Federalist No. 14

Federalist No. 14 is an essay by James Madison, the fourteenth of the "Federalist Papers". It was published on November 30, 1787 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all the "Federalist Papers" were published. It addresses a major objection of the Anti-Federalists to the proposed United States Constitution: that the sheer size of the United States would make it impossible to govern justly as a single country. Madison touched on this issue in Federalist No. 10 and returns to it in this essay. No. 14 is titled, "Objections to the Proposed Constitution From Extent of Territory Answered."

Summary of Federalist No. 14

While a Democracy can only cover a small space, Republics may span over many provinces. This is because in a Democracy, all people must gather into one place to vote. In a Republic the people elect representatives to vote. The greatest danger to a Republic is to confuse it with a Democracy. It is easier to be united and have to travel to a distant province to represent the people, than for that person to be isolated and attacked from all sides. So, if Americans do not fall for a Democracy, a Republic will provide for a strong union, additional states, and security.

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