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Federalist No. 17
Prior to Federalist No. 17 I had never completely disagreed with any of the federalist papers. Unfortunately, in discussing the possibility of a national government becoming stronger than would be desirable, Alexander Hamilton completely missed on his guess that: It … Continue reading
Articles of Confederation
In the midst of my efforts to evaluate all the Federalist Papers, I realized that I had never read the Articles of Confederation which was the basis against which the Constitution was written and against which the Federalist Papers were … Continue reading
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Tagged Articles of Confederation, Constitution, documents, European Union, government, history
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Federalist Nos. 15 – 16
Federalist Nos. 15 and 16 led me to two conclusions. First, Hamilton is accusing those who oppose the Constitution of hoping for a different result by repeating their previous actions (sounds like our modern politics of perpetual incumbency). Second, the … Continue reading
Federalist Nos. 13 – 14
Federalist No. 13 left me with imagining one of two conclusions based on the following statement: Nothing can be more evident than that the thirteen States will be able to support a national government better than one half, or one … Continue reading
Federalist Nos. 11 – 12
Federalist Nos. 11 – 12 follow the same overarching argument that many of their predecessors followed. It can be boiled down to the truths concerning economies of scale. A larger union has great advantages over a smaller nation in many … Continue reading
Federalist No. 10
A larger republic would be less susceptible to factions and the multi-level structure of government would allow for issues of local concern to be solved at a local level with only “the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national.” But the advantage of a larger republic breaks down when large groups of people abandon their own thinking in favor of adopting the thinking of someone else and the advantages of a multi-level governmental structure evaporate when the vast majority of issues are presented as falling into the category of “great and aggregate interests.” Continue reading
Federalist No. 9
Federalist No. 9 can be almost completely reduced to this extended quote by Montesquieu: a CONFEDERATE REPUBLIC. . . is a convention by which several smaller STATES agree to become members of a larger ONE, which they intend to form. … Continue reading
Federalist No. 8
I found Federalist No. 8 to be simply prophetic about the dangers a country faces when subjected to the intersection of human nature and the constant perception of external threat. Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of … Continue reading
Federalist No. 7
My first reaction to Federalist No. 7 was that it was applicable to the nation at the time it was written, but had little insights to offer us at present. Later it occurred to me that the issues being addressed … Continue reading