Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Federalist 1 Published October 27, 1787
Constitution Org ^ | Alexander Hamilton

Posted on 10/27/2013 3:55:04 PM PDT by Loud Mime

It's time to revisit the first Federalist and the wonderful series freep-authored by our own Publius and Billthedrill.

The Federalist No. 1

Introduction

Independent Journal
Saturday, October 27, 1787
[Alexander Hamilton]


To the People of the State of New York:

AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been 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 accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. 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. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon 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.

Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State establishments; and 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.

It is not, however, my design to dwell upon observations of this nature. I am well aware that it would be disingenuous to resolve indiscriminately the opposition of any set of men (merely because their situations might subject them to suspicion) into interested or ambitious views. Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men may be actuated by upright intentions; and it cannot be doubted that much of the opposition which has made its appearance, or may hereafter make its appearance, will spring from sources, blameless at least, if not respectable--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. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.

And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives. An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good. It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal distrust. On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that 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. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

In the course of the preceding observations, I have had an eye, my fellow-citizens, to putting you upon your guard against all attempts, from whatever quarter, to influence your decision in a matter of the utmost moment to your welfare, by any impressions other than those which may result from the evidence of truth. You will, no doubt, at the same time, have collected from the general scope of them, that they proceed from a source not unfriendly to the new Constitution. Yes, my countrymen, I own to you that, after having given it an attentive consideration, I am clearly of opinion it is your interest to adopt it. I am convinced that this is the safest course for your liberty, your dignity, and your happiness. I affect not reserves which I do not feel. I will not amuse you with an appearance of deliberation when I have decided. I frankly acknowledge to you my convictions, and I will freely lay before you the reasons on which they are founded. The consciousness of good intentions disdains ambiguity. I shall not, however, multiply professions on this head. My motives must remain in the depository of my own breast. My arguments will be open to all, and may be judged of by all. They shall at least be offered in a spirit which will not disgrace the cause of truth.

I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars: -- The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity -- The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union -- The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attainment of this object -- The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican government -- Its analogy to your own state constitution -- and lastly, The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property.

In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

It may perhaps be thought superfluous to offer arguments to prove the utility of the UNION, a point, no doubt, deeply engraved on the hearts of the great body of the people in every State, and one, which it may be imagined, has no adversaries. But the fact is, that we already hear it whispered in the private circles of those who oppose the new Constitution, that the thirteen States are of too great extent for any general system, and that we must of necessity resort to separate confederacies of distinct portions of the whole.1 This doctrine will, in all probability, be gradually propagated, till it has votaries enough to countenance an open avowal of it. For nothing can be more evident, to those who are able to take an enlarged view of the subject, than the alternative of an adoption of the new Constitution or a dismemberment of the Union. It will therefore be of use to begin by examining the advantages of that Union, the certain evils, and the probable dangers, to which every State will be exposed from its dissolution. This shall accordingly constitute the subject of my next address.

PUBLIUS


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alexanderhamilton; federalist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

1 posted on 10/27/2013 3:55:04 PM PDT by Loud Mime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime
Link to complete series of the FreeRepublic Federalist study.
2 posted on 10/27/2013 3:57:35 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberal: greedy person who charges their grandchildren for today's party)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius; Billthedrill; Jacquerie

Ping list?


3 posted on 10/27/2013 3:58:08 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberal: greedy person who charges their grandchildren for today's party)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

Thank you for posting this.

As an aside, as a great read, , “America’s Money, America’s Story” is written by Richard Doty, a history of America’s money...wow. It is written like a novel and I highly recommend it. It could be a stand alone history class book for a college course.


4 posted on 10/27/2013 4:01:58 PM PDT by CincyRichieRich (“Life is hard, but it’s harder when you’re stupid.” John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

Sure!


5 posted on 10/27/2013 4:58:05 PM PDT by Jacquerie (An Article V amendment convention is our only hope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime
The meaning of the following section from FP#1 eludes me. What is Hamilton on about here?

"An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good. It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal distrust. On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that 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."

6 posted on 10/27/2013 5:09:03 PM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

I’d like to be added.


