The Federalists Papers

Last week, in my American Heritage class, we talked about the coming forth of the Constitution of the United States. As many leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have declared, the Constitution is an inspired document, penned by men who sought after the welfare of their nation and all nations may be benefited by applying the principles found therein.
In particular, last week we talked about the so-called "Federalists Papers." This is a series of papers written mostly by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, that had as purpose to inform the average American of the political situation of their day, meaning, what was being debate regarding the Constitution. The authors of these papers explain the benefits of the different points found in the Constitution and defend these points against the attacks of adversaries. In particular, I would like to refer to the Federalist Paper no. 57, which is a defense against an attack on the idea of the House of Representatives.

Opponents to the Constitution, argued that a House of Representatives would aim at the sacrifice of the ambitions of many to the aggrandizement of the few. The authors of Paper no. 57 argued that this can't be further from reality. First, because the member of the House of Representatives would be chosen from the people and by the masses. Therefore, they would represent the interests of the majority of the country. Second, the founding fathers understood the men have a natural desire of power and that therefore, the members of the House of Representatives would want to be reelected over and over again. For this reason, they were given a short period as member of the House and then they had to go to reelections. Knowing that in order to be reelected they would have to represent their constituents, the House of Representatives would truly represent the masses, as oppose to the few, as their enemies claimed.

I find it truly interesting that the Founding Fathers were able to work with the follies of human nature in order to create a form of government that would preserve freedom and would last through the centuries.