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.