Federalist Paper #10
Introduction
Our project was to make a visual of some sorts that explains a certain Federalist paper—my group did Federalist Paper #10. The Federalists Papers were the very last document we read, we worked our way up from philosophers’ writings to the Federalist Papers and then to the Constitution. We read and discussed the beliefs of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Aristotle, and Cicero—comparing their differing beliefs about what powers a government should have and where that power comes from. After this, we analyzed the Federalists Papers and created our projects. We discussed their purpose, historical context, and how it supports the constitution. This made reading and annotating the Constitution much easier, as we could connect certain ideas to a specific Federalist Paper. As a class, we summarized the Constitution in its respective sections and read over it all together, adding some definitions to certain words and discussing how it supports a successful government.
Process
My partners, Lucy and Zaynab, and I read through Federalist Paper #10 while annotating. Afterward, we discussed with each other what the main ideas of the paper were and how we could transform those into some interactive project. We decided that the goal of our project was to make this Federalist paper easy to understand. With this in mind, a comic was the medium chosen for the project, as it allowed us to make a story that included pictures and text about the Federalist Paper simplified.
The comic book being made on Canva.
Product
This is my group's comic book that we made to represent Madison’s thought process while creating Federalist Paper #10. The pictures depict James Madison having a nightmare about all past philosophers’ ideas on what government is required for a well-structured society, and then Madison comes to his own conclusion on the best possible government for our country.
Reflection
By doing this project, I have learned that James Madison's idea of a well-ordered society is one that is malleable. Madison saw that one aspect of a well-ordered society is that it is lasting, and a government that can adapt to the change in times and culture is one that will survive and flourish. The moldable government should be protected by any abrupt or impulsive beliefs that arise and possibly change law, which was accounted for by Madison by having representatives of the people split up into different groups and branches. Madison's belief that there should be numerous large factions differed with other philosophers' views on factions. The other theorists we looked at—Aristotle, Cicero, Hobbes, and Locke—did not want factions, but Madison saw that the formation of factions was inevitable, unless you removed liberty. Instead, Madison sought to control the effects of factions, rather than control their causes.
I did not have a clear understanding of what separates the United States’ government from other countries before studying the Federalist Papers, though I knew there were differences. I knew, based on the way that our country came to be, that the United States was going to be a place where there would be more representation in the government (as opposed to the monarchy of Great Britain). I had thought that the United States’ government was a completely new concept, which is not entirely true. Now, I understand that our constitution was built using different aspects of other governments/hypothetical governments that had failed in the past to create a sustainable government—learning from the histories of other countries.