Considerations of Our Constitution: The Federalist Papers           October 30, 2020

Prologue      by Richard A Damron

In furtherance of God’s Kingdom and our government, I am presenting some published historical records of conversation and consideration of the principle or moral value and representation of our Constitution before being ratified, The Federalist Papers. I have taken from this introduction in Wikipedia that I am glad the Bill of Rights was added to our Constitution. It reinforces or strengthens the importance of their meaning to life. And that, given the nature of the power/influence of government over societies, the checks and balances protocol was and may still be needed for preventing some kind of authoritarian control of our government. But, I still like to think of it, mainly, as a way to prevent human error and cause discussion and deliberation. And finally, Alexander Hamilton’s insight of human prosperity as a result of government for and by the people with his words, as I interpret them, ‘(government is) the greatest of all reflections on human nature’. I very much believe in this and have made it part of my work to promote or further God’s Kingdom. The authors of these papers were men who considered their belief in the principles of God as recorded by Humanity would prevail over the struggle of Humanity with good and evil.

From Wikipedia

The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym “Publius” to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. The collection was commonly known as The Federalist until the name The Federalist Papers emerged in the 20th century.
The first 77 of these essays were published serially in the Independent Journal, the New York Packet, and The Daily Advertiser between October 1787 and April 1788.[1] A compilation of these 77 essays and eight others were published in two volumes as The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787 by publishing firm J. & A. McLean in March and May 1788.[2][3] The last eight papers (Nos. 78–85) were republished in the New York newspapers between June 14 and August 16, 1788.
The authors of The Federalist intended to influence the voters to ratify the Constitution. In Federalist No. 1, they explicitly set that debate in broad political terms:

It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, 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.[4]

Federalist No. 10 is generally regarded[by whom?] as the most important of the 85 articles from a philosophical perspective. In it, Madison discusses the means of preventing rule by majority faction and advocates a large, commercial republic. This is complemented by Federalist No. 14, in which Madison takes the measure of the United States, declares it appropriate for an extended republic, and concludes with a memorable defense of the constitutional and political creativity of the Federal Convention.[5] In Federalist No. 84, Hamilton makes the case that there is no need to amend the Constitution by adding a Bill of Rights, insisting that the various provisions in the proposed Constitution protecting liberty amount to a “bill of rights”. Federalist No. 78, also written by Hamilton, lays the groundwork for the doctrine of judicial review by federal courts of federal legislation or executive acts. Federalist No. 70 presents Hamilton’s case for a one-man chief executive. In Federalist No. 39, Madison presents the clearest exposition of what has come to be called “Federalism”. In Federalist No. 51, Madison distills arguments for checks and balances in an essay often quoted for its justification of government as “the greatest of all reflections on human nature.” According to historian Richard B. Morris, the essays that make up The Federalist Papers are an “incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer.”[6]
On June 21, 1788, the proposed Constitution was ratified by the minimum of nine states required under Article VII. Towards the end of July 1788, with eleven states having ratified the new Constitution, the process of organizing the new government began.

Wikipedia – The Federalist Papers

Featured photo:

An Advertisement of The Federalist – Project Gutenberg eText 16960.jpg See w:en:Federalist Papers From The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16960