Checks And Balances

 The Federalist papers, are the foundation text of constitutional interpretation, and  are cited by American jurists and court systems in general. 

Madison Understood that politicians and the individuals in public service would all have ideas that they were passionate about and that they wanted to enact. The federalist system was the solution to make sure that laws and ideas were not enacted by a small group of partisan individuals. To achieve this, the use of different levels of government had to be done by  different branches. Each branch having the authority to impact legislation proposed by other branches. One way Federalist 51 was able to encourage checks and balances was by emphasizing that justice was the end to which civil society aims. That it be it be pursued "until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit". Madison echoing such thinkers as Hobbes, "the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger".

Madison asserted that although the branches were meant to have checks and balances, the branches would only function to their fullest if they were independent of one another. By being independent the branches would be able better do their task, and checks and balances would only be for disagreements, and if issues arose within the branches.

"if men were angels" (Federalist 51) implies that not everyone has the governed interests in mind, and that some government officials were sooner or later going to push legislation that is in their own interests, rather than in the interests of the governed. Madison asserted that a system of checks and balances would prevent this from happening and he uses the quote to show that checks and balances are necessary because men are not necessarily all angels. This also ties back into the ideas of liberty and equal opportunity that Madison emphasizes throughout the Federalist #51 paper.

The idea of checks and balances was not political thought is was a European idea from the enlightenment period. Political philosophers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had these ideas that related to checks and balances concept of governance. The idea of a representative democracy as a wat to establish checks and balances is an important component to the federalist paper. It explains how the different branches of government will be put into place. Checks and balances existed in other countries, before it was established here in the U.S.  suggesting that the concept of the political separation of powers and of checks and balances in government is a universal concept that is concrete in political theory.