麦迪逊在州和联邦一级的经验使他说服了他，“人民”不是一个仁慈，和谐的集体，而是致力于省级观点的派系或利益集团的闷闷不乐和不断变化的聚会，并且很容易受到党派议程的煽动者。问题
(Madison's experience at both the state and the federal level had convinced him that "the people" was not some benevolent, harmonious collective but rather a smoldering and ever-shifting gathering of factions or interest groups committed to provincial perspectives and vulnerable to demagogues with partisan agendas. The question)