Human Nature in Government

In Federalist 51, "The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments," James Madison sums up his notion of government: "But what is government but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?" (Pole, 281) Madison's idea of government as a reflection of human nature is displayed strongly throughout all of the Federalist Papers, as he and his contributors, namely Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, spread their ideals of classic republicanism and support for the adoption of the United States Constitution over the Articles of Confederation. The authors believed that government could succeed only if that government uses a system involving the separation of powers in order to minimize tyranny and protect democracy. It can be inferred from this that the authors certainly believed man was prone to corruption and greed, and that government facilitates, and indeed is a necessity for, social interaction. Likewise, other great political theorists and authors wrote about the connection between human nature and government. In Karl Marx and Richard Engels' The Communist Manifesto, the authors argue that human nature is, in fact, nothing besides a reflection of the social values produced by certain kinds of economic organization. In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, on the other hand, Mill discusses his concept of liberty through a Utilitarian approach, claiming that a government is only justified in exerting authority over a man's individual liberty if it is to stop a behavior that harms other people. Any other limits are violations of that person's liberty. This Utilitarian ideology necessitates a government that will produce the maximum amount of happiness, and that is an assessment heavily predicated on an accurate idea of human nature. The three aforementioned literary works, The Federalist, The Communist Manifesto, and On Liberty, all describe vastly diverse political ideologies, yet each piece displays government as a reflection on human nature.

After his statement above, affirming that governments are the greatest of all reflections on human nature, Madison goes on to state that government is necessary only because men are not angels and are not governed by angels. Madison adds that "in framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." (Pole, 281) Madison and his coauthors understood the difficulty of creating and maintaining a successful government, free from corruption and tyranny. The system they proposed within The Federalist was intended to minimize the susceptibility of the government to these vices. As Madison put it, "ambition must be made to counteract ambition." (Pole, 281) For this reason, the authors condoned a government that involves a separation of powers, where the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government are kept distinct in order to prevent the abuse of power. The very necessity for this system, for these checks and balances on power, seems to be commentary on human nature. The authors knew that man is prone to greed and corruption, and so, keeping in mind the old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely, they decided to condone a government where the potential for these kinds of abuses is severely suppressed, if not nonexistent. Commentary on human nature exists elsewhere within The Federalist, as well. In Federalist 10, also written by Madison, he discusses the existence of factions within the new government. Madison points out that factions are problematic for democratic governments:
"A pure democracy [...] can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will be felt by a majority, and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is, that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." (Pole, 51)
This seems to imply that men are incapable of governing themselves such as to consider not only the majority opinion, but the views of the less popular opinions as well. This can be read to imply that there is at best close-mindedness in mankind and at worst an utter neglect for the feelings of others by mankind. Madison offers his republican remedy as the cure to this disease. The government embodied in the Constitution allows enough room, Madison says, for the various factions to express their views and influence the government, resulting in a majority party that keeps in mind the concerns of the minority. No faction can gain tyrannical control, Madison says, because of the sheer number of factions involved. Madison's political views once again reflect his concept of human nature, that the government must pick up after the flaws of men in order to provide a social environment that works. This is a trend seen throughout The Federalist, as Madison, Hamilton, and Jay offer the government represented by the Constitution as the counter to man's flaws as they emerge in government.

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels had their own take on government, and their political ideals reflect their views of human nature in The Communist Manifesto. The authors' beliefs concerning human nature and government, however, are on the complete other side of the spectrum from the beliefs implied in The Federalist. Rather than believing that government is a reflection of human nature, Marx and Engels claim that human nature is a reflection of government, or more accurately perhaps, economic organization. The authors close their assessment of the history of ideas by pointing out that human nature is dependent on social environment: "Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man's ideas, views, and conceptions, in one word, man's consciousness, changes with every change in the conditions of his material existence, in his social relations and in his social life?" (Marx, 28) The authors also state that "the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class." (Marx, 29) Human nature is a result of the economic organization and social settings of the age, and human ideologies resemble those of the ruling class. In the same portion of the text, Marx responds to the criticism of Communism that it seeks to abolish country and nationality and eternal truths in the world like Freedom, Justice, religion, and morality. Marx claims that these universal truths exist universally because "the history of all past society has consisted in the development of class antagonisms, antagonisms that assumed different forms at different epochs." (Marx, 29) He concludes that it should be no surprise that new ideas might develop with the institution of Communism, as Communism is "the most radical rupture with traditional property relations." (Marx, 29) Marx's conclusion is that although human nature is merely a reflection of the current economic organization, human nature would be vastly different under a Communist administration because it is such a radical departure from past societies, all of which were plagued with class antagonism.

John Stuart Mill's On Liberty claims not that government is a reflection of human nature, but that government should be a reflection of human nature. One of the major premises of Mill's work is what is referred to as the Harm Principle: "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." (Mill, 52) Essentially, Mill claims that the only time it is acceptable to interfere with liberty is for self-protection. Any other interference is unjustified. "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." (Mill, 52) The Harm Principle is an extension of Mill's Utilitarian beliefs. Utilitarianism is an ethical doctrine primarily concerned with producing "the greatest good for the greatest number," as goes the oft-cited Jeremy Bentham description of Utilitarianism. Essentially, Utilitarianism is concerned with weighing actions by their overall utility; overall utility is the good to be maximized. Mill's argument in On Liberty is based on exactly that: what is good for mankind. Mill examines the authority of government based on its utility, and so one must explore what kind of government yields the best consequences for utility, an assessment that is based on premises regarding human nature. Therefore not only is government a reflection of human nature, as Madison supposed in his Federalist 51, but according to Mill, government should be a reflection of human nature, else the government is not yielding maximum utility.

Each of the three aforementioned pieces of political literature discusses vastly different political ideologies, yet each displays that government is a reflection of human nature. The Federalist primarily focuses on how the republican government described in the Constitution prevents abuse and tyranny, and so one can imply that the necessity for these preventions is commentary on human nature, namely that we are prone to greed and corruption. The Communist Manifesto implies that human nature is little more than a reflection of economic and social circumstances. On Liberty suggests that, using Utilitarian ideology, government is only yielding maximal utility if it is a perfect reflection of human nature. Government is indeed the greatest reflection on human nature.

Works Cited

Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers. New York: Signet Classics, 2003.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.
Mill, John S. On Liberty. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc., 2007.