Alexander Hamilton: Discourse On The Constitution Of The United States Of America

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The Federalist NO. 1 Summary: Alexander Hamilton begins the brilliant discourse on the Constitution of the United States of America by asking his readers to consider a new Constitution because they have experienced the inefficiencies in the present form of government. Classically, he pronounces that the people are in a unique position to answer the most important political question of all ­ "whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice." If the people are up to the challenge, their actions will have great worldwide significance. He proceeds to show that many people will oppose the Constitution for a variety of reasons, especially if they benefit from the current form of government.…show more content…
First, most educated men, especially those who were at the heart of governing the new country, were extremely familiar with the republics of Ancient Greece and Rome (for example, see John Adam's book Defense of the Constitution, published at the same time as The Federalist Papers). From this background, the primary fear was that while a republican government was desirable in order to defend liberty, it was not possible over a large geographic area, such as the United States, because it had never been accomplished before. Rather, this problem had always been the downfall of Republics (for instance, the fall of the Roman Empire). The other major pitfall of republics had been class war, something that the Founding Fathers had seen in the recent Shay's Rebellion. More specifically regarding the text, the introduction to the Federalist Papers contains the outline of Hamilton's "argument," the basic points that he wishes to discuss for ratifying the new Constitution. He also explains his motives and those of his cohorts, explaining that this will not be a debate between two sides of the argument, but rather coherently examine the strengths and necessity for the new Constitution. In this article, therefore, the most important part of this paper is the outline that Alexander Hamilton provides, enabling

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