Federalist vs. Antifederalist

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Benton Hurt Ms. Dean AP Government 5 September 2012 Federalist vs. Antifederalist Paper These two papers focus on the powers and abilities of the federal government. In the Federalist #31, Alexander Hamilton presents truths about mathematics and politics concerning the need for the national government to have taxing authority. In the Brutus V essay, Brutus complains that the powers given to the general government in the first article of the Constitution give it unlimited power. Hamilton, a federalist, says that the federal government will have no power without the ability to tax, and Brutus says it will have too much power. In the Federalist #31, Hamilton explains that the government must have full power to execute its responsibilities, and that one of its responsibilities is to protect the nation. He says that when protecting the country, the government should have no bounds. In order for the country to have the power protect itself, it must be able to make revenue by taxation. The ability for the national government must be complete and unqualified. Brutus says in his essay that this power given to the federal government will take away all of the state government’s power to collect taxes and that the constitutions and treaties of the states will become null. Hamilton denies this by explaining that the structure of the proposed federal government will preserve the state constitutions. What Hamilton says about this seems to go against Article 6 of the Constitution, which says that the law of the Constitution will be supreme over the states. Brutus’ Essay V seems to say the same thing over and over again. Many of the things that he lists as problems to the nation are things that we love about our government today. First, he says that the separation of powers is no good since they are all federal entities, and that this gives no power to the states in

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