Tyranny of the Majority

A detailed Summary of Tyranny of the Majority

When the founders of this country were debating how much power was to be vested in the federal government, three prominent citizens worked together to anonymously write the Federalist Papers. These documents, written by James Madison, the fourth president; John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Alexander Hamilton, an influential cabinet member; provided arguments in favor of a strong federal branch.

The Federalist Number 10, in particular, provided for Madison's strong desires to preempt what he called the "tyranny of the majority" through methods and institutions which were placed into the structure of the new government. Madison wrote in the Federalist No. 10, "It may be concluded...that such [uncontrolled] democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths."

Madison's theory of the tyranny of the majority has one major aspect, which obviously relates to the infringement of minority rights. Madison felt that if a majority was allowed too much power, it would begin to ignore the minority's right to ha

Throughout history, though, two of these methods of refinement have been weakened through change in those institutions.

The final instance of refinement in the Constitution is the executive appointment of federal judges, with a lifetime tenure. This was done to ensure that an angry majority, or mob as Madison thought, would not be permitted to elect one of their own into a position of deciding the legality of things. Madison viewed this as dangerous because a federal judge can-to a large extent-interpret what the Constitution really says. If a member of the "tyrannical majority" was allowed to do this, he could completely ignore the interests of others, and hand down rulings which only favored his faction.

Madison also developed two methods with which to deal with his fears of an abusive, tyrannical majority. He called the first one refinement, which is the interposition of structures between citizens and political outcomes. The name for the other is enlargement, which says the government should actively work to expand the economy, in turn naturally creating multiple interests.

The potential for expanded economic opportunities lies Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. This article, among other things, gives Congress the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States...to coin money, regulate the value therof, and

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Approximate Word count = 925
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History