181The Federalist No. 20, [11 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE United Netherlands are a confederacy of republics, or rather of aristocracies, of a very remarkable texture; yet confirming all the lessons derived from those which we have already reviewed. The Union is composed of seven co-equal and sovereign States, and each State or province is a composition of equal and independent cities. In all important cases...
182The Federalist No. 21, [12 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. HAVING in the three last numbers taken a summary review of the principal circumstances and events, which have depicted the genius and fate of other confederate governments; I shall now proceed in the enumeration of the most important of those defects, which have hitherto disappointed our hopes from the system established among ourselves. To form a safe...
183The Federalist No. 22, [14 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IN addition to the defects already enumerated in the existing Fœderal system, there are others of not less importance, which concur in rendering it altogether unfit for the administration of the affairs of the Union. The want of a power to regulate commerce is by all parties allowed to be of the number. The utility of such a power has been anticipated...
184The Federalist No. 23, [18 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE necessity of a Constitution, at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the preservation of the Union, is the point, at the examination of which we are now arrived. This enquiry will naturally divide itself into three branches—the objects to be provided for by a Fœderal Government—the quantity of power necessary to the accomplishment of...
185The Federalist No. 24, [19 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. TO the powers proposed to be conferred upon the Federal Government, in respect to the creation and direction of the national forces, I have met with but one specific objection, which, if I understand it rightly is this— that proper provision has not been made against the existence of standing armies in time of peace; an objection which I shall now...
186The Federalist No. 25, [21 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IT may perhaps be urged, that the objects enumerated in the preceding number ought to be provided for by the State Governments, under the direction of the Union. But this would be in reality an inversion of the primary principle of our political association; as it would in practice transfer the care of the common defence from the fœderal head to the...
187The Federalist No. 26, [22 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IT was a thing hardly to be expected, that in a popular revolution the minds of men should stop at that happy mean, which marks the salutary boundary between POWER and PRIVILEGE, and combines the energy of government with the security of private rights. A failure in this delicate and important point is the great source of the inconveniences we...
188The Federalist No. 27, [25 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IT has been urged in different shapes that a constitution of the kind proposed by the Convention, cannot operate without the aid of a military force to execute its laws. This however, like most other things that have been alledged on that side, rests on mere general assertion; unsupported by any precise or intelligible designation of the reasons upon...
189The Federalist No. 28, [26 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THAT there may happen cases, in which the national government may be necessitated to resort to force, cannot be denied. Our own experience has corroborated the lessons taught by the examples of other nations; that emergencies of this sort will sometimes arise in all societies, however constituted; that seditions and insurrections are unhappily maladies...
190The Federalist No. 30, [28 December 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IT has been already observed, that the Fœderal Government ought to possess the power of providing for the support of the national forces; in which proposition was intended to be included the expence of raising troops, of building and equiping fleets, and all other expences in any wise connected with military arrangements and operations. But these are not...
191Draft of an Act to Incorporate the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Marbletown, [January–February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, January–February, 1788. ] In 1788, Hamilton drafted an “Act to incorporate the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Marble-town.” ADf , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. The draft was presumably submitted to the New York legislature. If so, the legislature refused to act on it, for the town of Marbletown was incorporated by a general act of incorporation dated March 7, 1788 (see “An...
192The Federalist No. 31, [1 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IN disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths or first principles upon which all subsequent reasonings must depend. These contain an internal evidence, which antecedent to all reflection or combination commands the assent of the mind. Where it produces not this effect, it must proceed either from some defect or disorder in the organs of...
193The Federalist No. 32, [2 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. ALTHOUGH I am of opinion that there would be no real danger of the consequences, which seem to be apprehended to the State Governments, from a power in the Union to controul them in the levies of money; because I am persuaded that the sense of the people, the extreme hazard of provoking the resentments of the State Governments, and a conviction of the...
194The Federalist No. 33, [2 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. The residue of the argument against the provisions in the constitution, in respect to taxation, is ingrafted upon the following clauses; the last clause of the eighth section of the first article of the plan under consideration, authorises the national legislature “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper , for carrying into execution the...
195The Federalist No. 34, [5 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. I FLATTER myself it has been clearly shewn in my last number, that the particular States, under the proposed Constitution, would have CO-EQUAL authority with the Union in the article of revenue, except as to duties on imports. As this leaves open to the States far the greatest part of the resources of the community, there can be no color for the...
