federalist 51

The Constitution divides power among several

departments. How will this division of power be maintained in practice?

Everyone agrees that in order to maintain liberty, government power must be

divided. Each department must have as little influence of the members of the other departments.

The people themselves are

the true source of authority

Each branch must have as little

influence as possible over the pay that members of the other branches receive.

The departments must be

structured, so that each serves as a watchdog on the others, keeping an eye on the others to be sure no branch oversteps its proper authority

Government is a

reflection of human nature. People generally try to gain power

If people could be trusted to

always be good to one another, government would not be needed

Those human beings who are

elected to serve in the government do not always behave righteously

Government must be

structured so that it is powerful enough to control the people. Government must also control itself.

Since the people are the true source of

governments authority, they must be the main watchdogs to be sure government officials do not abuse their power

Even though the responsibility for keeping government officials within proper limits belongs mostly to the

people, additional steps must be taken to prevent abuses of power

The additional steps can be found in the structure,

the constitution sets up for the branches to defend themselves against one another

The legislature must be

the main branch of government in a republic, because it is closest to the people themselves

the legislature can be prevented from gaining too much power by

dividing it into two chambers, or houses (senate and house of representatives) The two chambers keep an eye on eachother

The two houses of the legislature are

elected in different ways

government power in america is

divided between central government and state governments

power is further divided at

each level among several branches

state and national levels

of government control each other

at each level, government officials are

responsible for controlling themselves and their proper powers

government must be structured so that

the rulers are controlled. It is equally important that classes of people within society be prevented from being unjust toward one another

Majorities sometimes

vote to violate the rights of people who disagree with them

There are two ways to protect the

rights of the people who disagree with the majority

One way to protect the rights of the people

a king or dictator to have enough power to protect them

This method is not satisfactory because

the king or dictator may abuse his power by violating everyones rights

A second way to protect the rights of people

for the society itself to have so many different groups that no one is likely to be in the majority on every issue

Freedom itself promotes

many diverse opinions and groups

The main goal of government is

justice

If a government system makes it easy for

the majority to unite and oppress those who disagree with them, then no ones rights are safe

In a well designed system of government, the majority will

submit to a government that protects the weak because they know that someday they themselves may disagree with the majority

in a large, free republic, there are

so many issues, groups, and opinions that they main principle one which they unite is that everyones rights should be secure