The Federalist Papers

        The Federalist Papers- are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. They rose from the need to convince doubtful voters of the essential wisdom of the Constitution. Most of the essays were published in newspapers at the rate of three or four a week between October 27^th, 1787 and April 2^nd, 1788. 77 of the essays were published in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788.

 

The writings by the men of The Federalist Papers and Thomas Jefferson are obviously very similar in that they are all focusing on one goal: bettering the country and its unity and liberties. I found Alexander Hamilton easiest to read of each individual, but the Declaration easiest of each work. Hamilton, however, speaks in very legalistic terms, which sometimes gets flat and dull. Madison uses much more vivid imagery, like on pg. 411, when he says "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires." 


I found it interesting that like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison was a slaveholder, and his slaves worked cultivating his tobacco crops, among other crops as well. However, also like Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton’s views on slavery seem sometimes more grey than black and white. Though he did oppose slavery, and did not own slaves, he did have huge beliefs in property rights, and cared about what would promote American interests. John Jay, the third writer of The Federalist Papers, strongly opposed slavery. As the governor of New York State, he attempted to end slavery in 1777 and in 1785, but both attempts failed. His third attempt finally succeeded. He signed the 1799 Act, a gradual emancipation act, into law, and this act eventually brought about the emancipation of all slaves in New York.


Jefferson believed in laissez-faire, saying "a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement." Hamilton, being more democratic, said "the vigour of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people, than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government."