Federalist Papers
Written by Hamilton, Jay, and Madison.
Class Notes
Paper 1: Hamilton thought constitution was best option; wanted to raise the topic for consideration; noted that some would lose power from gov change & would thus vote against it Paper 2 & 3: Jay argued that unifying makes them all stronger
- keeps them from going to war against each other
- if a foreign power attacks one, it attacks them all
- army & navy are federal, not owned by state Paper 10: Madison against factions
- faction: a clique imposing on other citizens or the common interest (in-country) (pg 72)
- any time a group's self-interest overcomes others' rights
- can be majority or minority
- examples: both North & South in Civil War, American Revolutionaries? British Tories? Repub & Dem parties
- why decides what is a faction?
- those whose rights are being infringed?
- factions often rise from difference in property status
- to remove the causes of factions, have to use coercion (so in a non-totalitarian state, faction will happen)
- to control the effects of faction:
- break up potential groups
- new constitutional structure helps by bringing reps from each state, splitting up control among many branches
biggest risk to gov: tyrannical control
- this is the foremost concern of the founding fathers
- splitting up gov into branches that are elected in diff ways, from diff parts of the country, helps keep one faction from taking control
- without this structure, politicians could focus on benefitting cities & ignore rural areas
Conflict between trying to be big essential units (so that you can have power) and trying to have small ones (so that you can respond to local issues)
Where could we go from our current divided politics?
- Continue to exascerbate differences, leading to violence
- as a culture, step back from our partisanship
- unite against a common enemy (9/11, covid?, a war)
What is a federal government?
- a federal gov is a gov divided into levels with individual spheres of governance that the others can't infringe on
- so calling our national government "federal" is a misnomer
- rather, we should call them national, state, and local
Summary
The Federalist papers extoll the benefits of the new Constitutional system. The first paper introduces the topic, and asks the reader to give the arguments some reasoned thought. The second paper argues that the colonies are already united: they share a language, enemies, priorities, and more. Then in the third paper he takes this a step further by exploring the potential relationship between the Union and foreign countries, and how this unified relationship would be better than having each of the individual states develop their own relationship with foreign powers. The tenth paper talks about factions and how they are detrimental to freedom. He proposes this republic constitutional system as being the best method for reducing the power of these factions. Finally, the Constitution lays out the plan for the new government, and the Declaration of Independence announces their intention to and reasons for separating from Britain to the world.