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The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton_Part_3 · The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

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Speaker 1: Three by Alexander Hamilton. The Federalist Papers Federalist Number eighty
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Speaker 1: four by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay Federalist
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Speaker 1: Number eighty four. Certain general and miscellaneous objections to the Constitution,
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Speaker 1: considered and answered to the people of the State of
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Speaker 1: New York. In the course of the foregoing review of
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Speaker 1: the Constitution. I have taken notice of, and endeavored to answer,
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Speaker 1: most of the objections which have appeared against it. There however,
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Speaker 1: remain a few which either did not fall naturally under
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Speaker 1: any particular head, or were forgotten in their proper places.
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Speaker 1: These shall now be discussed, But as the subject has
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Speaker 1: been drawn to great length, I shaw so far consult
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Speaker 1: brevity as to compromise all my observations on these miscellaneous
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Speaker 1: points in a single paper. The most considerable of the
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Speaker 1: remaining objections is that the plan of the Convention contains
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Speaker 1: no bills bill of rights. Among other answers given to this,
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Speaker 1: it has been, upon different occasions remarked that the constitutions
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Speaker 1: of the several of the states aren't a similar predicament.
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Speaker 1: I add that New York is of the number, and
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Speaker 1: yet the opposers of the new system in this state
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Speaker 1: who profess an unlimited admiration for its constitution, are among
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Speaker 1: the most intemperate partisans of the Bill of Rights. To
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Speaker 1: justify their zeal in this matter, they allege two things.
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Speaker 1: One is that though the Constitution of New York has
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Speaker 1: no Bill of Rights prefixed to it, yet it contains
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Speaker 1: in the body of it various provisions in favor of
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Speaker 1: particular privileges and rights, which in substance amount to the
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Speaker 1: same thing. The other is that the Constitution adopts in
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Speaker 1: their full extent the common and statute law of Great Britain,
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Speaker 1: by which many other rights not expressed in it are
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Speaker 1: equally secured to the first. I answer that the Constitution
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Speaker 1: proposed by the Convention contains, as well as the Constitution
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Speaker 1: of this State, a number of such provisions, independent of
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Speaker 1: those which relate to the structure of the government. We
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Speaker 1: find the following Article one, Section three, Clause seven quote.
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Speaker 1: Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than
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Speaker 1: to removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy
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Speaker 1: any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
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Speaker 1: But the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject
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Speaker 1: to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law. End
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Speaker 1: quote section nine of the same article, Clause two quote
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Speaker 1: the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not
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Speaker 1: be suspended, unless, when in cases of rebellion or invasion,
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Speaker 1: the public safety may require it. Quote Clause three. No
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Speaker 1: bill of attainder or expost factor law shall be passed.
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Speaker 1: End quote Clause seven quote. No title of nobility shall
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Speaker 1: be granted by the United States, and no person holding
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Speaker 1: any office of profit or trust under them shall without
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Speaker 1: the consent of the Congress, except of any present emolument, office,
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Speaker 1: or title of any kind whatever, from any King, prince,
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Speaker 1: or foreign state. End quote. Article three, Section two. Clause three.
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Speaker 1: The trial of all crimes, excepting cases of impeachment, shall
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Speaker 1: be by jury, and such trials shall be held in
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Speaker 1: the state where the said crime shall have been committed,
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Speaker 1: but when not committed within any state, the trials should
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Speaker 1: be at such place or places as the Congress may,
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Speaker 1: by law have directed. End quote Section three of the
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Speaker 1: same article. Quote. Treason against the United States shall consist
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Speaker 1: only in levying war against them, or in adhering to
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Speaker 1: their enemies giving them aid and comfort. No person shall
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Speaker 1: be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two
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Speaker 1: witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in
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Speaker 1: open court close quote and Clause three of the same section. Quote.
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Speaker 1: The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason,
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Speaker 1: but no attainer of treason shall work corruption of blood
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Speaker 1: or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.
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Speaker 1: It may well be a question whether these are not,
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Speaker 1: upon the whole, of equal importance with any which they
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Speaker 1: be found in the constitution of this state. The establishment
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Speaker 1: of the writ of habeas corpus, the prohibition of expost
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Speaker 1: facto laws, and of titles of nobility to which we
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Speaker 1: have no corresponding provision in our constitution, are perhaps greater
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Speaker 1: securities to liberty in republicanism than any it contains. The
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Speaker 1: creation of crimes after the commission of the fact or,
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Speaker 1: in other words, the subjecting of men to punishment for
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Speaker 1: things which, when they were done, were breaches of no law,
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Speaker 1: and the practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been in all
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Speaker 1: ages the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny. The
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Speaker 1: observations of the Judicious Blackstone in reference to the latter
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Speaker 1: are well worthy of recital. Quote to bereave a man
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Speaker 1: of life, says he, or by violence to confiscate his
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Speaker 1: escape without accusation or trial, would be so gross a
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Speaker 1: notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey
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Speaker 1: the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole nation. A confinement
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Speaker 1: of the person, by secretly hurrying of to jail, where
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Speaker 1: his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public,
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Speaker 1: a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of
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Speaker 1: arbitrary government end quote. And as a remedy for this
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Speaker 1: fatal evil, he is everywhere peculiarly emphatical in his encomiums
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Speaker 1: on the Habeas Corpus Act, which in one place he
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Speaker 1: calls quote the bulwark of the British Constitution end quote.
