Enlightenment
Hamilton & Madison
1787–1788
“The use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom, than the popular branch.”
Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, writing with John Jay under the name Publius, published to defend the proposed Constitution of the United States. Their claim is that a large commercial republic can be freer and more stable than a small one if power is divided among branches and if citizens govern chiefly through representatives. Faction is inevitable. The extended sphere makes majority tyranny harder. Citizenship, on their account, is electoral judgment and civic vigilance. Later republican theory has to answer this institutional design.
In the Conversation
8 of the Great Ideas
Politics
War and Peace
Federal union is the practical cure for war between states.
Democracy
The extended republic cures the diseases of popular government; scale and representation check faction.
Revolution
Constitutional amendment is the peaceful alternative to revolution; the separation of powers diminishes the need for violent change.
Tyranny
The accumulation of all powers in the same hands is the very definition of tyranny; the remedy is separation of powers and federalism.
Citizen
In a large republic, citizens govern through representatives; this makes civic education and institutional design the central tasks of republican citizenship.
Constitution
A well-constructed constitution channels ambition against ambition through checks, balances, and the separation of powers across an extended republic.
Aristocracy
Representation filters popular will through a natural aristocracy of talent and character, refining public opinion without betraying popular sovereignty.