PSC 2371 Chapter Notes - Chapter Federalist Papers Notes: 6 Years, Avail, Certain General
Federalist Papers 1, 78, 62, 84, 47, 48
Federalist Paper #1
General Introduction - Hamilton
-asks readers to consider a new Constitution due to inefficiency
-says many people will oppose the constitution
-admits personal support for adoption
-outlines the issues he will address in the Federalist papers
-addresses fears that democratic republics cannot work in such large
geographic area
quotes:
-“reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to
decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable
or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or
whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions
on and accident and force.”
-“Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of
our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not
connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be
wished than seriously to be expected… too many particular interests… too
many local institutions…. not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects
foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to
the discovery of truth”
-“new Constitution will have to encounter… the perverted ambition of
another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the
confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of
elevation from the subdivision of the empire into several partial
confederacies than from its union under one government”
-“Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men may be actuated by
upright intentions… the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived
jealousies and fears. So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes
which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many
occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right
side of questions of the first magnitude to society.”
-“furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much
persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy”
-“we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are
influenced by purer principles than their antagonists”
-“For in politics, as in religion… heresies can rarely be cured by
persecution”
-“they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to
increase the number of their converts by the loudness of the declamations
and the bitterness of their invectives”
“vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty… a dangerous
ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of
the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness
and efficiency of government”
Federalist Paper #78
The Judiciary Department, Alexander Hamilton
-written to explicate and justify the structure of the judiciary under the
proposed Constitution
-the mode of appointing the judges, the tenure by which they are to
hold their places, the partition of the judiciary authority between different
courts, and their relations to each other
-addresses concerns by the Anti-Federalists over the scope and power
of the federal judiciary (unelected, politically insulated judges appointed for
life)
-contends judiciary is weakest branch
-discusses the power of judicial review (determining whether acts of
Congress are constitutional) as a protection against abuse of power by
Congress
-the mode of appointing the judges, the tenure by which they are to hold
their places, the partition of the judiciary authority between different courts,
and their relations to each other
Document Summary
Federalist papers 1, 78, 62, 84, 47, 48. Asks readers to consider a new constitution due to inef ciency. Outlines the issues he will address in the federalist papers. Addresses fears that democratic republics cannot work in such large geographic area quotes: Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men may be actuated by upright intentions the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears. Furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy . We are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are in uenced by purer principles than their antagonists . For in politics, as in religion heresies can rarely be cured by persecution .
