By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
Madison analyze the ways in which a republic can confront the problem of faction.
He defines a faction as a group of citizens motivated by a passion adverse to the rights of others.
-Minority faction is not a problem in a republic because it is outvoted by the majority
-Majority faction is a problem
2 ways to deal with majority faction:
-Eliminate its causes would require destroying liberty or giving all citizens the same opinions, passions and interests.
-Not possible or desirable
-The causes of factions are “sown in the nature of men”
-To control its effects is the way of the constitutional gorvernment
2 forms of self-government to control the effects of faction:
-Direct Democracy is a small society where all citizens gather to administer the government in person
-Republic delegates the operations of government to representatives which opens the possibility for a greater number of citizens and territory.
2 ways a Republic control the effects of faction:
-Elected representatives filter the peoples passions and allow reason to rule
-Extended territory means the citizens will have a greater diversity of interests and opinions that reduce the chance of factions emerging.
