Summary As to the jurisdiction of the federal courts, they should have the authority to overrule state laws contravening the Constitution. They should have the power to enforce uniformity in the interpretation of national laws. They should have jurisdiction in all cases involving citizens of other nations. And most important […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XII: Judiciary: Federalist No. 80 (Hamilton)

Summary Nothing contributed more to the independence of judges than a “fixed provision for their support.” Hamilton repeated here what he had said in regard to the executive, that “in the general course of human nature, a power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will.” The […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XII: Judiciary: Federalist No. 79 (Hamilton)

Summary This section of six chapters deals with the proposed structure of federal courts, their powers and jurisdiction, the method of appointing judges, and related matters. A first important consideration was the manner of appointing federal judges, and the length of their tenure in office. They should be appointed in […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XII: Judiciary: Federalist No. 78 (Hamilton)

Summary In Chapter 75, in the author’s opinion, “one of the best digested and most unexceptionable parts” of the Constitution was the provision empowering the president to make treaties, but only “by and with the advice and consent of the senate . . . provided two-thirds of the senators present […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XI: Need for a Strong Executive: Federalists No. 75-77 (Hamilton)

Summary In Chapter 69, the president would be elected for a term of four years; he would be eligible for re-election. He would not have the life tenure of an hereditary monarch. The president would be liable to impeachment, trial, and removal from office upon being found guilty of treason, […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XI: Need for a Strong Executive: Federalists No. 69-74 (Hamilton)

Summary The way of electing a president, Hamilton noted with relief, was almost the only part of the system, of any consequence, which has escaped without severe censure.” Rightly, the “sense of the people should operate in the choice” of the chief executive. But this was to be accomplished in […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XI: Need for a Strong Executive: Federalist No. 68 (Hamilton)

Summary This group of eleven essays discusses and defends, one by one, the extensive powers to be bestowed on the president under the proposed constitution. No part of the proposed constitution had been more difficult to arrange than that dealing with the executive, and no part was being “inveighed against […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section XI: Need for a Strong Executive: Federalist No. 67 (Hamilton)

Summary This section follows the pattern of the previous section, and is concerned with the qualifications and powers of the Senate. In Chapter 62, qualifications for senators were these: they had to be at least 30 years old, and to have been citizens of the nation for nine years. They […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section X: United States Senate: Federalists No. 62–66 (Madison or Hamilton)

Summary This section of ten chapters deals in some detail with the structure and many powers of the lower house of Congress as proposed by the new Constitution. In Chapter 52, what should be the qualifications of the electors and the elected? The new Constitution laid it down that a […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section IX: House of Representatives: Federalists No. 52–61 (Madison or Hamilton)

Summary This section of five essays deals largely with the question of establishing a proper and workable system of checks and balances between the several main departments, or branches, of government. In Chapter 47, the author declared that no political maxim was more important for liberty than that the legislative, […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Section VIII: Structure of New Government: Federalists No. 47–51 (Madison or Hamilton)