Federalist No. 55
Federalist No. 55 is an essay by James Madison, the fifty-fifth of The Federalist Papers. It was published on February 13, 1788 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all The Federalist Papers were published. It is titled "The Total Number of House of Representatives". It is the first of four papers defending the number of members in the House of Representatives against the critics who believe the number of members to be inadequate. The critics presume that there aren't enough representatives to defend the country against the small group of legislators who are violating the rights of the people. In this paper, Madison examines the size of the United States House of Representatives.
Federalist No. 18
Federalist No. 18 is an essay by James Madison, the eighteenth of "The Federalist Papers". It was published on December 7, 1787 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all "The Federalist" papers were published. No. 18 addresses the failures of the Articles of Confederation to satisfactorily govern the United States; it is the fourth of six essays on this topic. It is titled "The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union". Madison draws historical parallels between the Confederation and Ancient Greece, where both the Amphictyonic League and the Achaean League ended in tyranny and disintegration. This illustrates the importance of a closer union.