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Speaker 1: Nothing need be said to illustrate the importance of the
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Speaker 1: prohibition of titles of nobility. This may truly be denominated
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Speaker 1: the quarterstone of the Republican government. For so long as
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Speaker 1: they are excluded, there can never be serious danger that
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Speaker 1: the government will be any other than that of the people.
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Speaker 1: To the second, that is, to the pretended establishment of
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Speaker 1: the common and state law by the Constitution, I answer
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Speaker 1: that they are expressly made subject quote to such alterations
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Speaker 1: and provision as the legislatures shall from time to time
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Speaker 1: make concerning the same end quote. They are therefore, at
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Speaker 1: any moment liable to repeal by the ordinary legislative power,
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Speaker 1: and of course have no constitutional sanction. The only use
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Speaker 1: of the declaration was to recognize the ancient law and
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Speaker 1: to remove doubts which might have been occasioned by the Revolution.
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Speaker 1: This consequently can be considered as no part of a
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Speaker 1: declaration of rights, which under our constitutions must be intended
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Speaker 1: as limitations of the power of government itself. It has
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Speaker 1: been several times truly remarked that bills of rights are
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Speaker 1: in their origin stipulation between kings and their subjects, abridgments
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Speaker 1: of pragueative in favor of privilege, reservation of rights not
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Speaker 1: surrendered to the prince. Such was the Magna Carta obtained
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Speaker 1: by the baron's sword in hand from King John. Such
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Speaker 1: were the subsequent confirmations of that charter by succeeding princes.
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Speaker 1: Such was the Petition of Right assented to by Charles
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Speaker 1: the First in the beginning of his reign. Such also
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Speaker 1: was the Declaration of Right presented by the Lords and
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Speaker 1: Commons to the Prince of Orange in sixteen eighty eight,
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Speaker 1: and afterwards thrown into the form of an Act of
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Speaker 1: Parliament called the Bill of Rights. It is evident therefore,
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Speaker 1: that according to their primitive signification, they have no application
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Speaker 1: to constitutions professedly founded upon the power of the people
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Speaker 1: and executed by their immediate representatives and servants. Here, in strictness,
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Speaker 1: the people surrender nothing, and as they retain everything, they
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Speaker 1: have no need of particular reservations. Quote, we the people
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Speaker 1: of the United States, to secure the blessings of liberty
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Speaker 1: to ourselves and our posterity, do Ordain an Assis establish
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Speaker 1: this constitution for the United States of America. Here is
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Speaker 1: a better recognition of popular rights than volumes of those
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Speaker 1: aphorisms which make the principal figure in several of our
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Speaker 1: states bills of rights, and which would sound much better
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Speaker 1: in a treatise of ethics than in a constitution of government.
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Speaker 1: But a minute detail of particular rights is certainly far
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Speaker 1: less applicable to the constitution, like under consideration, which is
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Speaker 1: merely intended to regulate the general political interests of the nation,
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Speaker 1: than to a constitution which has the regulation of every
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Speaker 1: species of personal and private concerns. If therefore, the loud
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Speaker 1: clamors against the plan of the Convention on this core
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Speaker 1: are well founded, no epithets of reprobation will be too
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Speaker 1: strong for the constitution of the state. But the truth
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Speaker 1: is that both of them contain all which, in relation
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Speaker 1: to their objects, is reasonably to be desired. I go
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Speaker 1: further and affirm that bills of rights in the sense
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Speaker 1: and to the extent which they are contended for, are
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Speaker 1: not only unnecessary in the post Constitution, but would even
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Speaker 1: be dangerous. It would contain various exceptions the powers not granted,
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Speaker 1: and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext
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Speaker 1: to claim more than were granted. For why declare that
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Speaker 1: things shall not be done which there is no power
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Speaker 1: to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that
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Speaker 1: the liberty of the press shall not be restrained when
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Speaker 1: no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed.
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Speaker 1: I will not contend that such a provision would confer
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Speaker 1: a regulating power, but it is evident that it would
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Speaker 1: furnish to men disposed to usurp a plausible pretense for
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Speaker 1: claiming that power. They might urge with a semblance of
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Speaker 1: reason that the Constitution ought not to be charged with
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Speaker 1: the absurdity of providing against the abuse of an authority
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Speaker 1: which was not given, And that the provision against restraining
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Speaker 1: the liberty of the press afforded the clear implication that
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Speaker 1: a power to prescribe proper regulations concerning it was intended
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Speaker 1: to be vested in the national government. This may serve
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Speaker 1: as a specimen of the numerous handles which be given
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Speaker 1: to the doctrine of constructive ours by the indulgence of
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Speaker 1: an injudicious zeal for Bills of rights. On the subject
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Speaker 1: of liberty of the press, as much as has been said,
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Speaker 1: I cannot forbear airing a remark or to In the
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Speaker 1: first place, I observe that there is not a syllable
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Speaker 1: concerning it in the Constitution of the state. In the
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Speaker 1: next I contend that whatever has been said about it
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Speaker 1: and that of any other state, amounts to nothing. What
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Speaker 1: signifies a declaration that quote, the liberty of the press
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Speaker 1: shall be inviolably preserved? What is the liberty of the press?
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Speaker 1: Who can give it any definition which would not leave
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Speaker 1: the utmost latitude for evasion? I hold it to be impracticable,
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Speaker 1: And from this I infer that its security, whatever fine
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Speaker 1: declarations may be inserted in any constitution respecting it must
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Speaker 1: altogether depend on public opinion and on the general spirit
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Speaker 1: of the people and of the government. And here after all,
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Speaker 1: as is intimated upon another occasion, we must seek for
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Speaker 1: the only solid basis of all our rights. There remains
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Speaker 1: but one other view of this matter. To conclude the point.
