Federalist no.51
James Madison attempts to answer the following question:
“…What is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”
Human beings need a government that is established to protect the liberty of people.
“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
In order to create a government that is powerful but not too powerful, the separation of powers/checks and balances must be applied.
“The defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.”
Different branches of government must be created in such a way that balance and check each other’s powers.
“It is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others.”
Each branch needs as much power independent of the others as possible, and that that power needs to be basically equal between the three branches.
Disproportionate amount of power put into the legislative branch, or Congress, as it should be as Congress directly represents the voice of the people.
“The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit.”
Congress is divided into a bicameral legislature, which is composed of both the House and the Senate, each of which holds a portion of the legislative power.
“In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments.”
Power is then further divided between the national government and the state governments, which is called Federalism.
Liberty will be upheld.
The constitution also provides a system of checks and balances through which each branch can check the power of the others, providing a double security of protection for the liberty of the people.
“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”
People and governments always seek to preserve their own interests against the interests of everyone else.
The best expedient to liberty given our corrupted human nature is to set all our ambitions against each other, so that tyranny cannot be entertained because compromise and concession will be required to get anything done.