Federalist 51: Madison's Blueprint for American Democracy

Madison's Federalist 51 establishes separation of powers as a safeguard against tyranny while reintroducing the extended republic concept to prevent majority oppression of minorities. The paper forms part of a larger constitutional framework designed to balance power, promote the rule of law, and create effective government through the distribution of energy, stability, and republican liberty among different branches.

• Separation of powers prevents tyranny by avoiding concentration of power in one branch
• Extended republic concept protects minorities from majority oppression
• No branch should judge its own cause, ensuring impartial rule of law
• Three branches contribute different qualities to good government
• Executive branch provides energy and decisive action
• Senate supplies stability and checks against impetuous legislation
• House of Representatives ensures republican liberty through direct representation
• Reading Federalist 37 alongside Federalist 51 provides deeper understanding
• Madison developed separation of powers across multiple Federalist Papers (47-51)

For AP Government students, we recommend studying Federalist Papers 37 and 47-51 together to see how Madison builds his complete constitutional argument.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, Welcome back.
This is a continuation of ourdeep dive into Federalist 51
with Dr Alan Gibson.
Enjoy.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
One additional point about Federalist 51 is important
, and that is that Madisonreintroduces the idea of the
extended public famously intothe argument in Federalist no 51
.
Why does he do that?
He does that because he hasintroduced the proposition that

(00:30):
you not only need to control thepower of the government that's
what separation of powers?
Does you not only need tocontrol the oppression that
might be done by rulers again,that's what separation of powers
.
Does you need to control theoppression that might be
affected by one segment of thesociety against another segment

(00:55):
of the society.
So namely what the majority,how the majority might oppress
the minority.
So after explaining howseparation of powers is going to
prevent the oppression ofrulers, he then goes on to the
proposition of how extendedterritory is going to prevent

(01:17):
the oppression of the majorityagainst the minority against the
minority.
It's interesting to me that,madison, although you can find
it sprinkled throughout theFederalist Papers, he really
doesn't address directly thequestion of why we have

(01:39):
separation of powers in this.
He doesn't defend that straightout.
There are three primary reasonswe have separation of powers,
and you can find this.
You have to take Federalist no37 particularly into account
here and you have to take theFederalist Papers in totality to
get the answers to this, butthe most obvious one, and the

(02:01):
thing that people mostfrequently think about, is that
separation of powers preventstyranny.
The idea of a concentration ofpowers in a single branch,
madison says, quotingparaphrasing Montesquieu, is the
very definition of tyranny, andso if you have that

(02:22):
concentration, then you'renaturally going to have a
tyrannical form of government.
The other belief is thatseparation of power promotes
adherence to the rule of law,and this is based upon a
normative axiom that no personis allowed to be a judge in

(02:43):
their own cause.
This is the idea ofimpartiality, and the way that
this operates is that no person,no branch, is also allowed to
be a judge in its own cause.
So the branch Congress,legislative branch that makes

(03:04):
laws shouldn't also not judgethe laws or execute the laws.
Similarly, the executive branchexecutes the laws.
It should not make those lawsor judge those laws.
And finally, the judiciaryjudges those laws.
It should not make or executethem.

(03:24):
So separation of powers ensuresthat no single branch does all
of these functions at once, thatthey must be passed off from
one to another, to anotherbranch in order to be executed.
It therefore promotes the ruleof law, over the rule of the men

(03:46):
in those separate branches Menfor their era, men and women for
our era.
And then finally, and this sortof reiterates something I began
with at the very beginning,okay, and that is that
separation of powers promotesgood government.
And this is again.
I think you would be wellserved, if you really want to

(04:09):
understand this topic and doreally well on the AP exam, to
read parts of Federalist no 37in conjunction with Federalist
no 51.
In Federalist no 37, madisontalks about how government
involves the execution of threekinds of attributes, or what he
calls valuable ingredients.

(04:29):
A good government has to haveenergy, stability and fidelity
to Republican liberty, oradherence to the Republican form
is another way, if he says this, or adherence to the Republican
form is another way he saysthis.
So you need energy in goodgovernment, you need stability

(04:49):
in good government and you needthe Republican form to be held.
Each of the branches gives somepart of that attribute to, is
primarily responsible for somepart of each of those separate
attributes.
So what supplies energy to thegovernment?

(05:10):
Primarily the president, theexecutive does.
The president supplies energyto the government because energy
is necessary to execute andenergy is necessary for purposes
of security.
President is one person and canact with dispatch, act with

(05:33):
speed and supply energy to thesystem.
Stability is provided, madisonsays, primarily not exclusively,
but primarily by the Senate.
The Senate has longer terms ofoffice, it's supposed to have
more national figures, they'resupposed to be elected Again.

(05:55):
They're less frequently electedand they can check the
impulsive and passionate, inMadison's view, house of
Representatives, which is morelikely to make kinds of
decisions that bring thereputation of the United States

(06:17):
into question around the world.
So the House of Representativesmight pass some impetuous,
passionate law In his day.
He's talking about somethinglike paper money legislation
which he thinks is inflationaryand contrary to economic
prosperity, and he believes thatthe Senate can serve as a

(06:39):
bulwark against that kind ofpassion being executed by any of
the branches.
But the House of Representativesis the most popular branch of
government, the one mostdirectly connected to the people
, so it is the one mostresponsible for the final of

(07:01):
those three aspects ofgovernmental capability or
capacity, and that is Republicanliberty.
So, the House ofRepresentatives, with these
two-year terms of office andnumerous representatives, you
get the attachment of peopledirectly to their government.

(07:23):
You get the direct exercise ofconsent in the election of
representatives and you getRepublican liberty infused into
the political system.
So if you put all that together, you have these separate
branches exercising separatefunctions and imparting or

(07:47):
infusing peculiarcharacteristics into the
political system.
You wouldn't get that if youonly had one branch of
government.
You'd have to combine all thosequalities of good government in
one individual or person orgroup of people and that's
historically not happening.
The three branches ofgovernment together can give you

(08:11):
good government in that way.
So there you go.
There's Federalist no 51.
Actually a broader discussionof separation of powers, but
also, hopefully, the argumentfrom Federalist no 51 is clear
as well.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yes, and I appreciate that you brought in other
Federalist papers too, becausethey help build the argument,
that you brought in otherFederalist Papers too, because
they help build the argument.
And I mean that is, I think, areally important thing,
especially as we look at theFederalist Papers is, you know,
we sometimes talk about themagain, especially in AP Gov.
We have to look at Fed 10 and51 and 70 and 78.
And, yes, those are important,but it's also important as a

(08:50):
whole to building this argumentto get the constitution ratified
.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Perfect.
Well, thank you again.
So much for this deep dive intoFederalist 51.
Again, if you are listening,especially if you're an AP Gov
student, I really suggest having37 and then 47 through 51 to
see how this builds.
As somebody who's read this abunch, I still learned so much

(09:20):
by listening and by reading.
So, dr gibson, you are amazing.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Thank you thank you very much.
I really really enjoyed thisokay.