r Morris, "the elite of the American elite" (Stewart et al. American, 56). None of them believed in pure democracy, direct rule by the majority, which Madison said in Federalist No. 10 would lead to rule by faction and a tyranny of the majority. Instead, they believed in strengthening the powers of the national government, as needed to preserve national independence, develop the economy and protect private property rights. They devised a constitutional framework in which power would be limited and diffused as a safeguard against direct majority rule and against tyranny. The result they called republican government. They acknowledged that the ultimate legitimacy of government lay in the consent of the governed, but in their view the wishes of the majority could best be implemented and interpreted by elected representatives, rather than by direct votes by the majority on the issues, because they believed that only the propertied and well-educated classes could keep the national interest foremost.
Their system was republican not democratic because only the House of Representatives would be elected by direct popular vote. The other house, the Senate, would be elected by state legislatures, the President would be elected by an electoral college in turn elected by state legislatures and the President would appoint the federal judiciary with the advice and consent of the Senate. Power would further be diffused and limited by the separation of powers and a series of checks and balances among the three branches of the Federal government, executive, legislature and judiciary. Each branch of the federal government would possess powers over the others to prevent them from usurping power. Madison in Federalist No. 51 said: "the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving those who administer each department
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