7 posted on 10/27/2013 5:10:47 PM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime
Hamilton was a fabulous and FAST writer. Then, as today, there were conflicting, self serving interests that made union a precarious thing. I don't think today's populace is more divided now than it was in 1787-1788. If that is so, there is reason to believe we can overcome a hundred years of progressivism and return to our traditions.
8 posted on 10/27/2013 5:16:21 PM PDT by Jacquerie (An Article V amendment convention is our only hope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime
FReeper Book Club: The Debate over the Constitution
5 Oct 1787, Centinel #1
6 Oct 1787, James Wilson’s Speech at the State House
8 Oct 1787, Federal Farmer #1
9 Oct 1787, Federal Farmer #2
18 Oct 1787, Brutus #1
22 Oct 1787, John DeWitt #1
27 Oct 1787, John DeWitt #2
27 Oct 1787, Federalist #1
31 Oct 1787, Federalist #2
3 Nov 1787, Federalist #3
5 Nov 1787, John DeWitt #3
7 Nov 1787, Federalist #4
10 Nov 1787, Federalist #5
14 Nov 1787, Federalist #6
15 Nov 1787, Federalist #7
20 Nov 1787, Federalist #8
21 Nov 1787, Federalist #9
23 Nov 1787, Federalist #10
24 Nov 1787, Federalist #11
27 Nov 1787, Federalist #12
27 Nov 1787, Cato #5
28 Nov 1787, Federalist #13
29 Nov 1787, Brutus #4
30 Nov 1787, Federalist #14
1 Dec 1787, Federalist #15
4 Dec 1787, Federalist #16
5 Dec 1787, Federalist #17
7 Dec 1787, Federalist #18
8 Dec 1787, Federalist #19
11 Dec 1787, Federalist #20
12 Dec 1787, Federalist #21
14 Dec 1787, Federalist #22
18 Dec 1787, Federalist #23
18 Dec 1787, Address of the Pennsylvania Minority
19 Dec 1787, Federalist #24
21 Dec 1787, Federalist #25
22 Dec 1787, Federalist #26
25 Dec 1787, Federalist #27
26 Dec 1787, Federalist #28
27 Dec 1787, Brutus #6
28 Dec 1787, Federalist #30
1 Jan 1788, Federalist #31
3 Jan 1788, Federalist #32
3 Jan 1788, Federalist #33
3 Jan 1788, Cato #7
4 Jan 1788, Federalist #34
5 Jan 1788, Federalist #35
8 Jan 1788, Federalist #36
10 Jan 1788, Federalist #29
11 Jan 1788, Federalist #37
15 Jan 1788, Federalist #38
16 Jan 1788, Federalist #39
18 Jan 1788, Federalist #40
19 Jan 1788, Federalist #41
22 Jan 1788, Federalist #42
23 Jan 1788, Federalist #43
24 Jan 1788, Brutus #10
25 Jan 1788, Federalist #44
26 Jan 1788, Federalist #45
29 Jan 1788, Federalist #46
31 Jan 1788, Brutus #11
1 Feb 1788, Federalist #47
1 Feb 1788, Federalist #48
5 Feb 1788, Federalist #49
5 Feb 1788, Federalist #50
7 Feb 1788, Brutus #12, Part 1
8 Feb 1788, Federalist #51
8 Feb 1788, Federalist #52
12 Feb 1788, Federalist #53
12 Feb 1788, Federalist #54
14 Feb 1788, Brutus #12, Part 2
15 Feb 1788, Federalist #55
19 Feb 1788, Federalist #56
19 Feb 1788, Federalist #57
20 Feb 1788, Federalist #58
22 Feb 1788, Federalist #59
26 Feb 1788, Federalist #60
26 Feb 1788, Federalist #61
27 Feb 1788, Federalist #62
1 Mar 1788, Federalist #63
7 Mar 1788, Federalist #64
7 Mar 1788, Federalist #65
11 Mar 1788, Federalist #66
11 Mar 1788, Federalist #67
14 Mar 1788, Federalist #68
14 Mar 1788, Federalist #69
15 Mar 1788, Federalist #70
18 Mar 1788, Federalist #71
20 Mar 1788, Brutus #15
21 Mar 1788, Federalist #72
21 Mar 1788, Federalist #73
25 Mar 1788, Federalist #74
26 Mar 1788, Federalist #75
1 Apr 1788, Federalist #76
4 Apr 1788, Federalist #77
10 Apr 1788, Brutus #16
5 Jun 1788, Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention #1
7 Jun 1788, Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention #2
14 Jun 1788, Federalist #78
18 Jun 1788, Federalist #79
20 Jun 1788, Melancton Smith’s Speech to the New York Ratifying Convention #1
21 Jun 1788, Melancton Smith’s Speech to the New York Ratifying Convention #2
21 Jun 1788, Federalist #80
23 Jun 1788, Melancton Smith’s Speech to the New York Ratifying Convention #3
27 Jun 1788, Melancton Smith’s Speech to the New York Ratifying Convention #5
28 Jun 1788, Federalist #81
2 Jul 1788, Federalist #82
5 Jul 1788, Federalist #83
16 Jul 1788, Federalist #84
13 Aug 1788, Federalist #85
Afterword and Suggested Reading
9 posted on 10/27/2013 5:39:43 PM PDT by Publius (Who is John Galt?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 14themunny; 21stCenturion; 300magnum; A Strict Constructionist; abigail2; AdvisorB; Aggie Mama; ...

