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Speaker 1: The preamble to the American Constitution begins with the phrase

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Speaker 1: we the People. But could the people of America be

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Speaker 1: counted on to do the right thing all or even

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Speaker 1: most of the time. The principal architect of the Constitution,

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Speaker 1: James Madison, gave this question a great deal of thought.

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Speaker 1: His answer was a decided no quote. Whenever there is

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Speaker 1: an interest and power to do wrong, he said, wrong

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Speaker 1: will generally be done. For his new nation, Madison wanted

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Speaker 1: as much freedom as possible with as little government as possible,

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Speaker 1: but he had no illusions. Tyranny, he knew, comes in

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Speaker 1: many forms. It's not confined to monarchies and dictatorships. In

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Speaker 1: a democratic society, the threat of tyranny comes from the

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Speaker 1: people themselves. The founders called this the tyranny of the majority.

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Speaker 1: The majority will if it can, put its own interests

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Speaker 1: above those of the minority, and generally not hesitate to

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Speaker 1: deprive it of its rights and freedoms. This is why

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Speaker 1: Madison was preoccupied with the problem of what he called faction,

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Speaker 1: the word he used for any kind of organized pressure group.

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Speaker 1: Madison deemed both minority and majority factions dangerous. Yet of

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Speaker 1: the two types of factions, he considered a majority faction

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Speaker 1: to be more dangerous. Why because minority factions can be

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Speaker 1: curbed by the power of the majority. But who will

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Speaker 1: curb the majority? This is the central purpose of the Constitution,

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Speaker 1: to limit, frustrate, and in some cases, block majority rule.

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Speaker 1: As Madison put it, the great task was to devise

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Speaker 1: a document that would quote first, enable the government to

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Speaker 1: control the governed and quote in the next place, oblige

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Speaker 1: it to control itself. How to do this, Madison had

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Speaker 1: a plan. First, the Constitution had to be written down.

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Speaker 1: We're so accustomed today to national constitutions. We need to

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Speaker 1: remember that prior to the American Constitution, no country in

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Speaker 1: the world had won. And since the adoption of the

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Speaker 1: US Constitution, many countries have had constitutions that came and went,

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Speaker 1: some lasting just a few years. Yet the American Constitution

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Speaker 1: has now endured for two and a half centuries. The

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Speaker 1: original document was written on four pieces of parchment and

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Speaker 1: is four five hundred and forty three words long. Its

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Speaker 1: remarkable brevity perfectly matches its purpose to create a framework

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Speaker 1: for limited government. To Madison, this meant that the authority

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Speaker 1: of the federal government should cover certain listed or enumerated areas,

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Speaker 1: but outside those areas, the government has no authority. Second,

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Speaker 1: the rights of the citizens had to be clearly spelled out.

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Speaker 1: That's why the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known

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Speaker 1: as the Bill of Rights, contain a series of limitations

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Speaker 1: on government. The Rights and the Bill of Rights typically

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Speaker 1: begin quote, Congress shall make no law. Congress shall make

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Speaker 1: no law restricting free speech or freedom of the press,

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Speaker 1: or the free exercise of religion. Third, the concept of

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Speaker 1: representative government had to be clearly defined. Representative government means

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Speaker 1: that the people do not rule directly, their rule by

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Speaker 1: electing representatives who govern in their stead. Madison counted this

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Speaker 1: practice a radical departure from the direct democracy of the

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Speaker 1: ancient Athenians. As the distinguishing mark between democracy and the republic,

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Speaker 1: a large and extended society, Madison argued, can function effectively

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Speaker 1: only as a republic, and a republic is a much

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Speaker 1: better guard against tyranny of the majority than a democracy,

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Speaker 1: in which, by definition, the majority can do whatever it wants. Fourth,

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Speaker 1: the power within the government must be divided. The Constitution

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Speaker 1: separates power between an elected legislature charged with making laws,

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Speaker 1: an elected executive charge with enforcing them, and an appointed

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Speaker 1: judiciary empowered with resolving legal disputes. A further division happens

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Speaker 1: between the national government and the states, so that some

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Speaker 1: powers that exercise at the national level others at the

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Speaker 1: state and local level. Fifth, mutual oversight, checks and balances

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Speaker 1: was necessary to restrain the power of the individual branches.

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Speaker 1: Because Madison understood how easy it is for a country

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Speaker 1: to devolve into tyranny, he ensured that each of the

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Speaker 1: three branches of government act as a check on the

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Speaker 1: power of the other two. Congress as the power to

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Speaker 1: make laws, but the president can veto them, and vetos

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Speaker 1: can be overridden only by congressional super majorities. The president

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Speaker 1: and the executive branch enforce the laws, but there is

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Speaker 1: congressional and judicial oversight. The judiciary interprets the constitution and laws,

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Speaker 1: but judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by

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Speaker 1: the Senate. This is not complete list, but it gives

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Speaker 1: a clear picture of Madison's ambition to give America a

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Speaker 1: political system that would promote freedom by making it very

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Speaker 1: hard for the human appetite for power over others to

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Speaker 1: ever be realized. He succeeded thus far,