ABSTRACT
David Hume considered the propensity for faction to be a driving and powerful force in the history of mankind. In the History of England, extreme factions are criticized, but moderate party affliation is shown to be innocuous and even praiseworthy. Hume could give high praise to a historical agent like General Monk, who had emphatic party affiliation, but who was "remarkable for his moderation in party". Like Hume, James Madison believed that a progressive relaxation of religious restrictions had decreased the virulence of religious factions. That reality was documented in Hume's History of England and it was illustrated in the American theatre where Madison was a player. Together, Madison's readings and observations allowed him to leave behind Hume's "religious toleration" for a more capacious "complete religious liberty”. Religious factions and their consequences were of utmost interest to both Hume and Madison. For Hume, when opposed religious considerations were added to any party mix, factional polarization became almost a moral certainty.
