Which Federalist paper was aimed at addressing antifederalist fears of a remote government with unelected senators and an indirectly elected president?

• A. Federalist 51
• B. Federalist 10
• C. Federalist 78
• D. Federalist 24

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how the Constitution designs representation and accountability to keep government from becoming distant and unresponsive. Madison argues that the new government would be a republic that blends national and state (federal) elements, not a distant autocracy. This mixed structure is meant to connect the people and the states to national decision-making, while still dispersing power so no single faction can dominate.

In this view, the concerns about a remote government with unelected senators and an indirectly elected president are addressed by showing how representation works within a large republic. Senators are chosen by state legislatures, tying national governance to the states, and the president would be elected through an Electoral College rather than directly by a single assembly. This setup is intended to temper direct popular passions with deliberate, layered decision-making and to provide checks and balances across different branches and levels of government.

So, the idea is that the system is designed to maintain vigilance against tyranny by distributing power and tying national authority to both the people and the states, through representative structures and indirect elections. The other papers focus on different aspects—checks and balances within government, the independence of the judiciary, or the powers to enforce national authority—but they do not specifically address the antifederalist fears about remoteness and the method of selecting those leaders in the same way.