Madison's confidence in the usefulness of separation of powers rested on the assumption that

• A. The strongest would survive
• B. Ambitions would counteract each other
• C. No one would purposefully seek power
• D. Government would create virtuous citizens

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is that separation of powers works because each branch’s own ambitions will counteract the ambitions of the others, creating a system of checks and balances. Madison argued that if political actors seek power, those ambitions must be restrained by the competing ambitions of the other branches, so no one can easily dominate. This is why the best answer is that ambitions would counteract each other. The other statements misread the mechanism: simply the strongest surviving isn’t the point, human beings are believed to seek power rather than abstain from it, and virtue from government alone isn’t relied upon in this design—the system depends on structural incentives and checks to keep power in balance.