The Federalist, edited by J.R. Pole, was a great read, but I’m glad the American Heart Association says it’s fine to drink up to five cups of coffee a day because I needed a few of those—especially while reading Alexander Hamilton’s essays. Still, the book was absolutely worth it.

For those who may not know, The Federalist, commonly referred to as The Federalist Papers, “is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788 and published in various New York state newspapers. They were written and published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution over the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular provisions of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton and Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions of those who drafted the Constitution.”¹

The essays covered a wide range of subjects, including commerce, the military, the structure of the branches of government, taxation, and much more.

When you read these essays, you quickly realize the remarkable depth of thought behind each one. Whether or not you agree with every argument, it is hard not to conclude that many of today’s elected officials in Congress have a long way to go if they hope to match the intellect, clarity, and passion of these Founding Fathers.

I receive regular email updates from my representatives in Congress and at the state level, and they usually boil down to a couple of paragraphs saying, “Look how bad the other side is, and here’s everything great I’m doing for you.” Can you imagine our elected officials writing detailed essays explaining and defending their positions and then publishing them in local newspapers? Revolutionary, if you ask me. But I also understand that most politicians fear political blowback, so we probably won’t see anything like that anytime soon.

The 2005 edition of The Federalist is excellent. It includes a superb introduction, a concise chronology of political events from 1688 to 1791, an overview of the major themes of the essays, the text of the Articles of Confederation, and—perhaps most helpful of all—the text of the Constitution with cross-references to the relevant Federalist essays. The editor’s historical notes and explanations are outstanding and greatly enhance the reading experience.

Although the chronology officially covers political events from 1688 to 1791, its first entry actually begins with the Magna Carta of 1215 under King John of England, highlighting one of the foundations of modern due process and the right to trial by jury. It reads:

“No Free-man shall be taken, or dispossessed, or imprisoned, of his free tenement or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, save by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the laws of the land.”

There is so much valuable material in this book and in each of the essays that it would be impossible to do it justice in a short blog post. These papers have been studied, analyzed, and debated for more than two centuries, with thousands of articles written about their content. Rather than attempting to summarize everything, I’ll simply highlight a few passages and historical notes that caught my attention as I continued researching what the Founding Fathers actually wrote compared with what we often hear from today’s politicians and pundits.

Two interesting entries from the chronology

1688 – Mennonites (a Christian group) petition in Pennsylvania condemning slavery. (p. xxv)

Many sources identify 1619²³ as the beginning of slavery in the English colonies, when approximately twenty enslaved Africans were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. It was encouraging to see that organized opposition to slavery emerged very early in colonial history.

June 12, 1776 – Virginia adopts the Declaration of Rights and a new constitution. Separation of church and state later becomes an American constitutional principle. (p. xxxv)

John Jay on the importance of the Union

“The importance of their continuing firmly united under one federal government, vested with sufficient powers for all general and national purposes. The more attentively I consider and investigate the reasons which appear to have given birth to this opinion, the more I become convinced that they are cogent and conclusive… providing for their safety… security for the preservation of peace and tranquility, as well against dangers from foreign arms and influence, as from dangers of the like kind arising from domestic causes.” (p. 9)

Alexander Hamilton on taxation

“The ability of a country to pay taxes must always be proportioned, in a great degree, to the quantity of money in circulation, and to the celerity with which it circulates.” (p. 62)

In other words, governments collect tax revenue more easily when the economy is healthy and money circulates freely than when economic activity is weak and money is scarce.

James Madison on the separation of powers

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” (p. 261)

“In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other, in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects.” (p. 283)

That last quote from James Madison is powerful because he saw diversity as the best safeguard against any single group—whether political, economic, or religious—dominating the rest.

John Jay on the Senate’s role in treaty-making

“The 2d. section (Article II of the Constitution) gives powers to the president ‘by and with the advice and consent of the senate to make treaties provided two thirds of the senators present concur.’ The power of making treaties is an important one, especially as it relates to war, peace and commerce; and it should not be delegated but in such a mode, and with such precautions, as will afford the highest security that it will be exercised by men best qualified for the purpose, and in the manner most conducive to the public good… The inference which naturally results from these considerations is this, that the president and senators so chosen will always be among those who best understand our national interests, whether considered in relation to the several states or to foreign nations, who are best able to promote those interests, and whose reputation for integrity inspires and merits confidence. With such men the power of making treaties may be safely lodged.” (pp. 344–345)

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. constitutional history. It provides invaluable insight into what three of America’s Founding Fathers were thinking as the Constitution was being debated and defended before the states ratified it. I have read that The Federalist is one of the most important works ever written about our system of government. After reading it, I wholeheartedly agree. 

---

About the Editor:

Jack Richon Pole, was a British historian of the United States. After holding posts at University College, London and the University of Cambridge, he was Rhodes Professor of American History and Institutions at the University of Oxford from 1979 to 1989.⁴

---

1. https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text ↩︎
2. https://www.history.com/articles/slavery ↩︎
3. https://history.as.uky.edu/400-years-slavery-began-history-full-beginnings-present-can-be-one-too ↩︎
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pole ↩︎

• Book Reviews