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Speaker 1: The truth is, after all the decocamations we have heard,
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Speaker 1: that the Constitution is itself, in every rational sense and
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Speaker 1: to every useful purpose, a bill of rights. The several
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Speaker 1: bills of Rights in Great Britain form its constitution, and conversely,
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Speaker 1: the constitution of each state is its bill of rights,
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Speaker 1: and the proposed Constitution, if adopted, will be the bill
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Speaker 1: of rights of the Union. Is it one object of
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Speaker 1: a bill of rights to declare and specify the political
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Speaker 1: privileges of the citizens in the structure and administration of
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Speaker 1: the government. This is done in the most ample and
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Speaker 1: precise manner in the plan of the convention, comprehending various
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Speaker 1: precautions for the public security, which are not to be
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Speaker 1: found in any of the state constitutions. Is another object
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Speaker 1: of a bill of rights to define certain immunities and
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Speaker 1: modes of proceeding which are relative to personal and private concerns.
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Speaker 1: This we have seen has also been attended to in
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Speaker 1: a variety of cases in the same plan. Adverting therefore,
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Speaker 1: to the substantial meaning of a bill of rights, it
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Speaker 1: is absurd to allege that is not to be found
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Speaker 1: in the work of the Convention. It may be said
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Speaker 1: that it does not go far enough that it will
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Speaker 1: not be easy to make this appear. But it can,
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Speaker 1: with no propriety be contended that there is no such thing.
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Speaker 1: It certainly must be immaterial what modis observed as to
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Speaker 1: the order of declaring the rights of the citizens, if
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Speaker 1: they are to be found in any part of the
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Speaker 1: instrument which establishes the government. And hence it must be
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Speaker 1: apparent that much of what it has been said on
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Speaker 1: this subject rests merely on verbal and nominal distinctions, entirely
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Speaker 1: foreign from the substance of the thing. Another objection, which
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Speaker 1: has been made, and which from the frequency of repetition
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Speaker 1: it is presumed as relied on, is of this nature. Quote.
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Speaker 1: It is improper, say the objectors, to confer such large
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Speaker 1: powers as are proposed upon the national government, because the
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Speaker 1: seat of that government must, of necessity be be too
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Speaker 1: remote for many of the states to admit of a
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Speaker 1: proper knowledge on the part of the constituent of the
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Speaker 1: conduct of the represented body. This argument, if it proves anything,
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Speaker 1: proves that there ought to be no general government whatever,
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Speaker 1: For the powers which it seems to be agreed on
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Speaker 1: all hands ought to be vested in the Union cannot
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Speaker 1: be safely entrusted to a body which is not under
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Speaker 1: every requisite control. But there are satisfactory reasons to show
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Speaker 1: that the objection is, in reality not well founded. There is,
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Speaker 1: in most of the arguments which relate to a distance,
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Speaker 1: a palpable illusion of the imagination. What are the sources
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Speaker 1: of information by which the people in Montgomery County must
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Speaker 1: regulate their judgment of the conduct of their representatives in
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Speaker 1: the state legislature? A personal observation, they can have no benefit.
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Speaker 1: This is confined to the citizens on the spot. They
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Speaker 1: must therefore depend on the information of intelligent men in
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Speaker 1: whom they confide. And how must these men obtain their information?
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Speaker 1: Evidently from the complexion of public measures, from the public prints,
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Speaker 1: from the correspondences with the representatives and with other persons
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Speaker 1: who reside at the place of their deliberations. This does
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Speaker 1: not apply to Montgomery County only, but to all the
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Speaker 1: counties at any considerable distance from the seat of government.
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Speaker 1: It is equally evident that the same sources of information
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Speaker 1: will be open to the people in relation to the
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Speaker 1: conduct of their representatives in the general government, and the
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Speaker 1: impediments to a prompt communication which distance may be supposed
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Speaker 1: to create, will be overbalanced by the effects of the
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Speaker 1: vigilance of the state governments. The executive and legislative bodies
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Speaker 1: of each day will be so many sentinels over the
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Speaker 1: persons employed in every department of the national administration, And
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Speaker 1: as it will be in their power to adopt and
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Speaker 1: pursue a regular and effectual system of intelligence, they can
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Speaker 1: never be at a loss to know the behavior of
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Speaker 1: those who represent their constituents in the national councils, and
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Speaker 1: can readily communicate the same knowledge to the people. Their
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Speaker 1: disposition to apprise the community of whatever may prejudice its
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Speaker 1: interests from another quarter may be relied upon if it
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Speaker 1: were only from the rivalship of power, And we may
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Speaker 1: conclude with the fust assurance that the people, through that
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Speaker 1: channel will be better informed of the conduct of their
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Speaker 1: national representatives than they can be by any means they
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Speaker 1: now possess of that of their state representatives. It ought
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Speaker 1: also to be remembered that the citizens who inhabit the
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Speaker 1: country at and near the seat of government, will, in
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Speaker 1: all questions that affect the general liberty and prosperity, have
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Speaker 1: the same interest with those who at a distance, and
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Speaker 1: that they will stand ready to sound the alarm when necessary,
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Speaker 1: and to point out the actors in any pernicious project.
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Speaker 1: The public papers will be expeditious messengers of intelligence to
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Speaker 1: the most remote inhabitants of the Union. Among the very
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Speaker 1: curious objects which have appeared against the proposed Constitution, the
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Speaker 1: most extraordinary and least colourables derived from the want of
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Speaker 1: some provision respecting the debts due to the United States.
