The Federalist Papers

As we enter the final week before the 2020 elections, it seems Americans can think of little else. Given this and given that people are also concerned about the method of electing the president (the electoral college), I thought it a good time to discuss what the Constitution’s authors had to say on the topic.

The United States truly does have one of the most unique and important modes of elections in the world. In fact, the Federalists and supporters of the Constitution were more concerned about the mode of electing the president than even the powers of the president himself, for if the citizenry considers the mode illegitimate, no matter what the president does, he and his powers will be considered illegitimate.

If you haven’t read Federalist 37, go read it now, even before you read my post. It is brilliant, enlightening and sobering. It details the reality of the difficulties our founders faced when establishing our great nation. Something so few people seem to appreciate now.

So, buckle up and get your reading cap on, this is going to be a longer read with a lot of Madisonian language—-I prefer his language to mine, so I feed you plenty of it. Click to read further.

n Federalist 23, Alexander Hamilton details the purpose—the reason—for a stronger national government. Pay careful attention to his words. He doesn’t say that the national government is necessary to provide greater healthcare, more jobs, increased welfare, a better climate, education or a litany of other topics that our federal government now considers its job. Click to read further.

In this midst of internal turmoil in the United States and the always looming threat from external enemies around the world, many Americans would balk at the idea of eliminating the standing military of the United States. While some in the country would advocate for less military spending, even they would have to agree that it would be foolish for America to completely rid themselves of the military altogether and rely solely on the armed citizenry of each state. But this was not always the case. Click to read further.

I want to clear up a common, and highly destructive, American misunderstanding about the president.

To start, take a moment and answer the following questions or yourself:

1. What factors do you consider when judging whether a not a president has done a good job?

2. What factors do you consider when you decide which presidential candidate to vote for?

3. When the presidential candidates campaign, what kinds of issues do they talk about and what kinds of issues do people want them to talk about?

Thought about your answers? Good. Now let’s talk about it. Click to read further.

It’s fascinating to read these Federalist Papers and apprehend the thoughts of America’s greatest thinkers and founders. So much thought went into such a short document: the Constitution.

In this post, I finish up my analysis of Hamilton’s Federalist 78, in which he discusses the judiciary. His interpretation of the judiciary is perhaps more loose than that of some of the other founders (namely, Madison), but he shares the following fundamental belief with all his fellow founders—in all cases of law and interpretation, the Constitution is supreme.

“It proves incontestably, that the judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power; that it can never attack with success either of the other two; and that all possible care is requisite to enable it to defend itself against their attacks.” —Hamilton.

In today’s post, I step through four basic assumptions that Hamilton made about the Court in his Federalist paper entitled The Judiciary Department. Click to read more.

I’m still digesting, and frankly, reeling a bit from, some of the things I’m seeing today: the execution of a Trump supporter (more on that in the next article) to guillotines in front of the White House and Jeff Bezos’s house, to mobs attacking couples and individuals as they left the Republican National Convention. All of these are mere displays of what Madison feared and wanted to avoid. He knew the volatility of human nature, the irrationality of factions, and the dangers of mob rule. I’ve always known what he said was true (based on history), but have never been more confident in his reasonings as I am today.

You will find much of what he says, the issues he was facing in his day, very familiar to what we are facing today. Gear up, there’s a lot of Madison language here. Read it all… it’s worth it.

Given the significance and the weight of the Constitution, I believe that it would do all of us some good to take a few weeks, maybe a few months even, to learn about what the creators of the Constitution meant when writing the Constitution. And the best way to do this is to read the papers they wrote in defense of their document. Click to read more.