196The Federalist No. 35, [5 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. BEFORE we proceed to examine any other objections to an indefinite power of taxation in the Union, I shall make one general remark; which is, that if the jurisdiction of the national government in the article of revenue should be restricted to particular objects, it would naturally occasion an undue proportion of the public burthens to fall upon those...
197The Federalist No. 36, [8 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. WE have seen that the result of the observations, to which the foregoing number has been principally devoted, is that from the natural operation of the different interests and views of the various classes of the community, whether the representation of the people be more or less numerous, it will consist almost entirely of proprietors of land, of...
198The Federalist No. 29, [9 January 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE power of regulating the militia and of commanding its services in times of insurrection and invasion are natural incidents to the duties of superintending the common defence, and of watching over the internal peace of the confederacy. It requires no skill in the science of war to discern that uniformity in the organization and discipline of the...
199To Alexander Hamilton from John Fitch, 29 January 1788 (Hamilton Papers)
Having exausted considerable sums of money in forming a Boat to be propelled by the force of steam a considerable part of which has been expended in experiments in learning to make a Steam Engine that being so useful a Machine for most great works, I humbly flatter myself it is deserving the notice of Congress and that it will in time superceed the greatest part of Water works as well as all...
200Appointment as Delegate to the Continental Congress, [2 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
State of New York The people of the State of New york by the Grace of God free and Independent To all to whom these presents shall come send Greeting. Whereas our Senate and Assembly on the Twenty second day of January last nominated and appointed the Honorable Ezra L’Hommedieu, Egbert Benson, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Yates, Junior and Leonard Gansevort Esquires Delegates to represent our...
201[The Federalist No. 49], [2 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
The [New York] Independent Journal: or, the General Advertiser , February 2, 1788. This essay appeared on February 5, 1788, in New-York Packet , and on February 6, 1788, in The [New York] Daily Advertiser . In the McLean The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, As Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. In Two Volumes (New York:...
202The Federalist No. 50, [5 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IT may be contended perhaps, that instead of occasional appeals to the people, which are liable to the objections urged against them, periodical appeals are the proper and adequate means of preventing and correcting infractions of the Constitution . It will be attended to, that in the examination of these expedients, I confine myself to their aptitude...
203The Federalist No. 51, [6 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. TO what expedient then shall we finally resort for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the...
204The Federalist No. 52, [8 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. FROM the more general enquiries pursued in the four last papers, I pass on to a more particular examination of the several parts of the government. I shall begin with the House of Representatives. The first view to be taken of this part of the government, relates to the qualifications of the electors and the elected. Those of the former are to be the...
205From Alexander Hamilton to Philip Schuyler, [9 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
An application will be made to the Council of appointment by Mr. Nicholas Carmer of this city; an ancient and respectable inhabitant; for the appointment of an Inspector of Mahogany and other lumber for this City. I recommend him, on every account , to your patronage. The mail of this Evening I am informed brings the most favourable accounts from Massachusettes. I am inclined to consider the...
206[The Federalist No. 53], [9 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
The [New York] Independent Journal: or, the General Advertiser , February 9, 1788. This essay was printed on February 12 in New-York Packet . In the McLean The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, As Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. In Two Volumes (New York: Printed and Sold by J. and A. McLean, 1788). edition this essay is...
207The Federalist No. 54, [12 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE next view which I shall take of the House of Representatives, relates to the apportionment of its members to the several States, which is to be determined by the same rule with that of direct taxes. It is not contended that the number of people in each State ought not to be the standard for regulating the proportion of those who are to represent the...
208The Federalist No. 55, [13 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE number of which the House of Representatives is to consist, forms another, and a very interesting point of view under which this branch of the federal legislature may be contemplated. Scarce any article indeed in the whole constitution seems to be rendered more worthy of attention, by the weight of character and the apparent force of argument, with...
209The Federalist No. 56, [16 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE second charge against the House of Representatives is, that it will be too small to possess a due knowledge of the interests of its constituents. As this objection evidently proceeds from a comparison of the proposed number of representatives, with the great extent of the United States, the number of their inhabitants, and the diversity of their...
210The Federalist No. 57, [19 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE third charge against the House of Representatives is, that it will be taken from that class of citizens which will have least sympathy with the mass of the people, and be most likely to aim at an ambitious sacrifice of the many to the aggrandizement of the few. Of all the objections which have been framed against the Fœderal Constitution, this is...