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Speaker 1: This has been represented as a tacit relinquishment of those debts,
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Speaker 1: and as a wicket contrivance to screen public defaulters. The
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Speaker 1: newspapers have teemed with the most inflammatory railings on this head.
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Speaker 1: Yet there is nothing clearer than that the suggestion is
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Speaker 1: entirely void of foundation, the offspring of extreme ignorance or
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Speaker 1: extreme dishonesty. In addition to the remarks I've made upon
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Speaker 1: the subject in another place, I shall only observe that.
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Speaker 1: As it is a plain dictative common sense, so it
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Speaker 1: is also an established doctrine of political law that quote,
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Speaker 1: states neither lose any of their rights, nor are discharged
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Speaker 1: from any of their obligations by a change in the
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Speaker 1: form of their civil government end quote. The last objection
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Speaker 1: of any consequence which I at present recollect turns upon
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Speaker 1: the article of expense. If it were even true that
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Speaker 1: the adoption of the proposed government with occasion a considerable
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Speaker 1: increase of expense, it would be an objection that ought
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Speaker 1: to have no weight against the plan. The great bulk
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Speaker 1: of the citizens of America are, with reason convinced that
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Speaker 1: the Union is the basis of their political happiness. Men
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Speaker 1: of sense of all parties, now, with few exceptions, agree
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Speaker 1: that it cannot be preserved under the present system, nor
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Speaker 1: without radical alterations. That new and extensive powers ought to
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Speaker 1: be granted to the national head, and that these require
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Speaker 1: a different organization of the federal government, a single body
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Speaker 1: being an unsafe depository of such ample authorities. In conceding
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Speaker 1: all this, the question of expense must be given up,
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Speaker 1: for it is impossible with any degree of safety to
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Speaker 1: narrow the foundation upon which the system is to stand.
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Speaker 1: The two branches of the legislature are, in the first instance,
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Speaker 1: to consist of only sixty five persons, which is the
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Speaker 1: same number of which Congress under the existing confederation may
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Speaker 1: be composed. It is true that this number is intended
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Speaker 1: to be increased, but this is to keep pace with
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Speaker 1: the progress of the population and resources of the country.
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Speaker 1: It is evident that a less number would, even in
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Speaker 1: the first instance, have been unsafe, and that a continuance
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Speaker 1: of the present number would, in a more advanced stage
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Speaker 1: of population, be a very inadequate representation of the people.
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Speaker 1: Whence is the dreaded augmentation of expense to spring. One
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Speaker 1: source indicated is the multiplication of offices under the new government.
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Speaker 1: Let us examine this a little. It is evident that
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Speaker 1: the principal departments of the administration under the present government
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Speaker 1: are the same which will be required under the new.
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Speaker 1: There are now a Secretary of War, a Secretary of
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Speaker 1: Foreign Affairs, a Secretary for Domestic Affairs, a Board of
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Speaker 1: Treasury consisting of three persons, a treasurer, assistance clerch, etc.
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Speaker 1: These officers are indispensable under any system, and will suffice
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Speaker 1: under the new as well as the old. As to
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Speaker 1: ambassadors and other ministers and agents in foreign countries, the
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Speaker 1: proposed Constitution can make no other difference than to render
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Speaker 1: their characters where they reside, more respectable and their services
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Speaker 1: more useful. As the persons to be employed in the
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Speaker 1: collection of revenues, it is unquestionably true that these will
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Speaker 1: form a very considerable addition to the number or federal officers.
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Speaker 1: But it will not follow that this will occasion an
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Speaker 1: increase of public expense. It will be, in most cases
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Speaker 1: nothing more than an exchange of state for national officers.
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Speaker 1: In the collection of all duties. For instance, the persons
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Speaker 1: employed will be wholly of the latter description. The States
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Speaker 1: individually will stand in no need of any for this purpose.
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Speaker 1: What difference can it make in point of expense to
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Speaker 1: pay officers of the customs appointed by the state or
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Speaker 1: by the United States. There is no good reason to
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Speaker 1: suppose that either the number or the salaries of the
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Speaker 1: latter will be greater than those of the former. Where
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Speaker 1: then are we to seek for those additional articles of
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Speaker 1: expense which are to swell the account to the enormous
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Speaker 1: size that has been represented to us. The chief item
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Speaker 1: which occurs to me respects the support of judges of
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Speaker 1: the United States. I do not add the President, because
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Speaker 1: there is now a President of Congress whose expenses may
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Speaker 1: not be far, if anything, short of those which will
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Speaker 1: be incurred on account of the President of the United States.
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Speaker 1: The support of the judges will be clearly an extra expense.
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Speaker 1: But to what extent will depend on a particular plan
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Speaker 1: which may be adopted in regard to this matter. But
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Speaker 1: upon no reasonable plan can amount to a sum which
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Speaker 1: will be an object of material consequence. Let us now
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Speaker 1: see what there is to counterbalance any extra expense that
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Speaker 1: may attend to the establishment of the proposed government. The
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Speaker 1: first thing which presents itself is that a great part
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Speaker 1: of the business which now keeps Congress sitting through the
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Speaker 1: year will be transacted by the President. Even the management
20:30
Speaker 1: of foreign negotiations will naturally devolve upon him, according to
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Speaker 1: the general principles concerned within the Senate and subject to
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Speaker 1: their final concurrence. Hence, it is evident that a portion
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Speaker 1: of the year will suffice for the session of both
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Speaker 1: the Senate and the House of Representatives. We may suppose
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Speaker 1: about a fourth for the latter, and a third or
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Speaker 1: perhaps half for the former. The extra business of treaties
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Speaker 1: and appointments may give this extra occupation to the Senate.
