• James Madison helped design the structure of the legislative branch.capitol image by Andrew Breeden from Fotolia.com
  
  James Madison served as a member of the Continental Congress, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, a member of Congress, Thomas Jefferson’s Secretary of State, and, finally, president (Reference 3). During the Constitutional Convention, he proposed the Virginia Plan, which established three branches of government. Madison feared the tyranny of powerful, extremist minority groups, so he advocated a system of representation designed to produce moderate policies.
  
  

Length of Term

• Madison advocated short terms in office with frequent elections to make representatives more responsive to public opinion. Representatives need to be familiar with the electorate's preferences, even if those opinions are fickle and parochial. However, Madison also argued that representatives should resist temporary public whims that might have negative consequences in the future. They must balance short- and long-term policy-making goals and should focus on the long-term effects of policies, because the public opinion is constantly changing (Reference 1, p.9). U.S. representatives serve two-year terms and are directly elected by the voters in their districts.
  
  

Scope of Representation

• Representatives should faithfully represent the interests of their constituents (Reference 1, p.9). They should put their constituents’ interests above national interests, which will lead to debate, compromise and coalition building and result in more moderate policies that consider the concerns of the nation as a whole. Madison argued that representatives should represent large districts because this makes them responsible to a greater number of people and larger variety of interests, which will make them more virtuous and willing to compromise.
  
  

Degree of Cooperation

• Madison argued that factions are inevitable when humans congregate. Representatives will tend to gravitate toward colleagues that seem similar to them. According to Madison, a totally independent representative is impossible. Representatives will naturally divide into groups. However, Madison feared stable divisions of political conflict and favored diverse, changing coalitions (Reference 1, p.9). Representatives should not vote with the same group on every issue. For example, a Democrat may vote with the Democratic Party on health care reform legislation, but side with the Republican Party on crime issues. Madison believed that these fluid coalitions would result in more moderate legislation.
  
  

Consistency and Reliability

• Madison believed that representatives should be open to compromise and be adaptable (Reference 1, p.9). If the representative body changed laws on a constant basis, it would undermine the government’s legitimacy. However, society cannot move forward and meet the challenges of a changing world if elected officials are inflexible and committed to the old way of doing things. Madison thought representatives should not constantly change their positions on issues capriciously, but they should be willing to compromise with opposing viewpoints as society changes. He thought representatives should act as a moderating force to create policies that appeal to the interests of the greatest number of citizens.