“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
For the realist and civic-minded.
This line comes on
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About this line
Madison wrote it to sell a skeptical public on a radical new document — arguing a republic can’t rely on the virtue of its leaders and has to build in structural checks instead. Some arguments age well.
Why we carry this line
The clear-eyed case for checks and balances: people aren’t angels, so design for that. Ouch. Point taken.
What happened next
Federalist No. 51 ran in New York newspapers on February 6, 1788, signed “Publius.” Three men wrote under that name: Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Readers didn’t know who wrote which essay.
Just before his fatal duel in 1804, Hamilton left a list of the essays he said were his. It claimed No. 51 and eleven others that Madison also claimed. For about 160 years, nobody could prove who was right.
In 1964, two statisticians settled it by counting small words. Hamilton wrote “upon” all the time; Madison almost never did. Madison wrote “whilst” where Hamilton wrote “while.” The verdict: all twelve were Madison’s, including this one.
Documented source
Every quote here is traced to a documented source. How we verify →