20:56
Speaker 1: From this circumstance, we may infer that until the House
20:59
Speaker 1: of Reports and it shall be increased greatly beyond its
21:01
Speaker 1: present number, there will be a considerable saving of expense
21:05
Speaker 1: from the difference between the constant session of the present
21:08
Speaker 1: and the temporary session of the future Congress. But there
21:13
Speaker 1: is another circumstance of great importance in the view of economy.
21:16
Speaker 1: The business of the United States has hithertoto occupy the
21:19
Speaker 1: state legislatures as well as Congress. The latter has made
21:23
Speaker 1: requisitions which the former have had to provide for. Hence,
21:26
Speaker 1: it has happened that the sessions of the state legislatures
21:29
Speaker 1: have been protracted greatly beyond that which was necessary for
21:32
Speaker 1: the execution of the mere local business of the states.
21:36
Speaker 1: More than half their time has been frequently employed in
21:38
Speaker 1: matters which related to the United States. Now, the members
21:42
Speaker 1: who composed the legislatures of the several states amount to
21:45
Speaker 1: two thousand and upward, which number has hitheroto performed what
21:48
Speaker 1: under the new system will be done in the first
21:50
Speaker 1: instance by sixty five persons, and probably at no future
21:54
Speaker 1: period by above a fourth or fifth of that number.
21:59
Speaker 1: The Congress and of the proposed government will do all
22:01
Speaker 1: the business of the United States themselves, without the intervation
22:05
Speaker 1: of the state legislatures, who thenceforth will have only to
22:08
Speaker 1: attend to the affairs of their particular states, and it
22:10
Speaker 1: will not have to sit in any proportion as long
22:12
Speaker 1: as they have heretofore done. This difference in the time
22:16
Speaker 1: of the sessions of the state legislatures will be clear gain,
22:19
Speaker 1: and will alone form an article of saving, which may
22:22
Speaker 1: be regarded as an equivalent for any additional objects of
22:25
Speaker 1: expense that may be occasioned by the adoption of the
22:27
Speaker 1: new system. The result from these observations is that the
22:32
Speaker 1: sources of additional expense from the establishment of the proposed
22:35
Speaker 1: Constitution are much fewer than may have been imagined, that
22:39
Speaker 1: they are counterbalanced by considerable objects of saving, and that,
22:42
Speaker 1: while it is questionable on which side the scale will preponderate,
22:46
Speaker 1: it is certain that a government less expensive would be
22:48
Speaker 1: incompetent to the purposes of a union. Publius end Federal's
22:55
Speaker 1: Paper at number eighty four Federalist number eighty five by
23:01
Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton, concluding remarks to the people of the State
23:04
Speaker 1: of New York. According to the formal division of the
23:08
Speaker 1: subject to these papers announced in my first number, there
23:12
Speaker 1: would appear still to remain for discussion two points quote
23:15
Speaker 1: the analogy of the proposed government to your state Constitution,
23:19
Speaker 1: end quote, the additional security which its adoption will afford
23:23
Speaker 1: to a republican government to liberty and to property. But
23:27
Speaker 1: these heads have been so fully anticipated and exhausted in
23:30
Speaker 1: the progress of the work, that it would now scarcely
23:32
Speaker 1: be possible to do anything more than repeat in a
23:35
Speaker 1: more dilated form, what has been heretofore said, which the
23:38
Speaker 1: advanced stage of the question, and the time already spent
23:40
Speaker 1: upon it, conspired to forbid. It is remarkable that the
23:45
Speaker 1: resemblance of the plan of the Convention to the Act
23:47
Speaker 1: which organizes the government of the State holds not less
23:50
Speaker 1: with regard to many exposed defects than to the real
23:53
Speaker 1: excellences of the former. Among the pretended defects are the
23:58
Speaker 1: re eligibility of the executive, the want of a council,
24:01
Speaker 1: the omission of a formal bill of rights, the omission
24:04
Speaker 1: of a provision respecting the liberty of the press. These
24:08
Speaker 1: and several others which have been noted in the course
24:10
Speaker 1: of our inquiries, are as much chargeable on the existing
24:13
Speaker 1: constitution of this state as on the one proposed for
24:16
Speaker 1: the union. And a man must have slender pretensions to
24:19
Speaker 1: consistency who can rail at the latter for imperfections which
24:23
Speaker 1: he finds no difficulty in excusing in the former. Nor, indeed,
24:27
Speaker 1: can there be a better proof of the insincerity and
24:29
Speaker 1: effectation of some of the zealous adversaries of the plan
24:33
Speaker 1: of the Convention among us who profess to be the
24:35
Speaker 1: devoted admirers of the government under which they live, than
24:38
Speaker 1: the fury with which they have attacked that plan for
24:41
Speaker 1: matters in regard to which our own constitution is equally
24:45
Speaker 1: or perhaps more vulnerable. The additional securities to Republican government,
24:50
Speaker 1: to liberty, and to property, to be derived from the
24:53
Speaker 1: adoption of the plan under consideration, consists chiefly in the
24:57
Speaker 1: restraints which preservation of the union will impose on the
24:59
Speaker 1: las local factions and insurrections, and on the ambition of
25:03
Speaker 1: powerful individuals in single states who may acquire credit and
25:06
Speaker 1: influence enough from leaders and favorites to become the desputs
25:10
Speaker 1: of the people. In the diminution of the opportunities to
25:14
Speaker 1: foreign intrigue which the dissolution of the Confederacy would invite
25:17
Speaker 1: and facilitate, and the prevention of extensive military establishments which
25:21
Speaker 1: could not fail to grow out of wars between the
25:24
Speaker 1: estates of the disunited situation, in the express guarantee of
25:28
Speaker 1: a republican form of government to each, in the absolute
25:32
Speaker 1: and universal exclusion of titles and nobility, and in the
25:35
Speaker 1: precautions against the repetition of those practices on the part
25:38
Speaker 1: of state governments which have undermined the foundations of property
25:41
Speaker 1: and credit, have planted mutual distrust in the breast of
25:44
Speaker 1: all classes of citizens, and have occasion an almost universal
25:48
Speaker 1: prostration of morals. Thus have I, fellow citizens, executed the
25:55
Speaker 1: task I had assigned to myself with what success your
25:58
Speaker 1: conduct must determine, I trust, at least to will admit
26:01
Speaker 1: that I have not failed in the assurance I gave
26:03
Speaker 1: your respecting his spirit with which my endeavors should be conducted.
