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Constitution_001-050.indd 34 10/22/07 12:23:22 AM 2 Majority Rule and the Extended Republic Theory ofJames Madison INTRODUCTORY NOTE Of all the Federalist essays, Federalist 10 is by far the most widely read and cited. Indeed, most students of the American political tradition have come to regard it as the document to which one must recur in order to understand the underlying theory of our constitutional system. Its assumptions, principles, and theorems form the foundations of what is commonly known as the "Madisonian model" which many close observers, scholars and practical politicians alike, believe best explains the nature and operations of the American political system. Thus, the essay enjoys a quasi-constitutional status. That much may be said about Federalist 10 without too much fear of contradiction. However, principally because of its acknowledged and strategic role in fixing the character of the regime, it has been subjected to numerous readings and interpretations, and many ofthese can hardly be characterized as ''neutral.'' In this respect, I should remark, it would seem that many, if not most, analysts do not employ the essay as an "eyepiece" through which they might gain a clearer or more comprehensive picture of the American political system; rather, they seem to use it for purposes offinding theoretical support for conclusions they have already reached about the salient characteristics ofthe system and its operations. This often leads to a piecemeal and distorted interpretation of Madison's extended republic theory, a theory set forth not only in this essay but in his personal correspondence and at the Philadelphia Convention. Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation ofthe Constitution ofthe United States, a work that can be credited with sparking the enormous interest that has been shown in Federalist 10,* is perhaps the best example I can offer. Briefly put, Beard quotes extensively from a portion of the essay in an effort to show that Madison was a pre-Marxian Marxist who believed that the basic divisions in society would be economic, between the "haves" and the "have nots." Yet, Beard was able to accomplish this only by deleting key sentences in the middle of the quoted portion-sentences that clearly indicate that Madison was very much aware of other and, as many analysts would argue, even more potentially devastating sources of division and conflict originating from dis- *On this point see: Douglass Adair, "The Tenth Federalist Revisited," in Fame and the Founding Fathers: Essays by Douglass Adair, ed. Trevor Colbourn (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974). 34 Constitution_001-050.indd 35 10/22/07 12:23:23 AM MAJORITY RULE AND THE EXTENDED REPUBLIC THEORY OF JAMES MADISON 35 tinctly noneconomic sources involving passion and opinion. In his Main Currents in American Thought, Vernon Farrington is also guilty ofthe very same practice, though his elliptic surgery is more precise than Beard's. And both are also guilty of not pointing out another facet of his theory that does not so readily fit their preconceived notions: Madison also anticipated a "horizontal" conflict between different economic interests, not simply a "vertical" conflict between those with and those without property. The modern critics of the "Madisonian model," though they subscribe to essentially the same revisionist thesis concerning Madison's underlying thoughts about the need to protect the "haves" from the "have nots" who constitute a majority, are less direct and more subtle in presenting their case. Thus, disentangling their arguments is sometimes a difficult matter. For instance, as we shall see in chapter 3, we find Madison's arguments for an extended republic mixed with and fused into his arguments concerning the necessity for the separation of powers. But other lines of argument seem designed to show that we cannot really take Madison's position very seriously, presumably because it will not withstand critical analysis. Madison presumes, for example, that the permanent and aggregate interests of the community and rights of citizens are not necessarily what the majority may hold them to be at any given moment; that, in other words, they have an existence quite apart from what majorities may will or think. This, however, makes no sense to many modems who have come to regard man as the measure of all things. From their perspective Madison was offering up, much as our politicians of today are wont to do, sweet-sounding maxims designed to enlist popular support: rather than offering an "operational" theory, he was presenting an attractive and appealing rationale for minority rule. These lines of...

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