SOURCE: Carey, George W. “Republicanism.” In The Federalist: Design for a Constitutional Republic, pp. 3-27. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.

In the following excerpt, Carey discusses Publius's conception of republicanism, focusing on the problem of factions and Publius's “cure” for overcoming their potential evils.

To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of [majority factions], and at the same time to preserve the spirit and form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed.

[10:80]

Any number of places in The Federalist could be used as a suitable point of departure for an analysis of Publius's conception of republicanism. The very first essay, aside from being a logical starting point, suits our purposes very well. Here we find listed among the subjects to be covered in the subsequent papers “The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of...