26:07
Speaker 1: I have addressed myself purely to your judgments, and have
26:10
Speaker 1: studiously avoided those asperities which are too apt to disgrace
26:13
Speaker 1: political disputants of all parties, and which have been not
26:16
Speaker 1: a little provoked by the language and conduct of the
26:19
Speaker 1: opponents of the constitution. The charge of a conspiracy against
26:23
Speaker 1: the liberties of the people, which has been indiscriminately brought
26:26
Speaker 1: against the advocates of the plan, has something in it
26:29
Speaker 1: too wanton and too malignant not to excite the indignation
26:32
Speaker 1: of every man who feels in his own bosom a
26:35
Speaker 1: refutation of the calumny. The perpetual changes which have been
26:39
Speaker 1: rung upon the wealthy, the well born, and the great
26:43
Speaker 1: have been such as to inspire the disgust of all
26:46
Speaker 1: sensible men. And the unwarrantable concealments and respresentations which have been,
26:51
Speaker 1: in various ways practiced to keep the truth from the
26:54
Speaker 1: public eye have been of a nature to demand the
26:56
Speaker 1: reprobation of all honest men. It is not possible that
27:00
Speaker 1: these circumstances may have occasionally betrayed me into the intemperances
27:03
Speaker 1: of expression which I did not intend. It is certain
27:07
Speaker 1: that I frequently felt a struggle between sensibility and moderation,
27:11
Speaker 1: and if the former has, in some instances prevailed, it
27:14
Speaker 1: must be my excuse that has been neither often nor much.
27:19
Speaker 1: Let us now pause and ask ourselves whether, in the
27:22
Speaker 1: course of these papers, the proposed Constitution has not been
27:25
Speaker 1: satisfactorily vindicated from the aspersions thrown upon it, and whether
27:30
Speaker 1: it has not been shown worthy of the public approbation
27:34
Speaker 1: and necessary to the public safety and prosperity. Every man
27:39
Speaker 1: is bound to answer these questions to himself according to
27:42
Speaker 1: the best of his conscience and understanding, and to act
27:46
Speaker 1: agreeably to the genuine and sober dictates of his judgment.
27:50
Speaker 1: This is a duty from which nothing can give him dispensation.
27:54
Speaker 1: It is one that is called upon, nay constrained by
27:57
Speaker 1: all the obligations that form the bands of society. Is
28:00
Speaker 1: charged sincerely and honestly. No partial motive, no particular interest,
28:06
Speaker 1: no pride of opinion, no temporary passion or prejudice, will
28:09
Speaker 1: justify to himself, to his country, or to his posterity,
28:13
Speaker 1: an improper election of the part he is to act.
28:17
Speaker 1: Let him beware of an obstinate adherence to party. Let
28:20
Speaker 1: him reflect that the object upon which he is to
28:23
Speaker 1: decide is not a particular interest of the community, but
28:26
Speaker 1: the very existence of the nation. And let him remember
28:30
Speaker 1: that a majority of America has already given its sanction
28:33
Speaker 1: to the plan which he is to approve. Or reject.
28:38
Speaker 1: I shall not assemble that I feel an entire confidence
28:41
Speaker 1: in the arguments which recommend the proposed system to your adoption,
28:45
Speaker 1: and that I am unable to discern any real force
28:48
Speaker 1: in those by which it has been opposed. I am
28:51
Speaker 1: persuaded that it is the best which our political situation, habits,
28:55
Speaker 1: and opinions will admit, and superior to any of The
28:58
Speaker 1: revolution has produced concessions on the part of the friends
29:03
Speaker 1: of the plan, that it has not a claim to
29:05
Speaker 1: absolute perfection, have afforded matter of no small triumph to
29:09
Speaker 1: its enemies. Why say they should we adopt an imperfect thing?
