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Federalist No. 23 Explained: Strong Enough to Defend Us
The tearing-down is over, and the building begins. Having spent twenty-two essays explaining why America's first government failed, Hamilton turns to the new one and starts with its rawest question: how much power should it have? His answer is bold enough to alarm people who had just fought a war against too much power. A government responsible for defending a nation, he argues, must be given strength to match the job, with no limits set in advance, because no one can foresee what dangers will come. This episode follows that argument through the night he can't forget — the starving, barefoot…
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