In a 1792 column in the National Gazette, James Madison* briefly touched on Charles de Montesquieu’s three operative principles of government: fear in despotisms, honor in monarchies, and virtue in republics. From this starting point, the genius Madison divided governing principles into three species which reflect their predominant spirit. Madison:May not governments be properly divided, according to their predominant spirit and principles, into three species of which the following are examples?First. A government operating by a permanent military force, which at once maintains the government and is maintained by it; which is at once the cause of burdens on the...