Why does the American form of Government Work?

“If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution. When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed. Let me add that it is the great desideratum by which this form of government can be rescued from the opprobrium under which it has so long labored, and be recommended to the esteem and adoption of mankind.”

• Federalist Essay No. 10

This excerpt of Article 51, demonstrates how the American form of government was able to function due to its ability to keep the power in the hands of the people, while still maintaining an efficient nation.  Hamilton describes the intricate system, making it clear that in any situation, the decisions were to be made by the American majority.  If a movement is being made that has supplied less than majority support, it is the “republican principle which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by a regular vote”.  In the case that the majority aims to cause violence or chaos, the Constitution is able to keep them in check  In all scenarios provided, the American form of government is equipped to maintain the republic, while keeping order in society, due to the system of majority rule and the provisions of the constitution.

"In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another. Perhaps such a plan of constructing the several departments would be less difficult in practice than it may in contemplation appear. Some difficulties, however, and some additional expense would attend the execution of it. Some deviations, therefore, from the principle must be admitted. In the constitution of the judiciary department in particular, it might be inexpedient to insist rigorously on the principle: first, because peculiar qualifications being essential in the members, the primary consideration ought to be to select that mode of choice which best secures these qualifications; secondly, because the permanent tenure by which the appointments are held in that department, must soon destroy all sense of dependence on the authority conferring them."

• Federalist Essay No. 51

In this passage, Hamilton depicts how the American form of government divides its branches allowing for the strategic division of power within the governing body.  This division into three branches granted America the ability to have an organized government, while still keeping the principle of giving the power to the people.  HAmilton writes, “it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people.”  These three specified sectors allow for the smooth function of the government in that it narrows the range of authority of each branch.  This helps avoid the situation where a monarchical society would emerge, which the colonies worked so hard steer away from.