241From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [19 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
I acknowlege my delinquency in not thanking you before for your obliging letter from Richmond. But the truth is that I have been so overwhelmed in avocations of one kind or another that I have scarcely had a moment to spare to a friend. You I trust will be the less disposed to be inexorable, as I hope you believe there is no one for whom I have more inclination than yourself—I mean of the male...
242Account with New York State, [21 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, May 21, 1788. On this date Hamilton submitted a bill to New York State. Document not found ]. ADS , sold by Samuel Freeman, November 18, 1924, lot 167.
243To Alexander Hamilton from Marquis de Lafayette, 24 May 1788 (Hamilton Papers)
It is a Hard thing for me to Be separated from the friends I love the Best, and to think that our daily Conversations are Reduced to a few letters, the Arrival of Which is ever lengthy and sometimes Uncertain. I Hope, However, My dear friend, you don’t question My Continual and Affectionate Remembrance of the Happy days I Have Past With You. I Hope You often think of me, and of the pleasure...
244Continental Congress. Amendment to Supplement to Land Ordinance, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
That the persons intitled to lands by virtue of such warrants shall be at liberty to locate them on any part of the two tracts or districts of land reserved and set apart for the purpose of satisfying the military bounties due to the late army provided that each location be made either in contact with some point or part of the external boundary of the said tracts respectively or of some prior...
245The Federalist No. 78, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. WE proceed now to an examination of the judiciary department of the proposed government. In unfolding the defects of the existing confederation, the utility and necessity of a federal judicature have been clearly pointed out. It is the less necessary to recapitulate the considerations there urged; as the propriety of the institution in the abstract is...
246The Federalist No. 79, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. NEXT to permanency in office, nothing can contribute more to the independence of the judges than a fixed provision for their support. The remark made in relation to the president, is equally applicable here. In the general course of human nature, a power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will . And we can never hope to see realised in...
247The Federalist No. 80, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. TO judge with accuracy of the proper extent of the federal judicature, it will be necessary to consider in the first place what are its proper objects. It seems scarcely to admit of controversy that the judiciary authority of the union ought to extend to these several descriptions of causes. 1st. To all those which arise out of the laws of the United...
248The Federalist No. 81, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. LET us now return to the partition of the judiciary authority between different courts, and their relations to each other. “The judicial power of the United States is (by the plan of the convention) to be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Article 3. Sec. 1. That there...
249The Federalist No. 82, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE erection of a new government, whatever care or wisdom may distinguish the work, cannot fail to originate questions of intricacy and nicety; and these may in a particular manner be expected to flow from the establishment of a constitution founded upon the total or partial incorporation of a number of distinct sovereignties. ’Tis time only that can...
250The Federalist No. 83, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE objection to the plan of the convention, which has met with most success in this state, and perhaps in several of the other states, is that relative to the want of a constitutional provision for the trial by jury in civil cases. The disingenuous form in which this objection is usually stated, has been repeatedly adverted to and exposed; but continues...
251The Federalist No. 84, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IN the course of the foregoing review of the constitution I have taken notice of, and endeavoured to answer, most of the objections which have appeared against it. There however remain a few which either did not fall naturally under any particular head, or were forgotten in their proper places. These shall now be discussed; but as the subject has been...
252The Federalist No. 85, [28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. ACCORDING to the formal division of the subject of these papers, announced in my first number, there would appear still to remain for discussion, two points, “the analogy of the proposed government to your own state constitution,” and “the additional security, which its adoption will afford to republican government, to liberty and to property.” But these...
253Introductory Note: New York Assembly. An Act for Raising Certain Yearly Taxes Within This State, [9 February 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
The Assembly of the New York legislature resolved on January 17, 1787, “that a Committee be appointed to consider of and report, ways and means for discharging the debts of the State, and the maintenance of public credit” ( New York Assembly Journal Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York (Publisher and place vary, 1782–1788). , 1787, 10). The Journal , however, did not give the names...
254Introductory Note: Constitutional Convention Speech on a Plan of Government, [18 June 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
There are five versions of Hamilton’s speech of June 18 to the Constitutional Convention. In the first place, there are Hamilton’s own notes which he presumably used while he was delivering the speech. In the second place James Madison, Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and Rufus King all made notes on the speech while Hamilton was delivering it. Because the several accounts of the speech are...
255Introductory Note: The Federalist, [27 October 1787–28 May 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
The Federalist essays have been printed more frequently than any other work of Hamilton. They have, nevertheless, been reprinted in these volumes because no edition of his writings which omitted his most important contribution to political thought could be considered definitive. The essays written by John Jay and James Madison, however, have not been included. They are available in many...