r Hamilton said: "Give all power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all power to the few, they will oppress the many."4 Having said that tyranny could come from any quarter, however, the framers of the American Constitution displayed a far greater fear of legislative tyranny than of executive or judicial tyranny. In practical terms, Madison saw the republic (synonymous at that time with representative democracy) as the required form of political structure to insure that tyranny would be prevented.5 Others, notably Hamilton, did not believe that a republican structure was the best means of preventing tyranny. Hamilton believed that a constitutional monarchical political structure would serve that purpose best.6
One of the major conditions required in order for a republican political structure to prevent tyranny was the control of factions within the political system. The chief means provided in the early American political system for the control of factions was
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