John Winthrop vs. Federalist Number 10

lumpymunk

I had to write an essay pertaining to early American History and the history of the conflict between self-interest and communal well-being (collectivism). My assignment was specifically to argue FOR (wasn't give a choice) how John Winthrop's words delivered in his A Model of Christian Charity speech have been echoed throughout the course of American History.

Problem is... I disagree and find fundamental differences between the picture my professor wishes to paint and the reality of the primary source documentation. To me, this is an attempt at Christian revisionism in implying that John Winthrop is somehow one of the unsung Founding Fathers of the United States.

A Model of Christian Charity 1630
The Federalist, Number 10 1787

He specifically mentioned in lecture when discussion Madison's Fed#10 that it was "in essence" the same appeal to a "good of the many" mentality as opposed to a self-interested individualist mentality.

This isn't my essay, this is just what I really think about this nonsense.

The conflict between communal welfare and self-interest strikes a chord at the very core of the American notion that sovereignty rests within the individual. Individual liberty and self-ownership (property rights) means that you are free to act in the interests of either yourself or any other person you chose however you see fit, provided you do not violate that same right possessed by another person (i.e., abstain from the initiation of the use of physical force / coersion / fraud etc...). It is essentially the exact opposite of sacrificing your self-interest for a common good, if the two happen to be opposed in some way. Every man, according to Winthrop, “is born with this principle in him, to love and seek himself only.” This means that Winthrop acknowledges we are inherently self-interested by nature. It’s just a simple part of being human to care a great deal about yourself and your own future. Even though Winthrop acknowledges our natural state is self-interest, he stresses that the way a true Christian (not an American) ought to conduct himself is with a primary concern for the common good as if always commanded to “love his neighbor as himself.” No matter the divisions or differences men must order “all these differences for the preservation and good of the whole.”
After the Revolution, in arguing for ratification of the Constitution, James Madison, in his famous Federalist Number 10, argues that the obvious superiority of a republican over a democratic government should also, conveniently, be enjoyed by the largest population of people instead of being confined geographically. Madison essentially identified the same conflict of interests between small interested factions and the good of the many. In arguing for a broad Republic that would geographically encompass the most people he proposed a different approach in solving the conflict than Winthrop. Instead of ignoring the self-interest that was part of human nature, as Winthrop agrees, we could simply allow them to cancel one another out in volleying for political influence. Winthrop’s approach was to maintain a kind of stranglehold over the direction of his particular faction. The focus was not freedom or protection for individual liberties, but service to God. So a key difference, although the similarity exists in their mutual identification of the same problem, is that Madison was arguing against mob rule, (i.e., democracy) and Winthrop wanted individuals to cast out their, naturally human, self-interest and join the collective (i.e., the mob).
To Compare these two men ignores relevant context in that, while they may have identified the same problem... the solutions they proposed to solving them were polar opposites. Thus to conclude, Madison was not echoeing a 17th century puritan evangelical when argueing for the Constitution of the United States.
_________________
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