Gabriela Del Valle September 22th, 2018 

CAHS Period: 6th 

 
How does James Madison develop and support his argument that the
Constitution should be ratified?
 
In the late 1780s, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay made 
eighty five letters that were written to newspapers in order to get the 
Constitution ratified and they were called the Federalist Papers. The letters were 
put into the New York newspaper under the name “Publius” in order to convince 
the New York citizens to ratify the Constitution. The three wanted a loose central 
government, meaning, not one with lots of power over the citizens. The purpose 
of Madison writing Federalist #51 is to explain the checks and balances system, 
each branch of government has a role in the action of others which helps each 
branch prevent the other branches from becoming an omnipower. Madison 
believes that each branch should be equal and dependent on the citizens. James 
Madison develops the argument for the Constitution by establishing the first 
ideas of the system of checks and balances, ensuring that the voice of the 
minority won’t be overpowered by the majority, and ensuring that the voice of 
the minority won’t be overpowered by the majority.  
James Madison develops the argument for the Constitution by establishing 
the first ideas of the system of checks and balances. Madison says, “as that its 
several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of 
keeping each other in their proper place.” to explain how the checks and 
balances are going to keep all the branches of government equal and stable. 
Madison does this to explain how his idea of checks and balances are going to be 
better for the country and the people because the government will be split up so 
not one person or one group of people to have ultimate power.  
James Madison also develops into the argument for the Constitution by 
ensuring that the voice of the minority won’t be overpowered by the majority. 
Madison says, “Whilst all authority in it will be derived from, and dependent on 
the society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interest, and 
classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals or of the minority, will be in 
little danger from interested combinations of the majority” to clarify that the 
everyone's voice will be heard and it won’t just be the majority to be the voice of 
everyone. This helps Madison support his argument because he is promising that 
the citizens will be the voice of the government 
 James Madison ensures that the government never encroaches on the 
dependence of the people. Madison says, “A dependence on the people is no 
doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught 
mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions” to emphasize that the power 
lies within the people and the government because the people need to be able to 
let the government govern them. This helps Madison convince people to approve 
the Constitution because he is now trying to let the people know that they can 
trust the government if they are able to control it properly. If the people control 
the government well, then the government will be able to succeed in helping all 
the citizens.  
Madison develops the argument for the Constitution by introducing the 
nation to what would later be known as the modern day government.