Federalist No. 10 is an essay by James Madison and the tenth of the Federalist Papers, a series arguing for the ratification of the United States Constitution. It was published on November 22, 1787, under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all the Federalist Papers were published. The essay is the most famous of the Federalist Papers and among the most highly regarded of all American political writings. No. 10 addresses the question of how to guard against "factions," groups of citizens with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. In today's discourse the term special interest often carries the same connotation. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against those dangers than smaller republics—for instance, the individual states. Opponents of the Constitution offered counterarguments to his position, which were substantially derived from the commentary of Montesquieu on this subject. The whole series is cited by scholars and jurists as an authoritative interpretation and explication of the meaning of the Constitution. Jurists have frequently read No. 10 to mean that the Founding Fathers did not intend the United States government to be partisan.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_No._10
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1493: Christopher Columbus became the first European to land on Puerto Rico, an island he named San Juan Bautista. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico)
1794: The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain concluded the Jay Treaty. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Treaty)
1863: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address)
1942: Soviet forces under General Georgy Zhukov launched the Operation Uranus envelopment at the Battle of Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the Soviet Union's favor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uranus)
1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel; he met with Prime Minister Menachem Begin and spoke before the Knesset. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Sadat)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
"In a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced." -- Abraham Lincoln (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln)