For Questions 1-3
Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by either four suggested answers or completions. Select the one that is best in each case and then fill in the appropriate bubble.
For Question 4
Select all of the correct statements that respond to the prompt.
For Question 5
Write a short response to the prompt.
“To what expedient, then, shall we finally resort for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is that… each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the other. It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed from their office. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another.”
Excerpt from Federalist #51, James Madison, February 8, 1788.
Which of the following best captures the main idea of the excerpt?
“But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the other. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interests of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”
Excerpt from Federalist #51, James Madison, February 8, 1788.
What does Madison mean by “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”?
“To what expedient, then, shall we finally resort for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is that… each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the other. It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed from their office. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another...But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the other. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interests of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”
Excerpt from Federalist #51, James Madison, February 8, 1788.
In Federalist No. 51, James Madison discusses the need for checks and balances to guard against abuses by majorities. Explain how Madison’s argument supports the constitutional structure of separation of powers.
According to the excerpt, what is the primary method of preventing one branch from becoming too powerful?
Which of the following ideas are expressed or supported in Federalist No. 51?
Select all that apply.