"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition"

The second choice essay I have picked is quite a contrast from the first. Below, my very brief analysis of The Federalist No. 51. This particular selection from the Federalist Papers is by James Madison, under the pen name Publius as all the papers were.

I have read this essay at least three times and each time I learn more from it. If there is one particular piece of writing that can be used to describe the basis for the Constitution of the United States of America, it is this paper. It's freaking awesome.


The essay focuses on the system of checks and balances to be set up in the government. Publius says that each branch of government must be seperate so that the legislative branch is not domineering although they are intended to be the strongest. Additionally, Publius stresses that positions and posts in the government must have enough power and salary to attract people to those positions. For instance, if the president had little pay and barely any power over the legislature, nobody would want to rise to the presidency. "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition."

As always, there is the importance that each branch and faction is protected equally. To ensure this in the government, the branches have powers and checks on each other that anybody who has taken a civics class should be educated in. More in depth, though, is the way that the people check each other. Publius continues the argument he laid forth in The Federalist No. 10. He says that we can control the effects of liberty rather than remove its causes which would be against all republican and democratic doctrine. He warns that too much liberty can be extremely dangerous, especially to the minority that could be easily oppressed. Instead, justice must be achieved. "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society."

The effects of liberty are to be controlled and justice to be served by expanding the population and landmass of the republic so that there be so many interests and factions that no one homogenous group can form a majority in all cases. This is exactly what has created the controversies that run Washington and our nation.

I would love to discuss this article and some of the other Federalist Papers at great length, but I'll spare us all the extensive time.