Abstract
Scholars have disagreed about how to interpret James Madison's Federalist essays 10 and 51, in which he explains and justifies the underlying principles of the new Constitution. Was Madison the architect of a structure of counterpoise, which would force individuals, interests, and institutions to obstruct one another so as to avoid tyranny, or was he a republican statesman, designing a system that would recruit virtuous citizens to public office? I argue that these clashing interpretations can be reconciled by viewing Madison as a theorist who was applying Adam Smith's economic concepts to political phenomena By putting into practice Smith's insight that competition among self-interested actors can achieve the public interest, Madison incorporated both umpired strife and virtuous citizenship into the meta-principles of the Constitution.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, P.(1996) “What's New in the Federalist Papers?” Political Research Quarterly 49(3):525–45.
Adair, D.(1974) '''That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science:' David Hume, James Madison, and the Tenth Federalist." Fame and the Founding Fathers: Essays By Douglas Adair. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Barber, B. R. (1979) “The Compromised Republic: Public Purposeless in America.” In Robert H. Horwitz (ed.)pp. 19–38. The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, IInd edition, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
Blaug, M.(1978) Economic Theory in Retrospect. IIIrd edition. Cambridge, England Cambridge: University Press.
Dahl, R. A.(1956) A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Dempsey, B. W.(1965) “Just Price in a Functioning Economy.” In: Gherity, J.A. (ed.) Economic Thought: A Historical Anthology, pp.4–22. New York: Random House.
De Roover, R.(1965)“The Concept of the Just Price: Theory and Economic Policy.” pp. 23–41.In Ibid
Dougherty, K. L.(2003) “Madison's Theory of Public Goods,” in Kernell, James Madison. pp.41–62.
Downs, A.(1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.
Epstein, D. F.(1984) The Political Theory of The Federalist. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Fleischacker, S.(2002) “Adam Smith's Reception Among the American Founders, 1776–1790,” The William and Mary Quarterly (October).
Gide, C. and Rist, C.(1948) A History of Economic Doctrine From the Time Of The Physiocrats To The Present Day. Boston: D.C. Heath.
Goldwin, R. A.(1979) “Of Men and Angels: A Search for Morality in the Constitution,” In Horwitz,(ed.) Moral Foundations,op.cit. pp.1–18.
Goodin, R. E.(1996) Institutionalizing the Public Interest: The Defense of Deadlock and Beyond. American Political Science Review 90 (2 June):331–43.
Griswold, C. L. Jr. (1999) Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment. New York: Cambridge University.
Grofman, B. and Wittman, D.(eds.).(1989) The Federalist Papers and the New Institutionalism. New York: Agathon.
Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay.(1937) The Federalist. New York: Modern Library.
Hofstadter, R.(1948) The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. New York: Random House.
Kernell, S.(ed.) (2003) James Madison: The Theory and Practice of Republican Government. Stanford, California: Stanford University.
Kernell, S.(2003) “The True Principles of Republican Government': Reassessing James Madison's Political Science,” in Kernell, James Madison, pp.92–125.
Ketcham, R.(ed.)(1986) The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates. New York: Mentor.
Koch, A.(1961) Power, Morals, and the Founding Fathers: Essays in the Interpretation of the American Enlightenment. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Lovejoy, A. O.(1961) Reflections on Human Nature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Mansfeld, H. C.(1995)“Self-Interest Rightly Understood.” Political Theory 23(1):48–66.
Matthews, R. K.(1995) If Men Were Angels: James Madison & the Heartless Empire of Reason. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
McConnell, G.(1966) Private Power and American Democracy. New York: Random House.
McLean, I.(2003) “Before and After Publius: The Sources and Influences of Madison's Political Thought” in Kernell, James Madison, pp.14–40.
Peterson, M. D.(1974) James Madison: A Biography In His Own Words. Vol. 1. New York: Newsweek.
Pocock, J. G. A.(1975) The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rakove, J. N.(1996) Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Riley, J.(1990) “American Democracy and Majority Rule.” In: Chapman, J.W. and Wertheimer, A. (eds.) Majorities and Minorities. New York: New York University.
Rosen, G.(1999) American Empire: James Madison and the Problem of Founding. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
Sheldon, G.(2001) The Political Philosophy of James Madison. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University.
Smith, A.(1937) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. New York: Modern Library.
Smith, A.(1982) Lectures On Jurisprudence. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund
Spengler, J. J.(1940) “The Political Economy of Jefferson, Madison, and Adams,” in Jackson, D. K (ed). American Studies in Honor of William Kenneth Boyd. Durham: Duke University.
Sunstein, C. R.(1993) The Partial Constitution. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Viner, J.(1965) “Power Versus Plenty as Objectives of Foreign Policy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.” In Gherity,(ed.) Economic Thought, pp. 67–95.
White, M.(1987) Philosophy, the Federalist,and the Constitution. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wills, G.(1981) Explaining America: the Federalist. New York: Penguin.
Wilson, F.(1949) The American Political Mind:A Textbook in Political Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wood, G. S.(1969) The Creation of the American Republic 1776–1787. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Zvesper, J.(1984) “The Madisonian Systems,” Western Political Quarterly 37 (2 July): 236–56.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Prindle, D. The Invisible Hand of James Madison. Constitutional Political Economy 15, 223–237 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COPE.0000040430.41348.c1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COPE.0000040430.41348.c1