GOVT 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Federalist No. 10, Human Nature

Federalist 10

• Author: James Madison

o We can cure a faction by (1) removing its causes or (2) controlling its effects

• A larger population makes it more difficult for a corrupt candidate to woo a large number of

voters by devious means

• A more expansive country ensures that local or statewide biases do not spread to other parts of

the country

• ***A large number of representatives, from different parts of the country, and who are held

accountable by frequent elections, will have a difficult time conspiring together to the detriment

• Subject: States' rights

• Addresses encroachment by the federal government on the powers of the state governments

o States are given the most direct power over their citizens

▪ Their ability to administer criminal and civil justice

▪ States are the most attractive source of popular obedience and attachment

• Human nature makes it so they [the people] are more closely attached to things they are

geographically near; hence a person is more attached to their neighborhood than the

community at large

• The people of each state would be apt to feel a stronger bias towards their local governments

than towards the government of the union

o The state legislatures are the ones to elect the President of the U.S.,

o The number of federal employees will be much smaller than the total number of all the

state employees

o The state government employees will have more influence because of their larger

numbers

o State tax collectors will be much more present in the community than federal tax

collectors which will focus on collecting tariffs on the seas

▪ Even if federal tax collectors are to be appointed, they would be much smaller in

number