"Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction... By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion." — James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787
Anti-Federalist writers such as "Brutus" most directly disagreed with Madison by arguing that:
- Acheck_circle
A republic spread across so vast a territory could not preserve liberty
- B
The Articles of Confederation gave Congress too much power
- C
Slavery should be abolished by the new Constitution
- D
Faction was a virtue rather than a danger to free government
Explanation
Brutus and other Anti-Federalists invoked Montesquieu to claim free republics had to be small and homogeneous; an extended republic would inevitably consolidate power and destroy liberty. They did not praise faction, defend the Articles' power, or propose abolition in their core constitutional arguments.