Both Federalist papers are basically an explanation of the rulebook that is the U.S. Constitution—don't mess with the Constitution—and both are all about showing how you can preserve liberty through carefully structuring a government against negative factors.
While the spirit of Federalist Papers 10 and 51 is how to preserve civil liberties, the way in which it does so is by a heavy heaping of government oversight.
They were Federalists after all, and were big supporters of a hands-on central government. Rules and order, according to the Federalists, are what allows for true freedoms. It kind of takes a while to wrap your head around the reasoning, but Madison's all about explaining that factoid.
Questions About Rules and Order
- Why is it necessary to subdivide the government into three branches?
- Why are true democracies less effective than republics at maintaining order and stability?
- What part of human nature makes a strong government and a strict code of rules for it necessary?
- How does faction conflict disrupt order?
Chew on This
Both Federalist 10 and 51 assert that without the tempering structure of a strong central government, faction struggle would definitely destabilize society.
The Anti-Federalists' and Federalists' opposing opinions on the need for a strong central government has a lot to do with their views on what the Revolution was for.