature of man. It is …show more content…
It also discussed the representation of slaves in relation to political representation and taxation within the states. The three-fifths compromise (stated that three out of every five slaves are to be counted as a person, or three fifths of the total number of slaves) deeply split the northern and southern states. Slaveholders in the south wanted to be able to count slaves in their consensus so they could increase their number of representatives, whilst those who opposed slavery wanted to count only freed persons. Madison tried to rationalize the compromise by stating that slaves could be regarded as people, but could also be “debased by servitude below the equal level of free inhabitants” (2). He believed the comparative wealth of the states should be considered by the representatives of each state because the wealthier state’s cooperation was important to the success of the