Read Federalist Papers #10 & 51, (available in the back Appendix of the textbook or Google). The Federalist Papers consist of 85 different opinion pieces written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Hamilton was our nation’s First Treasury Secretary, Jay the first Supreme Court Chief Justice, and Madison, the “Father of our Constitution”, along with being Secretary of State and our 4th president.
Madison happened to write these two particular Federalist Papers and most Political Science texts will refer to them as they are deemed more significant and relevant than the others. In their entirety, the Federalist Papers were written in defense of having a Constitution as the system under the Articles of Confederation was just not working out for our fledgling nation (see pg. 25 on its weaknesses).
For Discussion, you have been transported back in time to the Founding Era of the late 18th century (like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) where you introduce the form of Twitter, thus tweeting your ideas:
1) Explore the above two Federalist Papers and in your own words, “tweet” here on Canvas several (more than 2)important points or highlights that Madison makes whether it’s human nature, factions, federal/republican form of government, etc. To make it more relative, how might these still relate to our nation today? Do not confuse republic with Republican (political party) or democracy with Democratic (political party). Your post should be one that is substantive and thoughtfully reflective of the reading but is open to creativity. You might also touch upon factions and whether or how they still exist today (i.e. incorporate Ch. 11 on Interest Groups; perhaps this relates to Political Parties in Ch. 9 too).
