Charlie Maxwell Separation of Powers and Factional Control Essay

Charlie Maxwell

Ms. Gordon

AP U.S. Gov and Politics, Period 3

2 October 2015

Montesquieu and Madison

James Madison was an American political activist in the late 18th century who debated upon and helped frame this nation’s Constitution. Madison, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, actively voiced his opinion about the strengths and possible weaknesses of having a strong federal government in America. In The Federalist Papers, Madison and Hamilton argued that the Constitution would fix the problems of the Articles of Confederation while obtaining the necessary power to create a secure union, all without stripping the states of their liberty and strength.

In Federalist No. 10, Madison explains the possible threat that factional control may pose to the concept of limited government. Madison defines a faction as a group united “by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” He, along with other federalists, worried that these groups, which were very similar to what we now call “interest groups,” could potentially corrupt the American government.

Madison noticed that Americans naturally divided themselves into opposing geographical, economic, ethnic, religious, and other distinct groups. He feared that without what French theorist Montesquieu proposed--a separation of power between branches of government--a federal government could fall victim to the selfish motives of increasingly powerful factions. This concept of separation of powers was extremely popular in America because it demonstrated another attempt to erase the possibility of tyrannical rule.. Nonetheless, as Madison asserts in Federalist No. 10, a separation of powers alone was not enough to deter the factional control of a powerful majority.

Because of this concern, the framers of the constitution decided that dividing the government’s power as Montesquieu suggested--apportioning all executive power to the president, all judiciary power to the court system, and all legislative power to the legislature--insufficiently protected the liberty of the American people. If each branch of government independently controlled all of its responsibilities, it would be much too easy for a certain faction to gain control of them.

Therefore, the framers of the Constitution created a system of overlapping powers so that no one branch of government could impact the American people without the approval of the others. This improvement upon Montesquieu's idea of separation of powers is called the system of checks and balances. This elaborate system of interlocking grants and limitations of power provides a fitting solution to James Madison’s fears about the potential threat of factional control. The framers of the Constitution acknowledged Montesquieu's concept but, due to the validity of Madison’s concerns, realized that it would not be enough to keep these factions at bay.