American Heritage Midterm 2 - Federalist Papers

Federalist No. 1 (Hamilton)

• Break the cycle of tyranny and create a good society through reason and putting the union above individual interest

Federalist No. 9 (Hamilton)

• Institutional improvements to prevent anarchy prone republican governments

  • separation of powers

  • strong union w/ smaller republics built in

  • auxiliary precautions 

Federalist No. 10 (Madison)

• Factions

• Causes cannot be removed → control effects via a large republic

• many little factions keep any one from gaining too much power

Federalist No. 39 (Madison)

• Government power is both federal and national

  • Senate is federal, House is national, presidency is both

• Federalism is split power between state and national government

Federalist No. 51 (Madison)

• Checks and balances & Auxiliary precautions

• Ambition to counteract ambition

• “If men were angels, no gov would be necessary”

• People are the primary precaution of the gov

Federalist No. 70 (Hamilton)

• Energy, decisiveness, and steadiness in the executive

• Important → singular executive who will act in interest of the people

  • a single person makes it easy to tell who messed up

Federalist No. 78

• Judicial Branch is fantastic

  • lifetime tenures, won’t run for office, not as interested in political alignment → insulation / uninterested

  • No power of sword or purse → not much power to abuse

  • Power-hungry people aren’t likely to become judges

Federalist No. 84 (Hamilton)

• We don’t need a bill of rights

  • constitution already protects rights

  • listing rights limits what rights are protected

  • no other government has a bill of right