Federalist 51

Federalist 51

Madison, in the Federalist 51, explains the need of a balance when allowing the governed to give power to the government. Madison says “… the great difficulty is this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Luckily for us the Founding Fathers constructed a Constitution that had a dependence on the people and placed on it auxiliary precautions.

The primary control placed on the government is its dependence on the people. Our government officials are chosen by the people directly or by those already chosen by the people. It is understood in the very beginning of the constitution that it is “we the people” that give the powers to the government. Along with this primary control the Constitution also places other auxiliary controls on the government.

The first auxiliary control mentioned in the Federalist 51 is a written constitution.  The Constitution was written so that it explained all that the Nation Government can do. Whatever is not expressly written in the Constitution is left to the state Governments and the people. The government can then not ignore this law which is written for all to see. A Bill of Rights was added as an extra protection for the rights of the people.

Another control is placed by a Separation of power. Our national government is split into three branches the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches. Each branch has its own duty and does not assume the rule of the other. This allows for many people to hold the control given by the people. The most powerful branch in the eyes of the founding fathers was the Legislative branch so it was split into two houses as an extra precaution against that branch.

Each branch has checks and balances against the other. For example the Legislative Branch passes laws however the President of the United States who is head of the executive branch can veto the bill. This is a check against the Legislative Branch by the Executive branch. However in return the Legislative branch can overturn this veto by a two thirds vote. This allows the government to control itself.

Further our government is split into a National government and State governments. This Division of Power is spelled out in the 10 amendment. Again whatever is not exactly expressed by the constitution as a right of the National government becomes the right of the state governments. This distinction is important because there are some things that just need to be done on the local level. The division of power makes sure that the National Government does not get too powerful.

The last auxiliary precaution is created by having a republic of continental size. Having such a large republic makes many smaller factions as opposed to a few large ones. This makes it so a group cannot rise up and attack another because the many small groups or a combination of a few small groups would not be able to overcome the many other small groups who would band together to defeat  

The Founding Fathers were able to put controls on the government for the safety of the people. These auxiliary precautions were laid out by Madison in Federalist 51 to ease the minds of the people of the United Sates. Today we are still grateful for the inspiration which gave us a government that can control itself. We have a government that is controlled by the people to ensure that we will have justice for years to come.

Our Divine Constitution

Our Divine Constitution

The Constitution was divinely given for the purposes of God to go forth. The men who wrote the Constitution were guided by God through the hard days in which they were to come up with a constitution that would stand the test of time. Their inspiration can be seen within the document itself.

The Founding Fathers were inspired in the methods they used to write the constitution.  They came together with many different backgrounds, ideas and philosophies. They came from small states and big states, and from the south and north. Despite so many differences they came together in a single council under the hand of God. Councils are important because they facilitate revelation and unity. Every man was receiving his own inspiration and contributed to the whole. They were writing and revising and trying to compromise. Compromise is another way how the Constitution was divinely written. A couple of plans came forward, the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. The small states supported the New Jersey Plan which wanted a legislature with the same amount of representatives for each state. The larger states and those who supported the Virginia wanted the legislature to be picked by population. The Founding Father compromised by making the two house legislature where the upper house was done uniformly and the lower house was done by population. This shows the power of councils and compromise and how they were divine tools used for the writing of the Constitution.

We see that the process of how the constitution was written was divinely guided but what about the Constitution itself was inspired of God? The constitution had a Bill of Rights which acted as extra safety precaution for the people of the United States.  The Bill of Rights is a list of “do not’s” for the federal government to insure the rights of the people. Also to make sure the Government didn’t get to strong the Founding Fathers made a system of checks and balances between the three branches of government. Not only did they divide the powers between the three branches of the federal government but also divided power between the federal government and the states. The Founding Fathers were then inspired by making the new government “for the people by the people of the people”. The power of the government came directly from the people. The people “ordained and established” the constitution. They made it expressly clear that Government is for the people and not the other way around. All these things were set forth to help enforce rule of law. This made it so no public officer was above the constitution.

The Lord stated in Doctrine and Covenants section 101 Verse 80 that He established the constitution by the hand of wise men who He raised up for such a purpose. The constitution and how it was written were divinely inspired of God. There would be no other way that it would be so successful in doing all it has done.