1. James Madison, one of the main authors of the Federalist Papers published in 1788, believed in two pieces or compounds of government: he thought power as the division between central and state governments.
2. Another word for this kind of compound government is Federalism.
- The framers of the U.S. Constitution, being one of them James Madison, wanted to create a strong national government and address the Articles of Confederation’s flaws, since they allowed the states too much power. Therefore, federalism seeks a kind of balance of power between the federal or central government and the states.
3. The branches within each level of government will provide checks and balances: a principle by which separate branches, within a government, are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and are induced to share power. In sum, the central and state governments will check each other’s power so the people have “double security”. Moreover, in order to further illustrate this idea, here is an excerpt from the Federalist Papers wrote by Madison:
“Hence a doubles security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself"
4. There is a pattern in the chart and it is the following:
The chart shows the division of powers between national/federal and state governments: state governments, as they are closer to the people, they are in charge of dealing with more local and personal issues, such as passing marriage and divorce laws or establishing schools. As a consequence, this kind of issues are reserved to each state's government since they would be more acquainted with their own local culture.
5. In the Federalist Papers, James Madison also pointed out that the many checks and balances in the Constitution framing, decreased the likelihood that someone could tyrannize or seize power over the entire nation, and if anyone ever tried doing so, that someone would rapidly be deposed by the state governments, who are in charge of leading the military, for instance.
