Federalist Paper #51 The theory behind Madison's Federalist Paper #51 is an acknowledgement that the "have-nots" in any society are extremely likely to seek retribution against the "haves," and, like Hamilton, believed class struggle is inseparable from politics. Positioning himself in this manner clearly shows that he had emancipated himself from the sterile dualistic view of society that was so common in the eighteenth century and that so obsessed Hamilton. However,

Federalist papers sought to inspire a nation to generate a sense of identity and freedom not just from the British government and British identity, but also from the notion that the American government is flawed and ineffective. Several federalist papers in particular, discuss how the government should be as well as help deal with some of the fears and desires of the American public. The Federalist papers that will

ratification of the U.S. Constitution pushed the nation to extremes: on the one hand were the Federalists, led by men like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison -- men who promoted the idea of a central government (the reasons for which they enumerated at length in their "Federalist" papers); on the other hand were the Anti-Federalists, led by men like Robert Yates and George Clinton (Yates being the presumptive author

In fact, during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Slonim notes that the need for a bill of rights was not even a topic of discussion until Virginian delegate George Mason raised the issue just several days before the Convention was scheduled to rise on September 17; Mason suggested that a bill of rights "would give great quiet to the people." Following this assertion, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts moved that the

Second Reconstructions One of the most dramatic consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction was that the South was effectively driven from national power for roughly six decades. Southerners no longer claimed the presidency, wielded much power on the Supreme Court, or made their influence strongly felt in Congress But beginning in the 1930s, the South was able to flex more and more political muscle, and by the 1970s some

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the European theorists who has been cited as an inspiration for the Founding Fathers as they wrote the U.S. Constitution and created the American form of government. In some ways, however, they were using what Rousseau wrote as a beginning point and then finding a governmental form to refute some of Rousseau's concerns for what representative government might become if not controlled. The authors of