Question

In at least one hundred and fifty words, explain the relationship between liberty and factionalism in the Federalist Papers. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Answer 1

The Federalist Papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, they were published through newspapers over a series of weeks.

The Federalist #10, written by James Madison talks about factions. Factions are groups of people united with common interests and political opinions, that work against other people rights. James Madison thought factions produce political instability, and there are two ways to control a faction:

• To remove it's causes and to control it's effects.

The relationship between Factions and Liberty is that factions cannot exist without liberty, James Madison said: "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire". The reason factions exist is because people has the liberty to gather together and express their opinions and interests, when this happens factions are inevitably formed, so the only way to get rid of factions would be to destroy liberty or to force people to have the same interests and thoughts, and that would be impossible and absurd. Liberty cannot be destroyed since it is a free country and destroying liberty would be a cure worse than the disease, so the only thing left to do is to control it's effects.

The Constitution establishes a government capable of controlling the violence and damage caused by factions and the existence of factions ensure liberty.

b