Founding document · 1787

The Federalist No. 10

Writing as “Publius” in the New York press to urge ratification of the Constitution, Madison argued that factions are inevitable in a free society because their latent causes are “sown in the nature of man.” Since destroying liberty to cure faction would be worse than the disease, he contended that a large republic governed through elected representatives would best control faction’s effects by taking in a greater variety of parties and interests.

“By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or 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.”

James Madison (as “Publius”), November 22, 1787

Why it matters

Now among the most widely read of the Federalist essays, it is a classic statement of how an extended republic can protect individual rights against majority faction.

Read the full text at founders.archives.gov

Primary Source

The original record, reproduced or linked from the institution that holds it. Primary sources show what people said and did in their own words.

Subjects

founding constitution factions republicanism

From the library

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