James Madison begins perhaps the most famous of the Federalist papers by stating that the fact that it establishes a government capable of controlling the violence and damage caused by factions. Madison defines that factions are groups of people who gather together to protect and promote their special economic interests and political opinions. Although these factions are at likelihood with each other, they frequently work against the public interests, and infringe upon the rights of others. In James Madison’s own assumptions towards human nature, he describes them in explicit conditions. “So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities that where no substantial occasion presents itself the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions, has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society” James Madison confers that the hidden grounds of factions are as a result spread in the nature of man. Given the nature of man, factions are foreseeable. As long as men hold different opinions, have different amounts of wealth, and own different amount of property, they will continue to associate with people who are most similar to them. Both serious and minor reasons account for the formation of factions but the most important source of faction is the unequal distribution of property. Men of greater ability and talent tend to possess more property than those of lesser ability, and since the first object of government is to protect and encourage ability, it follows that the rights of property owners must be protected. Property is divided unequally, and, in addition, there are many different kinds of property; people have different interests depending upon the kind...