A golden oldie. Thanks to Loud Mime.


10 posted on 10/27/2013 5:41:10 PM PDT by Publius (Who is John Galt?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Publius; Loud Mime

Bump


11 posted on 10/27/2013 5:44:09 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Publius; Loud Mime

sweet! worthy of another read


12 posted on 10/27/2013 6:11:13 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (It's not the penalty, it's the lack of coverage on 1 Jan. Think about it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

13 posted on 10/27/2013 6:13:28 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime
Good heavens, was it that long ago? Many thanks for the kind words.

A shameless plug - our Atlas Shrugged book is out.

14 posted on 10/27/2013 6:18:03 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

the most formidable obstacle to Our Constitution has been the “progressives” and their puppet “Obama”.


15 posted on 10/27/2013 6:32:18 PM PDT by Robert Burkholder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Billthedrill

Been away from FR for a while. How sweet to return with this great post in my in box and to learn of the publishing of your A.S.book.It will be on my buy list. I wish you the best of luck with this endeavor.


16 posted on 10/27/2013 6:36:33 PM PDT by mick (Central Banker Capitalism is NOT Free Enterprise)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Robert Burkholder

I think that Clinton, with his demonic mouthpiece, Carville, set the stage for the smashmouth politics that infects today’s debate. He got nasty, and it’s been nasty ever since.


17 posted on 10/27/2013 6:44:29 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberal: greedy person who charges their grandchildren for today's party)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

Thanks for re-posting this, and for the ping. Despite what I write below, I do appreciate it, and hope to be included in further pings.

What would Hamilton think - and what would he be doing with his time and energy - were he to come back now to see what his early support of the leviathan has wrought?

I have spoken my piece here before as a Southerner, and I have no wish to rehash the meaning of the Civil War for my people, but I am also one who now regards himself quite the Anti-Federalist in general. Hamilton’s whole argument leans solidly in the direction of, and has provided fertile soil for, the current blossoming of the Communist mentality in our land. And today I again read (aloud) his quite eloquent, well-wrought arguments, and they ring again - and even more so - hollow, as I would expect of a lawyer, a statist, and a Northerner.

As one statist told me here long ago: the Federalists won - get over it. I’ve likewise been told that the North won as well - get over it. And now the Communists are winning, and the tyrant Obama won in 2012, - should we get over it?

It is time to dissolve the union that Hamilton pushes here, that led to 600,000 dead and untold suffering in the 1860s, and that is now leading to the globalist yoke coming at us full tilt as I write.

Hamilton, for all his flowery words, was all in for big government. Shame on him.


18 posted on 10/27/2013 6:45:35 PM PDT by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Amagi

I love that excerpt!

Hamilton was addressing the people who did not want an energetic and powerful national government. They believed that the power would be abused by the national government as it grew and were happy with living in a union of 13 Individual states.

Hamilton wrote to his friend James Duane that the current govt (under the Articles of Confederation) was fit for neither peace nor war and that the States were energized by an uncontrollable sovereignty. I had to smile when I read that letter.

The problem was that the states had power, but the United States had no ability to defend itself from foreign invasion or develop an interstate exchange system (money). If the nation were to survive, it had to have an authority above the State governments.

The last sentence warns us of popular energies in government. Politicians who extoll the “rights of the people,” is where dangerous ambitions gain their foothold; tyranny follows.


19 posted on 10/27/2013 7:00:21 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberal: greedy person who charges their grandchildren for today's party)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime

The federal government as formed was not “above” state governments. Their jurisdictions were separate.


20 posted on 10/27/2013 7:04:37 PM PDT by GeronL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson