the American constitution essays

the American constitution essays The Federalist No. 10 by James Madison and The Tyranny of the Majority by Alexis de Tocqueville are two political papers which analyze some parts of the American constitution. Each of the authors have their own distinct thoughts on the constitution and they agree in some areas, and, differ drastically in others. To start, a topic that is touched upon in both of these documents was the fact that although it may not be in the best interest of the general public, the needs of the many will outweigh the needs of the few. This is also know as the concept of majority. Although Madison was trying to prove the constitution was a worthy government plan, he yet was honest in his Federalist No. 10. He knew that there would be drawbacks to the factions that were beginning to form. Yet, he was sure to sate the brighter side of the picture about the factions and how the government planned to limit the number of parties to prevent a non-majority. He also came to the conclusion that when a majority has been reached it has two options. First, the majority can continue being the winning argument and virtually control the minority. Or, if the majority sees fit, it can surrender it position of control and give the power to the minority therefore limiting the absolute power of the minority. Tocqueville on the other stated his views on the factions from the view of an unlimited faction republic. He wrote that majority was impossible with unlimited factions due to that they would be so numerous and inadequate in size for there to even be a chance for a majority. Another thing that Tocqueville had theorized was that if a government ran simply upon majority rule, there would be a great upset in the balance of law. There would be this upset due to that the majority would vote one way and there would be no other option on the subject. For example, a man killed an attempted murderer in self defense. Giving the majority the benefit of th...