The Federalist.

Ashour

Plan of the investigation

The framers of the constitution envisioned a one-party state in which partisan distinctions would by muted by patriotism and public virtue. When James Madison wrote The Federalist, not only did he fail to anticipate the rise of political parties or factions; he saw them as potentially harmful to the new nation. It is thus ironic that when Madison broke with the Washington administration on questions of fiscal policy, he took the first steps toward organizing the Democratic-Republican Party. The aim of this investigation is to find out why James Madison was considered to be the reason for the formation of political parties. It will cover Madison’s reasons for writing The Federalist, what he said at the Constitutional Convention on May 25, 1787, and his and others work on how the Federalist Party was formed. An analysis of these sections will indicate why Madison was the reason for the formation of federalists.

Summary of evidence

The Federalist

The Federalist is the collective title for 85 essays signed “Publius” and published (1787-88) in various New York newspapers to convince New York voters to support ratification of the new Constitution of the United States. Sometimes called the Federalist Papers, they were published in book form in 1788. Although the authorship of certain essays is still disputed, the consensus is the Alexander Hamilton wrote 52, James Madison wrote 28, and John Jay wrote 5 essays (Patrick 72-80).

The first 14 essays are a general discussion of the importance of union to the “political prosperity” of America. Essays 15-22 contain arguments to show inadequacy of confederations and of the Articles of Confederation, and in 23-36 evidence is presented to show the need for a government “at least equally energetic” as that provided by the Constitution. Numbers 37-51 contain explanations of the republican principles underlying the document, and 52-66 are an analysis of the legislative power of the regulation of elections (Kesler 60-65) The remaining essays, written by Hamilton, contain the analysis of executive (67-77) and judicial branches (78-83) and of the question of a bill of rights.

Democratic-Federalist

Madison worked with Alexander Hamilton and other supporters of the Constitution (known as Federalists) to win its ratification. He contributed several papers in the Federalist series. At the Virginia ratifying convention (1788) he won a dramatic debate with Patrick Henry, one of the opponents of the proposed Constitution (known as the Anti-Federalists) (Ketcham 360) Serving in the new House of Representatives form 1789, Madison sponsored the Bill of Rights and was one of President George Washington’s chief advisors in inaugurating the new government.

In January 1790, Madison broke with the administration to oppose the financial program of Hamilton, now secretary of the treasury. The national bank plan made by Hamilton submitted to congress on December 13, 1790 immediately set off alarm bells for Madison (Lance 96). Madison felt that Hamilton’s policies favored commerce and wealth and allowed the executive department to dominate the other branches of government. Madison now began to work closely with Thomas Jefferson and his supporters. The opposition of the Jeffersonians deepened, and America’s first political party system began to emerge as the Federalist Party sought stronger commercial bonds with ...

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Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention, which wrote the Constitution of the United States, convened in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. It was called by the Continental Congress and several states in response to the impending bankruptcy of Congress and a sense of emergency arising from the armed revolt-Shay’s Rebellion-in New England. The convention’s assigned task, following proposals made at the Annapolis Convention the precious September, was to formulate amendments to the Article of Confederation (Farrnad 184-200). The delegates, however, immediately set about writing a new constitution.

During the first phase the delegates developed the general outlines of a national government. They agree to have a three-branch government (legislative, executive, and judicial) but delegates were sharply divided over the basis of representation. The Virginia Plan, mainly drawn up by Madison, called for a bicameral legislature with representation proportional to population (Clinton 46-55). William Paterson countered with the unicameral legislature with the New Jersey Plan. The issue was settled by a compromise proposed by Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth. A bicameral legislature was finally approved, giving the states equal representation in the upper house and basing representation in the lower on population.

Evaluation of sources

Two of the sources used were:

Rossiter, Clinton. 1787: The Grand Convention. W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.

This book is about the Constitutional Convention of 1787 where the Constitution of the Untied States was written. While this book covered the whole conference, it also covered the part of the convention where James Madison declared his Virginia Plan to the whole congress. It described the first and second phases of the convention. The important phase that was used was the first. It also included the fifty-five delegates that were representing the 12 states. This source provided most of the information that was conducted in this investigation. The important dates in this source were useful. The date of September 17, 1787 was when the Constitution was signed by 39 of the delegates present. A period of debate followed, during which the case for support of the Constitution was forcibly presented in the Federalist essays of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. This source was not bias because it just gave the information about the Constitutional Convention, it did not state just one side of the arguments but both sides. This source was very important when the investigation went into the Constitutional Convention.

Ketcham, Ralph L. James Madison: A Biography. University of Virginia Press, 1990.

The main value of the source was that it only covered events that happened through the life of James Madison. It limitations could be it point of view: it didn’t really give a perspective other than Madison’s. The source didn’t include the thoughts and ideas of others through out the investigation, like the Constitutional Convention. James Madison’s life was the main topic of this source. Even though, it still presented a great deal of information pertaining to Madison being a Federalist and a Democratic-Republican. It also included how Madison was aided by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, but it didn’t present their viewpoint.

