THE CONSTITUTION MAY BE CONSIDERED under two general points of view. The first relates to the sum or quantity of power which it vests in the Federal government, including the restraints imposed on the States. The second relates to the particular structure of the government, and the distribution of this power among its several branches….
THE SECOND POINT to be examined is whether the Convention was authorized to frame and propose the Constitution. The powers of the Convention are best determined by an inspection of the commissions given to the members by their respective constituents. All of the commissions made reference either to the recommendations from the meeting of State…
Characteristics of Republican Governments WHAT ARE THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS of republican government? No satisfactory answer can be found in the application of the term by political writers to the constitutions of foreign governments. Holland is almost universally denominated a republic, yet no particle of its supreme authority is derived from its People. The same…
ANCIENT HISTORY REPORTS that in every case where a government was formed with deliberation and consent, the task was undertaken by some individual citizen of preeminent wisdom and approved integrity, rather than an assembly of individuals. Minos founded the government of Crete, as Zaleucus did for the Locrians. Theseus first – and after him Draco…
AS THE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF THESE PAPERS is to determine clearly and fully the merits of the Constitution, the plan cannot be complete without taking a more critical and thorough survey of the work of the Constitutional Convention, in which I examine all its sides, compare all its parts, and calculate its probable effects. So…
Representation in Congress will consist almost entirely of proprietors of land, of merchants, and of members of the learned professions, all of whom will truly represent the different interests and views of the various classes of the community, as I explained in Federalist 35. While variations do exist in local legislatures, they are exceptions to…
HERE I SHALL DEMONSTRATE why limiting the federal taxing authority to import duties is unwise. I also respond to the sentiment that calls for equal representation of all classes in the national popular assembly. Federal Tax Revenues Must Not Be Limited to Duties on Imports Restricting the Federal government’s power of taxation to particular objects…
The Federal and State Powers to Tax Are Almost Identical, Allowing Both to Satisfy Their Needs UNDER THE CONSTITUTION, EACH STATE GOVERNMENT has coequal authority with the Federal government to lay and collect taxes, except as to duties on imports. The greatest part of local resources are open to taxation for supplying revenues for the…
The Plain Meanings of the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Supremacy Clause THE REMAINING ARGUMENTS against the Federal power to tax focus on two clauses that allegedly will harm the States irremediably. The first clause – the Necessary and Proper Clause – authorizes the Federal legislature “to make all laws which shall be necessary…
SOME STATE GOVERNMENTS MISAPPREHEND A DANGER from a perceived power of the Federal government to control their levies of money. A complete barrier to the oppressive use of such a power, however, exists due to the extreme hazard of (1) provoking the resentments of State governments, and (2) the sense of the People of the…