The Federalist Papers
These essays written by John Jay, James Madison, and
(primarily) Alexander Hamilton helped win popular support for
the Constitution. Read the six excerpts from the papers. For
three of the six, answer the questions: What is the author’s
main point? What fear about the new Constitutional
government are they trying to address?
"America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more
forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred
thousand veterans ready for combat." -- Federalist Papers, No. 14
Main Point?
Fear?
"Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages
annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which
are among the chief blessings of civil society." -- Federalist Papers, No. 37
Main Point?
Fear?
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are
few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous
and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war,
peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will for
the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all
the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and
properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the
State.”-- The Federalist No. 45
Main Point?
Fear?
“The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands,
whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may
justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” -- The Federalist No. 47
Main Point?
Fear?
“But what is government but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men
were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither
external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a
government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in
this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next
place, oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is no doubt the primary
control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of
auxiliary precautions.” – The Federalist No. 51
Main Point?
Fear?
“If mankind were to resolve to agree in no institution of government, until every part of
it had been adjusted to the most exact standard of perfection, society would soon
become a general scene of anarchy, and the world a desert.” --Federalist No. 65
Main Point?
Fear?