James Madison Federalist 51 Essay

In Federalist 51, James Madison identifies one major problem the colonies had before the Constitution.  It is difficult to establish a government with enough power that it can properly govern the people, without making the government tyrannical.  Prior to the Constitution, the national government did not have the power to do many things that it needed in order to properly run the country.  The majority of the governing power was held by the state legislatures.  This made it nearly impossible for the National government to pass any sort of law or exercise power over its citizens, which in turn put the country in a precarious situation.  James Madison wrote how this could be fixed in Federalist 51.  His ideas were implemented in the forms of primary control and auxiliary precautions.   

                Primary control is people voting for those whom they want in office.  People vote for representatives that have their best interest at heart.  The constitution was set up so that citizens have the ability to vote for who their representatives will be.  This makes it so that the government is accountable to the will of the people.  Every two years the delegates of the House of Representatives are up for reelection.  This makes the delegates more eager to do things that their supporters approve of.  If they make their voters happy, then they will be reelected.

                Auxiliary Precautions are the extra protections put into the Constitution to keep the government running smoothly and to keep one group from getting to powerful.  There are six auxiliary precautions, all of which protect a different aspect of the government.  The first of these is a written Constitution.  No one can dispute what is written, and before taking office they are required to promote and defend the Constitution.  By having a hard copy no one can make things up, and try to pass them off as valid.  Secondly, people vote in their representatives, who then in turn vote in other officials.  This makes the people ultimately responsible for who is in office.  By allowing people to vote in their own representative they feel more connected to the government.  Also, by having elections frequently the representative must keep in mind the “will of the people”.  Third, is allowing factions to oppose one another--allowing this keeps any one faction from becoming too powerful and having too much influence over the government.  If a certain fraction gets to powerful then “a majority [will] be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure.”  Fractions are allowed to support the interests of different groups, small or large.  By allowing them to oppose each other we can be sure that all interests will have at least some amount of representation. Fourth, the state and national governments operate separately.  Each one is allowed to make certain laws over their own areas of jurisdiction, which are independent of the others.  Allowing state and national governments to make certain laws keeps them from gaining too much power.  The separation of branches is key to the success of our government.  There are three branches, each of which has very different responsibilities.  The Judicial branch is in charge of interpreting laws.  The Legislative branch creates laws.  The Executive branch enforces the laws that are made.  Lastly, checks and balances exist between the branches.  These were put into place to “be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.”  Each branch must answer to a separate branch in most things they do.  For example, the Supreme Court Judges are elected by the President but approved by Congress.  This makes it so that the President simply cannot put people who will do exactly what he tells them to.

                All of these things are what makes the Constitution so great.  The Constitution is set up so that the people have ultimate control and are responsible for their government.  There are auxiliary precautions put into place to keep the government from getting too powerful and overturning the rights of the people.  Citizens have the right to vote and chose their representatives.  By putting all of these checks and precautions into place we have an ideal form of government. James Madison could see this was necessary back during the beginning days of our nation.  Through this Madison was able to create a form of Government that was strong enough to enact change, while making it fully accountable to the people it serves.