Engaging with American Democracy » September 25th: Federalist Paper #10

September 25th: Federalist Paper #10

Plan for the Day

  • Discussion Post #4–Due Friday, 9/26, 11:07 pm
  • Federalist Paper #10
  • Logical Fallacies (time permitting)
  • Democracy/Liberty/Freedom/ETC. quotation:
    • “Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.”
      —Frank Tyger. In The Little Book of Happiness: For When Life Gets a Little Tough. OH, 2023, p. 23.
      (The quotation was probably originally published in The Trenton Times)

James Madison, Federalist Paper #10

There are 85 Federalist Papers, but we’ll only be discussing three of them. There’s quite a bit to unpack in Federalist Paper #10, and there are many ways to approach this text. Think back to the discussion on discourse communities–a group of people adhereing to intersubjective epistemology, a “faction,” right? If we were in a History or Political Science class, we might think through the historical developments leading to this document and/or the ways in which it influences both the US Constitution and also our contemporary assumptions about the meaning of the Consititution, especially the ellusive nature of “framers intent.”

Although he doesn’t have a musical (overrated or not), James Madison was an important founder of the United States, specifically for his role in creating and supporting the Constitution and Bill of Rights. His background is relevant to specific parts of the Constitution (he was a life-long slave owner and collegiate debator), but, remember, our approach to texts is for rhetorical analysis. Also, one can learn an awful lot about a culture by reviewing the texts of that culture. I’ve selected several passages that are indicative of American culture:

  • para. 1: Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.
    • My take on this is that it explains the problem of the tyranny of the majority.
    • For this class, think about this as prevailing social norms making us conform (as opposed to the legal letter of this statement).
  • para 2: By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
    • I think of this refers to special interests.
  • para. 6: As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves.
    • the former: opinions
      the latter: passions
      therefore, one’s passions “attach themselves” to one’s opinions.
    • We have freedom to create narratives, but nothing compels us to be infallible. Our emotions (or self-interests–mistaken or not) influence our opinions, which are our interpretations of events, observations, reality.
  • para. 7: A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views.
    • Does this mean people with money think differently from those without money?
  • para. 18: In the next place, as each representative will be chosen by a greater number of citizens in the large than in the small republic, it will be more difficult for unworthy candidates to practice with success the vicious arts by which elections are too often carried; and the suffrages of the people being more free, will be more likely to centre in men who possess the most attractive merit and the most diffusive and established characters.
    • I’m not sure how this relates to this class, but I couldn’t resist pulling this out. To me, it means our elected official from larger pools (governors, Senators, and Presidents) will have the most merit.
  • para. 22: A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.
    • For this class, the warning about the particular maladies possible in small-scale vs large-scale situations is very relevant.
    • Notice the economic issues Madison is warning about. What do you think a contemporary example might be?

Next Week

We’ll finish up anything we didn’t get through today. We’ve got two more Federalist Papers to cover next week: Federalist Paper #58 & Federalist Paper #71. Don’t forget Discussion Post #4 is due Friday, 9/26, 11:07pm.