Federalist No. 1Federalist No. 1

General Introduction

Background• Author: Alexander Hamilton

• Publication: Independent Journal

• Date: October or November 1787

• Audience: People of the State of New York, who “are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America” after experiencing “the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government”

Importance of Subject

• Their decision will determine the fate of the Union and the safety and welfare of the states that belong to it.

• They will decide “whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.”

• A wrong decision “may . . . deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.”

How to Decide

• Their decision “should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good.”

• They should not let individual “passions and prejudices” influence their decision.

Obstacles to the Constitution

• Men who do not want to lose the power and other benefits of state offices they hold.

• Men who hope to become rich or powerful during the confusion that would occur without a constitution in place.

• Men who would benefit from the division of the states into smaller groups.

Motivation of Opponents and Supporters

• Even those who oppose the Constitution may “be actuated by upright intentions.”

• On the other hand, “[a]mbition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question.”

Opposing Parties

• Opposing parties will let loose “torrent of angry and malignant passions.”

• One side will accuse those who favor government of being “fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty.”

• In response, they will accuse those concerned about “danger to the rights of the people” of seeking “popularity at the expense of the public good.”

Reminder

• The opposing parties forget “that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty” and “their interest can never be separated.”

• Historically those who hide a “dangerous ambition” to become tyrants themselves claim to want to protect the rights of the people.

Warning

• Hamilton warns his “fellow-citizens” against being influenced “by any impressions other than those which may result from the evidence of truth.”

Admission

• Hamilton admits that he believes it is in the best interest of the people to adopt the Constitution.

• “I am convinced that this is the safest course for your liberty, your dignity, and your happiness.”

Subjects of Future Papers

• “The utility of the Union to your political prosperity”

• “The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union”

• “The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attainment of this object”

• “The conformity of the proposed constitution to the true principles of republican government”

• “Its analogy to your own state constitution”• “The additional security which its adoption will

afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property”

Answers to Objections

• In these papers, Hamilton plans to answer all objections to the Constitution that “see to have any claim to [the people’s] attention.”

• He will begin by offering “arguments to prove the utility of the Union” in the next paper.