Federalist No. 84 (1788) is Alexander Hamilton's answer to several leftover objections to the proposed Constitution, chief among them that it lacks a bill of rights. Hamilton points out that the Constitution already protects particular rights, such as habeas corpus, jury trial and the ban on ex post facto laws, and argues that bills of rights began as concessions wrung from kings and have little place where the people keep all power they do not grant. He goes further, warning that listing limits on powers the national government was never given could be used as a pretext to claim those powers, and that such guarantees ultimately depend on public opinion rather than on paper. He concludes that the Constitution is itself, in every useful sense, a bill of rights, and closes by answering objections about the distance of the national government, debts owed to the United States, and the cost of the new system.
Original summary for this showcase, informed by public sources including Wikipedia.
Read more: Federalist No. 84 on Wikipedia · Full text: Federalist No. 84 at Project Gutenberg
Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757–1804) was an American statesman, a New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Born in the West Indies, he served as George Washington's aide during the Revolutionary War and became the most forceful advocate of a strong national government. He planned The Federalist, recruited James Madison and John Jay to write it with him, and wrote fifty-one of its eighty-five essays, including those on the executive and the judiciary. He was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.
Original summary for this showcase, informed by public sources including Wikipedia.
Read more: Alexander Hamilton on Wikipedia
Federalist No. 84 (1788) is Alexander Hamilton's answer to several leftover objections to the proposed Constitution, chief among them that it lacks a bill of rights. Hamilton points out that the Constitution already protects particular rights, such as habeas corpus, jury trial and the ban on ex post facto laws, and argues that bills of rights began as concessions wrung from kings and have little place where the people keep all power they do not grant. He goes further, warning that listing limits on powers the national government was never given could be used as a pretext to claim those powers, and that such guarantees ultimately depend on public opinion rather than on paper. He concludes that the Constitution is itself, in every useful sense, a bill of rights, and closes by answering objections about the distance of the national government, debts owed to the United States, and the cost of the new system.
Original summary for this showcase, informed by public sources including Wikipedia.
Read more: Federalist No. 84 on Wikipedia · Full text: Federalist No. 84 at Project Gutenberg