James Madison's Federalist 51

What do the Constitution and the Federalist papers have in common? Correct, they have the same author, none other than James Madison himself. The Federalist papers are a collection of essays that Madison wrote that promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. His 51st article more specifically depicts his views on how checks and balances can and should be created in a government system. Madison sees problems and writes these papers to give solutions to different situations. In this particular essay, he sees a government that is out of control and shouldn’t be doing certain things that they are doing anyways.



Madison is describes that we currently have men governing over men. It’s a faulty government. We are not all angels and we all have different wants and views regarding politics and such. It is extremely hard to decide on government laws this way. When we give individuals power, they can just use their judgment and take control us. The government needs to be governed itself. We believe in popular sovereignty, where we, the people of America, get to voice our opinions. Madison suggested some auxiliary precautions to be taken. First he said a proper government should have good checks and balances. He continues and also says that we need a division of power, which separates the power from national government and state government so that the national government doesn’t have all of the power. This concept is made a law in the tenth amendment, which is basically federalism. He also believed in the necessity of the separation of power, both nationally and state-side. This consisted of dividing the government into three branches; legislative, judicial, and executive. An extra precaution was when the House of Representatives and the Senate were formed, because separating powers even more.




A wise man once said, “A constitution can only be as powerful as it is in our hearts”. I believe this statement is very true because a lot of how well any government works is based on the support of its people. Madison also brings up a good argument on how national government is doing stuff that there not supposed to be doing. For example; welfare, such as social security, medical care, and health care. Minimum wage and discrimination laws should be kept to the state government and not leave that much power to the national government. The more power in the states, the more control the people have, isn’t that what a perfect Republic is supposed to be? Each state is different; most of the power should be left to the states and not at the national level.




Our Democracy is not freedom; the rule of law has been infringed upon many times. The founding fathers created the amendment process to allow the constitution to be susceptible to change. Amendments also give the government checks and balances, which is a necessity for a flawless government. Of course a flawless government is no government at all, but that would only work if we were all angels, which last time I checked…we’re not. In conclusion, James Madison depicted his personal opinion of our government today and it summarizes as; every state is different so the primary power should be left to the states and not at the national level. The proper role of government is to abide by its own governing and to provide proper checks and balances within itself. Federalist 51 is consistent with our constitution; it’s just that the government now a days doesn’t perfectly abide by every little detail. This is why James Madison wrote the federalist papers; to reassure his allegiance and beliefs about what he previously exclaimed within the Constitution of the United States of America.