29:14
Speaker 1: Why not amend it and make it perfect before it
29:16
Speaker 1: is irrevocably established. This may be plausible enough, But it
29:22
Speaker 1: is only plausible in the first place. I remark that
29:26
Speaker 1: the extent of these concessions has been gradually exaggerated. They
29:30
Speaker 1: have been stated as amounting to an admission that the
29:32
Speaker 1: plan is radically defective, and that without material alterations, the
29:36
Speaker 1: rights in the interest of the community cannot be safely
29:38
Speaker 1: confided to it. This, as far as I have understood
29:42
Speaker 1: the meaning of those who make the concessions, is an
29:44
Speaker 1: entire perversion of their sense. No advocate of the measure
29:48
Speaker 1: can be found who will not declare as his sentiment
29:52
Speaker 1: that the system, though it may not be perfect in
29:54
Speaker 1: every part, is, upon the whole a good one, is
29:57
Speaker 1: the best that the present, fused and circumstances of the
29:59
Speaker 1: country will permit, and is such an one as promises
30:03
Speaker 1: every species of security which a reasonable people can desire.
30:09
Speaker 1: I answer in the next place that I should esteem
30:11
Speaker 1: it the extreme of imprudence to prolong the precarious state
30:14
Speaker 1: of our national affairs, and to expose the union to
30:17
Speaker 1: the jeopardy of successive experiments. In the chimerical pursuit of
30:21
Speaker 1: a perfect plan, I never expect to see a perfect
30:25
Speaker 1: work from imperfect man. The result of the deliberations of
30:29
Speaker 1: all collective bodies must necessarily be a compound as well
30:33
Speaker 1: of the errors and prejudices, as of the good sense
30:36
Speaker 1: and wisdom of the individuals of whom they are composed.
30:40
Speaker 1: The compacts which are to embrace thirteen distinct states in
30:43
Speaker 1: a common bond of amityan union must as necessarily become
30:46
Speaker 1: promised as of many dissimilar interests and inclinations. How can
30:51
Speaker 1: perfection spring from such materials? The reasons assigned it an
30:56
Speaker 1: excellent little pamphlet lately published in this city are unanswerable
31:01
Speaker 1: to show the utter improbability of assembling a new convention
31:04
Speaker 1: under circumstances in any degree so favorable to a happy
31:07
Speaker 1: issue as those in which the Late Confession met, deliberated
31:11
Speaker 1: and concluded. I will not repeat the arguments there used,
31:15
Speaker 1: as I presume the production itself has had an extensive circulation.
31:19
Speaker 1: It is certainly well worthy the perusal of every friend
31:21
Speaker 1: to his country. There is, however, one point of light
31:25
Speaker 1: in which the subject of amendments still remains to be considered,
31:28
Speaker 1: and in which it has not yet been exhibited to
31:30
Speaker 1: public view. I cannot resolve to conclude without first taking
31:34
Speaker 1: a survey of it. In this aspect, it appears to
31:38
Speaker 1: me susceptible of absolute demonstration that will be far more
31:40
Speaker 1: easy to obtain subsequent than previous amendments to the Constitution.
31:45
Speaker 1: The moment an alteration is made in the present plan,
31:48
Speaker 1: it becomes to the purpose of adoption a new one,
31:50
Speaker 1: and must undergo a new decision of each state to
31:54
Speaker 1: its complete establishment throughout the Union. It will therefore require
31:57
Speaker 1: the concurrence of thirteen states. If, on the contrary, the
32:02
Speaker 1: Constitution proposed should once be ratified by all the states
32:05
Speaker 1: as it stands, alterations in it may at any time
32:08
Speaker 1: be affected by nine states. Here, then the chances are
32:12
Speaker 1: as thirteen to nine, in favor of subsequent amendment, rather
32:15
Speaker 1: than of the original adoption of an entire system. This
32:20
Speaker 1: is not all. Every constitution for the United States must
32:24
Speaker 1: inevitably consist of a great variety of particulars in which
32:27
Speaker 1: thirteen independent states are to be accommodated in their interests
32:30
Speaker 1: or opinions of interest. We may, of course expect to
32:34
Speaker 1: see in anybody of men charged with its original formation,
32:38
Speaker 1: very different combination of the parts upon different points. Many
32:42
Speaker 1: of those who form a majority on one question may
32:44
Speaker 1: become the minority on a second, and an association dissimilar
32:48
Speaker 1: to either may constitute the majority on the third. Hence
32:52
Speaker 1: the necessity of molding and arranging all the particulars which
32:55
Speaker 1: are to compose the whole in such a manner as
32:58
Speaker 1: to satisfy all the parties to the compact, and hence
33:01
Speaker 1: also an immense multiplication of difficulties and casualties in obtaining
33:06
Speaker 1: the collective assent of a final act. The degree of
33:10
Speaker 1: that multiplication must evidently be in a ratio to the
33:12
Speaker 1: number of particulars and the number of parties. But every
33:17
Speaker 1: amendment to the Constitution, if once established, would be a
33:21
Speaker 1: single proposition, and might be brought forward singly. There would
33:25
Speaker 1: then be no necessity for management or compromise in relation
33:29
Speaker 1: to any other point. No giving nor taking the will
33:33
Speaker 1: of the requisite number would at once bring the matter
33:35
Speaker 1: to a decisive issue. And consequently, whenever nine or rather
33:40
Speaker 1: ten states were united, than the desire of a particular amendment,
33:43
Speaker 1: that amendment must infallibly take place. There can therefore be
33:48
Speaker 1: no comparison between the facility of affecting an amendment and
33:51
Speaker 1: that of establishing, in the first instance, a complete constitution.
33:57
Speaker 1: In opposition to the probability of subsequent amendments, it has
34:00
Speaker 1: been urged that the persons delegated to the administration of
34:03
Speaker 1: the national Government will always be disinclined to yield up
34:06
Speaker 1: any portion of the authority of which they were once possessed.
