Welcome to the Hillsdale College Online Courses podcast. I'm Jeremiah Regan.

And I'm Juan Dabellos. We are back with the Federalist, lecture number four,

The Problem of Majority Faction. In the previous lecture, the extended republic, we were introduced

to Publius's proposals for improvements to the science of politics. One of them is in direct response

to a criticism that anti-federalists had of the large size of the American Republic.

This thing stretches from Maine all the way down to Georgia.

Anti-Federalists said, a republic requires you to know your neighbors.

This republic is too big.

People in Georgia and Maine can't really know each other in a meaningful way.

The Publuse responds with the extended

republic actually solves a major problem of free government, that of faction. And where the

argument is made is in Federalist Number 10, which is one of the most famous papers published by

Publius.

Federalist then goes into the problem of majority faction or minority faction,

faction in general.

And what is interesting here is that it's one of the glimpses that we get into their understanding of human nature and why it is important when considering the form of a government, you cannot

ignore the way people behave, the way people are, what their nature is, and you have to

account for it. Dr. Pristrito explains this in the lecture, but what is a faction? Yeah, a faction,

let me actually get the right definition. It is the lecture, but what is a faction? Yeah, a faction. Let me actually get the right definition.

It is either a majority or a minority who are united by a common political aim that is harmful

to the rights of other citizens or the coming good of a society. So a faction isn't just a group

of citizens banded together. It's a group of citizens banded together.

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