Analysis

The first part to analyze is how James Madison work helped balance the power. Madison argued that an enlarged, strengthened national government, far from being the path to despotism its opponents feared, was in fact the surest way to protect freedom and expand the principle of self-government. He held that the multiplicity of interests ("factions") in a large republic would counteract and neutralize each other, thus allowing some sense of the public interest to emerge in the end (Ketcham 529). His conception was a realistic, yet dynamic, understanding of how government might work under a system of checks and balances. This idea of the Constitution, embedded in virtually every clause, was at the base of Madison's political theory and in fact became the operating principle of American government. Madison's notes on the debates, published posthumously, afford the only full record of the convention's proceedings.

The framers the U. S. Constitution were strongly influenced by the advantages of separation of powers and of checks and balances. These theories had been in practice in the governments of the American colonies, and they underlie the fundamental laws of the United States. The Constitution distinctly separates the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. The federal system adds to the checking because power is divided constitutionally between the central government and the states. Further, the constitutional provisions for direct election of members of both houses of congress and virtually direct election of the president puts two branches of the government under check of the electorate.

With Alexander Hamilton, Madison formulated strategy for the supporters of the Constitution (Federalists) and wrote portions of The Federalist papers. He also engaged Patrick Henry--who did not believe that the Constitution adequately protected Virginia and its people--in dramatic and finally successful debate at the Virginia ratifying convention (June 1788). Then, as a member of the first U.S. House of Representatives, Madison proposed new revenue laws, ensured the president's responsibility for the conduct of the executive branch, and sponsored the Bill of Rights (Ketcham 389-90). He also drafted Washington's inaugural address and helped the president make the precedent-setting appointments of his first term. Thus, for three years, Madison had led in urging, drafting, ratifying, and establishing a new form of government.

The second part of this analysis is to prove that James Madison had a reason to help establish the Democratic-Republican Party. Madison and Thomas Jefferson began increasingly to see Alexander Hamilton's victories as serious losses for themselves and the interests of their constituents, the southern planter class. They viewed the Secretary of the Treasury as an uncontrolled force with the backing of powerful, prosperous men from the northeast. Cries of a monarchical conspiracy by Hamilton were heard and most likely originated from anti-Hamiltonians, like Madison, who were present for Hamilton's speech at the constitutional convention. They determined that emergency measures needed to be taken to prevent Hamilton and his "monarchists" from taking over (Bailyn 613-27)

For statesmen of the eighteenth century, political parties were anathema. They were seen as unruly bodies of men run by demagogues, reeking of excess and eventual tyranny. However, parties were acceptable in the face of a demonstrable crisis, and, in the summer of 1791, Hamilton and his policies were considered by Jefferson and Madison as a threat to liberty of crisis proportion warranting an organized resistance.

In the summer of 1791, under the ruse of taking a botanical study trip, Madison and Jefferson traveled to New England and New York to rally support for their anti-Hamilton cause (Bailyn 452-7). They returned with a party -- which would shortly become the Democratic-Republican Party -- complete with a national network of supporters and functionaries, including a journalist named Philip Freneau, recruited from New York to begin publishing the official party newspaper. Jefferson and Madison had properly girded themselves to battle the "colossus" when Congress reconvened in the fall.

Conclusion

James Madison, “Father of the Constitution,” was considered to be the reason or spark of the creation of the 2-party system. Madison, with the help of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, wrote the Federalist Papers to show his reasoning of creating this system. Each essay played its own part in forming the system. Madison worked with Hamilton to form the Federalist Party which supported the ratification of the Constitution of the new nation.

Having to discontinue his work with Hamilton because of his financial policies presented at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Madison worked with Thomas Jefferson and the Jeffersonians to formulate the Democratic-Republican Party. The Democratic-Republican Party worked to oppose Hamilton and his executive based policies. With this party, Madison would later be going on to be the 4th president of the United States of America.

F) List of sources

Banning, Lance. The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic. N.p.: Cornell University P, 1998. 25-320.

Hamilton, Alexander, John Jay, and James Madison. The Federalist Papers. Ed. Charles R. Kesler. N.p.: Signet Classics, 2003. 55-520.

James Madison and the Federalist Papers. Ed. John J. Patrick. N.p.: Indiana University Social Studies, 1991. 30-146.

Ketcham, Ralph L. James Madison: A Biography. N.p.: University of Virginia P, 1990. 230-643.

Rossiter, Clinton. 1787: The Grand Convention. N.p.: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987. 10-362.

The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle over Ratification. Ed. Bernard Bailyn. N.p.: Library of America, 1993. 437-750.

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Ed. Max Farrand. Vol. 4. N.p.: Yale UP, 1986. 67-280.