Federalist #51 – A Paragraph-by-Paragraph Summary
1. The way to implement the theory of separation of powers in practice is to so contrive "the interior structure
of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping
each other in their proper places."
2. Accordingly, "each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that
the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others."
3. "It is equally evident that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those
of the others for the emoluments annexed to their offices."
4. A: "The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists
in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to
resist encroachments of the others… Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interests of the man
must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place."
B: Isn't relying on ambition and interest, "a reflection on human nature?" But, adds Madison, what is
government itself but the greatest reflection on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be
necessary."
C: "The Great Difficulty" of Founding: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the
next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the
government, but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."
5. "This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced
through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public." Madison calls this policy "inventions of
prudence."
6. "In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates." Thus, it is "not possible to give
to each department an equal power of self-defense." Accordingly, we need to add here and subtract there. We
can divide the legislature into two branches and fortify the executive a) with the power of a conditional veto and
b) "some qualified connection" with the Senate.
7. The general government comes closer to passing the "self-defense" of each branch test than do the State
governments.
8. "There are, moreover, two considerations particularly applicable to the federal system of America, which
place that system in a very interesting point of view."
9. First, America is a "compound republic," rather than a "single republic." This provides for a "double security…
to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be
controlled by itself."
10. Second, there are only two ways to combat "the evil" of majority faction, a) "by creating a will in the
community independent of the majority," or b) creating an authoritative source "dependent on the society,"
but, and here is the essence of the American experiment, the society "will be broken down into so many parts,"
that it contain a vast number and variety of interests.
To repeat, the American society will "be broken down into so many parts, interests and classes of citizens, that
the rights of individuals, or the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority."
Echoing Federalist 10, Madison says "the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It
