Regarding Federalist #42: It is always good to have occasion to read a Federalist Paper, that has been referred to during the day, from end to end. I usually smile and learn somthing as well and this was no exception. It appears that Madison also supported a ten dollar per head tax on imported humans in addition to the importation ban by not before 1808. I notice that madison only talks of banning the importation, and not the abolition inside the states, although he hopes "an equal prospect lays before them...". He also indicated that only a few states even allowed importation of slaves; I suspect South Carolina and perhaps Louisianna, but I wonder what the other(s) was? I liked the talk of piracy and its threat in those days; I know we have piracy today, but it doesn't target container ships. Later in the essay, Madison suggests a power to coin money; it is interesting that he says nothing about Bills of Credit (banknotes).
He could, but if he did he would not be the God of Judeo-Christianity, nor the God of the founders (specifically, the authors of the Declaration believed in a God who not only endows His creation with rights, but also provides Divine Providence as well as acting as Supreme Judge of the world; both latter concepts being incompatible with the "non-intervening" viewpoint).
Regarding Federalist #42: It is always good to have occasion to read a Federalist Paper, that has been referred to during the day, from end to end. I usually smile and learn somthing as well and this was no exception
Federalist #42 is among my favorites; the rational passion displayed in discussing the issue demonstrated the views of the founders on the issue of slavery better than any treatise since. I wish it were required reading of every high school student; if the views of the founders on the subject were more widely known a lot of the revisionist history of the modern age (deconstruction of the founders' principles of government in an attempt to reduce their moral stature) would receive the ridicule it so richly deserves. While certainly not perfect on the issue, at least the founders demonstrated the moral courage to clearly label the ethical flaws of their own culture, and establish policies that they hoped would ultimately abolish those injustices.