Madison Vs. Marshall

Madison Vs. Marshall

Before we start to take sides, we need to discuss the different point of views of Madison and Marshall. We have to understand that our political landscape during the birth of our nation was much different. The states, were not unified, and were made up of different and often conflicting interests. Along with factions fighting one another and making political progress impossible. As Madison, would describe faction as a number of citizens; whether it be a majority or minority whole, who were motivate by some common impulse of passion or of interest. This broad definition would include the interest groups who dominate the political landscape today.

In Madison’s work of Federalist No. 10, he identifies factions were a problem. He views them as “a dangerous vice”, but at the same time saw factions as a necessary evil. He mentions that “The regulation of these various and interfering interest forms the principal task of modern legislation; and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government.” Here Madison states that factions, opposed in spirit to democratic ideals, spreading “unsteadiness and injustice” which are actually necessary for the function of a representative government. Throughout his paper, Madison explains how pure democracy wouldn’t be able to work, because it had “no cure for the mischief of faction.” He believed that this type of government will give so much power to the majority that it was doomed to fail. He sounded very confident that the new constitution would work. He believed of having a representative and a republic system. He had no doubt in mind that new constitution would be the end of the states embarrassment to the world. Madison saw democracy not as an ideal but something that could be modified to be fitted.

Two hundreds years later Thurgood Marshall said that Constitution written by our Founding Fathers was a defect from the start. As he said the first three words of the Constitution says “We the People” was a flaw. At the time our Founding Fathers didn’t have in mind the majority of Americans. The only thing on their mind was the wealthy population. Also he states how some things they wrote wasn’t place in action years later. For example “all humans are created equal.” This was a defect; it