well hey there and welcome back to heimlich's history in this video we're continuing to look at the foundational documents for ap government and that means it's time to talk about federalist number 10. so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked violence of faction style well then let's get to it so since this is our first document from the federalist papers let me give you a quick introduction to what this series of essays was during the ratification debates over the new constitution john jay alexander hamilton and james madison who represented the federalists who were very much in favor of the new constitution published essays in a new york newspaper in order to convince the public to ratify in doing so they addressed the most common objections to this new form of government and gave a sense of how the nation would work under this new constitution okay so federalist 10 is james madison's attempt to answer the following question how will the new constitution protect the liberty of citizens against the tyranny of the majority now remember the framers of the constitution were emphatically not fans of pure democracy and in this case it's because in a pure democracy the majority will always win out over the minority and thus there is no protection from minority views and by the way when i say minority here i'm not talking about ethnic minorities but rather a smaller number of citizens like the opposite of majority so madison comes out of the gates talking about the dangers of factions and that is a key word you need to associate with federalist 10. he says among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed union none deserves to be more accurately developed than his tendency to break and control the violence of faction so factions are such a threat to liberty that madison uses the word violence to describe their actions now what does madison mean by the word faction well he goes on to define it 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 adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community in other words a faction is a group of citizens whose desires to dominate government so that they might impose their own interests on the whole society and to madison as well as to the anti-federalists this is a great danger now the anti-federalists would not agree with madison's solution and we'll see that in the video on brutus one but for now what is madison's solution to the violence of faction well he proposes two possible solutions there are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction the one by removing its causes and the other by controlling its effects so the two options available are one stop the factions from ever forming and two let them try to form and then limit their power he says that if we're going with number one to remove the causes of factions that is a terrible option why because that will necessarily destroy liberty it could never be more truly said than of the first remedy that it was worse than the disease liberty is to faction what air is to fire an ailment without which it instantly expires but it could not be less folly to abolish liberty which is essential to political life because it nourishes faction than it would be to wish the annihilation of air which is essential to animal life because it imparts to fire its destructive agency to destroy liberty in service of controlling factions is worse than having factions in the first place the other way to remove the causes of factions to make sure that every citizen has the same opinions on everything but as anyone who's been alive for more than five minutes knows that is not possible madison tell us why as long as the reason of man continues fallible and he is at liberty to exercise it different opinions will be formed okay so removing the causes of faction won't work so madison suggests that the only protection against their tyranny is to control their effects and the best way to do that is through a republican-style government as opposed to a pure democracy a republic by which i mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking okay so how does a republican-style government laid out in the constitution solve the problem of factions well it mainly has to do with the size and diversity of the nation madison says that as the nation grows in population you take in a greater variety of parties and interests you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens or if such a common motive exists it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength and to act in unison with each other and so the result of that is playing the influence of factious leaders may kindle aflame within their particular states but will be unable to spread a general conflagration to the other states now in case you didn't catch it madison's solution to the danger of factions is this as more people are added to the nations more and more factions will necessarily forms and that has two consequences first with so many factions their power will be diluted so that no one faction can always get their way and second because they're all in competition with one another they will be forced to compromise their interest in order to pass legislation that considers the common good of society and not merely the interests of one group okay well that's federalist 10. if you need help getting an a in your class and a five on your exam then click right here and grab view packet and watch all your dreams come true if you want me to keep making these videos then by all means subscribe and i shall continue heimler out