Federalist Paper #51

The purpose of the 51st Federalist Paper was to explain the election of officials under a new constitution. It explains the election of officials as being by the people. The only time in which government officials will elect officials will be in deciding the members of the judicial branch. The reasoning for this is that Judicial members must be extremely well qualified and would be best chosen by their peers in government. The branches of government will have checks on each other but the branch with the most power is the legislative branch. Therefore it is necessary to split this branch into two groups to more equally divide the power within it.
(pictured is James Madison, author of Federalist Paper 51)

Federalist Paper #10

In the 10th Federalist Paper, the argument is being made that the United States should be treated as a large republic in order to be successful. Factions are believed to be the biggest threat to the union. However the only way to control these factions would be to squash the right of every citizen to liberty and to force common ideas, beliefs, and opinions onto every citizen. With a republic it would be possible to control these factions. With a large number of national delegates one faction would not be able to use the assembly for its personal agenda. No delegate would be pressured by another.

The Quakers were not god fearing people, they were god loving people. Their beliefs were fundamentally at odds with those of their puritan neighbors. The puritans were persecuted in England and believed that they would find freedom in America. However, the puritans were not willing to be contradicted in their beliefs and were therefore violent and hostile towards the “backwards” beliefs of the Circle of Friends. The Quakers believed in inward light and that god had faith in each of them and their abilities to do good things. Quakers were also known for equal rights for women and for eliminating the importance of the puritan “chosen few” aka the clergy. Thus the Quakers were seen as quacks and persecuted for their way of life. (upper right, a quaker being released from puritan prison)

Puritans and Sex: not the oxymoron you might expect

The puritans were strict disciplinarians in almost every aspect of their lives. They existed in a truly ascetic society dwelling on sin and Satan as the root to all worldly pleasures. However these same people, who practice abstinence in every other way, were very in tune with the needs of man to have sex. Sex was not something to be endured in order to procreate, but was actually something to be enjoyed as part of a healthy marriage. The puritans encouraged sex amongst married people. In fact only unmarried people and slave masters had something to fear about sex. Fornication was one of the biggest and most harshly punishable sins that could be committed in the puritan society.