The Federalist Paper

ARE THE FEDERALIST PAPERS RELEVANT TODAY? Michael K. Shalmy 1

The Federalist papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in order to gain support for the creation of a federal government. A total of 85 articles were written into the federalist papers with each one containing an argument on the creation of a federal government. In the end the federalist papers achieved their goal in creating a United

States federal government, however that does not mean that they have become irrelevant. The

Federalist Papers are still a relevant set of documents today.

Federalist paper number 10 was written by James Madison. The argument in No. 10 was that the creation of a federal government was the best way to control the damage

Showing that factions can be a number of things. Most loosely a group of citizens with a common interest. This definition can be loosely tied to the political parties that are currently the mainstay of the United States political system.

Madison goes on to say, “The inference to which we are brought is that the causes of faction cannot be removed and that relief is only to be sought in the mean of controlling effects.

(Madison, 2)”. This shows Madison’s opinion that a free society cannot control the creation of such factions, however it is the federal governments duty to control that effects that any one faction can have on the shape of the nation. This is assuming that the federal government itself isn’t participating in the creation of factions. Madison says this about of our elected officials,

“Whose wisdom may best discern the interests of the country, and whose patriotism and love of

Justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. (Madison, 3)”

ARE THE FEDERALIST PAPERS RELEVANT TODAY? Michael K. Shalmy 2 showing that, in theory, the creation of a federal government would make only the

He also says a few more things on the creation of factions being against the ideal government. “Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. (Madison, 3)”. In this quote he shows that the creation of a majority and a minority in the population will add an unstable element to the government and that for a government to be uncorrupt-able there needs to exist no set majority. He gives his solution in the next line, “There are but two methods of providing against this evil: these are by creating a will in the community independent of the majority that is, of society itself; the other by, comprehending in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable if not impractical. (Madison, 3)”. The solution to groups holding majority in either the citizenry, or the federal government is the creation of many different groups so that one cannot hold a true majority. Many of these principles have been applied to the regulation of companies however none have be applied to the

government