34:11
Speaker 1: For my own part, I acknowledge a thorough conviction that
34:13
Speaker 1: any amendments which may, upon mature consideration be thought useful,
34:18
Speaker 1: will be applicable to the organization of the government, not
34:21
Speaker 1: to the mass of its powers. And on this account alone,
34:26
Speaker 1: I think there is no weight in the observation just stated.
34:30
Speaker 1: I also think there is little weight in it on
34:33
Speaker 1: another account. The intrinsic difficulty of governing thirteen states at
34:37
Speaker 1: any rate, independent of calculations upon an ordinary degree of
34:40
Speaker 1: published spirit and integrity, will, in my opinion, constantly impose
34:45
Speaker 1: on the national ruler's necessity of a spirit of accommodation
34:49
Speaker 1: to the reasonable expectations of the constituents. But there is
34:53
Speaker 1: yet a further consideration which proves, beyond the possibility of
34:56
Speaker 1: a doubt, that the observation is futile. It is this
35:00
Speaker 1: that the national rulers, whenever nine states concur will have
35:04
Speaker 1: no option upon the subject. By the fifth article of
35:08
Speaker 1: the Plan, the Congress will be obliged, quote, on the
35:11
Speaker 1: application of the legislatures of two thirds of the states,
35:14
Speaker 1: which at present amount to nine, to call a convention
35:16
Speaker 1: for proposing amendments which shall be valid to all intents
35:20
Speaker 1: and purposes as part of the Constitution, when ratified by
35:23
Speaker 1: the legislatures of three fourths of the states, or by
35:26
Speaker 1: convention in three forts thereof end quote. The words of
35:30
Speaker 1: this article are peremptory. The Congress quote, shall call a
35:34
Speaker 1: Convention end quote. Nothing in this particular is left to
35:37
Speaker 1: the discretion of that body, And of consequence all the
35:42
Speaker 1: declamation about the disinclination to change vanishes an error. Nor,
35:47
Speaker 1: however difficult it may be supposed in unite two thirds
35:50
Speaker 1: or three fourths of the state legislatures in amendments which
35:52
Speaker 1: may affect local interests, can there be any room to
35:55
Speaker 1: apprehend any such difficulty in a union on points which
35:58
Speaker 1: are merely relative the deject ner liberty or security of
36:01
Speaker 1: the people. We may safely rely on the disposition of
36:05
Speaker 1: the state legislatures to erect bearers against the encroachments of
36:08
Speaker 1: the national authority. If the foregoing argument is a fallacy,
36:14
Speaker 1: certain it is that I am myself deceived by it,
36:17
Speaker 1: For it is, in my conception, one of those rare
36:19
Speaker 1: instances in which the political truth can be brought to
36:22
Speaker 1: the test of a mathematical demonstration. Those who see the
36:26
Speaker 1: matter in the same light with me, however zealous they
36:28
Speaker 1: may be for amendments, must agree in the propriety of
36:31
Speaker 1: a previous adoption as the most direct road to their
36:34
Speaker 1: own object. The zeal for attempts to amend prior to
36:39
Speaker 1: the establishment of the Constitution must debate in every man
36:42
Speaker 1: who is ready to accede to the truth of the
36:44
Speaker 1: following observations of a writer equally solid and ingenious quote
36:50
Speaker 1: to balance a large state of society, says he, whether
36:53
Speaker 1: monarchical or republican, on general laws is a work of
36:56
Speaker 1: so great difficulty that no human genius, however comprehendsis of
37:00
Speaker 1: is able by the mere dint of reason and reflection
37:02
Speaker 1: to effect it. The judgments of many must unite in
37:06
Speaker 1: the work. Experience must guide their labor, time must bring
37:10
Speaker 1: it to perfection, and the feeling of inconveniences must correct
37:13
Speaker 1: the mistakes which they inevitably fall into their first trials
37:17
Speaker 1: and experiments. Footnote Hume Essays, Volume one, page one, twenty eight,
37:22
Speaker 1: The Rise of Arts and Sciences. These judicious reflections contain
37:27
Speaker 1: the lesson of moderation to all the sincere lovers of
37:29
Speaker 1: the Union, and ought to put them upon their guard
37:32
Speaker 1: against hazarding anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the
37:36
Speaker 1: states from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of
37:39
Speaker 1: a victorious demagogue, in the pursuit of what they are
37:42
Speaker 1: not likely to obtain, but from time and experience it
37:46
Speaker 1: may be in me a defect of political fortitude, but
37:49
Speaker 1: I acknowledge that cannot entertain an equal tranquility with those
37:53
Speaker 1: who affect to treat the dangers of a longer continuance
37:56
Speaker 1: in our present situation as imaginary. A nation without a
38:00
Speaker 1: national government is, in my view, an awful spectacle. The
38:04
Speaker 1: establishment of a constitution in time of profound peace, by
38:08
Speaker 1: the voluntary consent of a whole people is a prodigy
38:12
Speaker 1: to the completion of which I look forward with trembling anxiety.
38:16
Speaker 1: I can reconcile it to no rules of prudence to
38:18
Speaker 1: let go the hold we now have in so arduous
38:21
Speaker 1: an enterprise upon seven out of the thirteen states, and
38:24
Speaker 1: after having passed over so considerable a part of the
38:27
Speaker 1: ground to recommence the course, I dread the more the
38:31
Speaker 1: consequences of the new attempt, because I know that powerful
38:34
Speaker 1: individuals in this and in other states are enemies to
38:38
Speaker 1: a general national government in every possible shape. Publius, end
38:46
Speaker 1: of Federalist Number eighty five. End of Federalist Papers,