What Is Madison's Response To More Government Power

In James Madison’s The Federalist 10 and 51, he argues for more government power over the people. He explains that factions might come up and infringe on the rights of other citizens and giving the government more power will help these factions stay under control. He argues that factions or “men of factitious tempers…may by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people…” Madison believed greatly in the powers for the government and we see this where he says “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” He doesn’t just say to give the government unlimited power but also says that “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” He argued for more power to the government but also wanted the government to not be corrupt.

In Patrick Henry’s speeches, we see the opposition to more government power. He speaks his points with real concern for the people of America. He says his main objection to the new government is that “it does not leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war against
tyrants…” because “…gentlemen cannot be earnest.” He argues against the factions that Madison spoke of and asks “Where is that danger?” speaking of the factions that Madison was sure were going to come about. He is concerned about the liberty that they were seeking and any opposition to it “Our glorious forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foundation of everything.” One last thing he says that stands out to me is “Your President may easily become King.” This is what he is really scared of, a King, a monarchy being established and them going back to square one.

What this revealed about Madison was that he thought people would be capable of rebellion and more government was needed to make sure that didn’t happen.
Thinking of today’s society, it seems he was right to an extent. No rebellion has been able to overthrow the government and that’s because of the measure we have taken as a society to make sure something like that didn’t happen. What this revealed to me about Patrick Henry was that he thought more government would infringe on their liberty that they came to America for. These points made by both are difficult to not agree with both because I agree with both gentlemen here. We need government to make sure the country doesn’t fall apart but we don’t need the government trying to control our every move and
decisions.