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Harjinder Kaur USSO 10100 Prof. Gillooly 03/06/2015 The Significance of the Federalist Papers The Federalist Papers, is a compilation of 85 articles, advocating the ratification of the proposed Constitution of the United States. These series of articles were published by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay between October 1787 and May 1788. The overall intention of the Federalist Papers was to explain the advantages of the proposed Constitution over the prevailing Articles of Confederation. The Federalist Papers impacted the ratification of the Constitution by making some of their most important objections, including the significance of having a Constitution, acknowledging to the disagreements made by the Antifederalists, and defending conflicting arguments made against the attributes of the executive and judicial branch as specified in the proposed Constitution. Before the ratification of the Constitution, the central government under the Articles of Confederations was very weak and in jeopardy of falling apart. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, who were Federalists believed as well that the Articles of Confederation was too weak to maintain a powerful central government and needed to be restored by the U.S Constitution. The fundamental goal of the U.S constitution was to secure the rights of the U.S citizens and for the federal government to strive for the common good of the individuals. The Federalist Papers illustrates how the federal government is divided into three distinct, separate branches and each branch of government has the authority to govern or control the power of the

other branches. The idea, which came to be called Federalism, granted the best protection for the rights of the individuals. The Articles of Confederation were impaired with many flaws. One of the difficulties Congress faced in the system were when it came to pass laws. This procedure required the approval of at least 9 out of the 13 states. At that time being, society lacked higher power, unlike today, there wasn't an executive branch or a President to make sure laws passed by Congress were professionally carried out. There were several other complications the Articles of Confederation had to encounter. Such as not being capable to assemble taxes to make payments to the national government for their expenses. And the reason behind this was because, Congress did not have the authority to collect it. They were allowed to make requests for money, however they had no power in making the states pay them. Truthfully speaking, without money, there wasn't really much the Congress could do. They were incapable of paying the nation's debt, as well providing government programs and services to society. The National Government alongside with the Congress, also had many predicaments under the Articles of Confederation. The National Government weren't able to govern and manage trades that were carried out between the states or with foreign nations, which resulted in many controversies among the states and with other nations as well. Since each state had regulated themselves individually, most states had distributed their own money. There was estrangement amongst the people. There was no unity, instead the people of each state preferred to be recognized as citizens of their own individual states rather than citizens of an entire nation. Majority of the times the states had denied to embrace the laws of Congress. As expected, as time passed associations between the states and the Congress gradually deteriorated. The primary source of the problem was that the

states had refused to give the national government any sort of power to efficiently work and get the job done. As a result, in the year 1787 Congress requested the states to issue several representatives to a meeting that was held in Philadelphia, to address the many possibilities that could be done to improve the national government. According to the Constitution of 1787, the Congress has the power to toll taxes on individuals as well as the right to manage and govern trade between the states. In addition, unlike the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of 1787 has higher powers, such as the executive branch which enforces laws along side the judicial branch which interpret laws. Therefore, with all these differences it is very simple to understand why the federal government encouraged the Constitution of 1787. The people would be able to rest in peace, leaving their problems and concerns in the hands of the Constitution rather than the Articles of Confederation because unlike the Articles of Confederation, they're extremely stable, dominant, and dependable. The significance of being in a Union, by having a Constitution would protect individuals against external and internal threats. James Madison, who was considered as a well­known Federalist, discusses the complications of the factions conflicting and dividing a nation apart. Factions are groups of citizens with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the nation as a whole. In Article No.10, Madison responded that large nations actually restrain special interest groups from taking control. Likewise, large nations would be an exceptional defense against these threats than smaller nations, for example, the individual states. In terms of Madison, as stated in Article No.10, that in a large republic, “ you take in a greater variety of interest…you make it less probable that a majority...will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens..” (Article No.10). In other words, in a large nation, these special interest

groups balance one another. Article No.10 primarily focuses on the predicaments of maintaining a government based on popular vereignty s o , and addresses the question of how to protect one’s nation against factions. Madison believes that the advantages of a well­established Union is that it has a “ tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” He explains the comparison between a democracy to a republic nation, as well as the distribution of elected officials to the number of individuals and size of land. James Madison believes there are only two ways to restrain factions: eliminate the causes and control the effects. James Mason and Patrick Henry, who were Anti­Federalists wanted an outright division of the judicial, executive, and legislative branches. According to Article No.51, these branches of government needed some restricted power of the other branches to protect themselves from infringement of the other branches. Under the “Publius”, Madison wrote Article No.51, in which he argues that each branch of government should not be conditional on other branches. That way, the national government can strive for the common good of the individuals and not one another. As stated in Article No.51, “ If men were angels, no government would be necessary... If angels were to govern men,” no checks would be required. But for a government controlled by “ men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first “let government control the people and then make it “control itself.” In other words, the U.S government had power, but it was limited. The Separation of Powers, allowed the Constitution to put many checks on the national government. The Separation of Powers was equally distributed amongst the Congress, the President and the Courts. The Congress had the right to make laws, while the president carried them out. In Article No.47, Madison explained why the powers of the government should be divided. He said: Putting “all powers… in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many is

tyranny.” In other terms, giving one certain individual or a certain group all the power will prevent people from being liberated. The Federalist Papers impacted the ratification of the Constitution by making some of their most important objections, including the significance of having a Constitution, acknowledging to the disagreements made by the Antifederalists, and defending conflicting arguments made against the attributes of the executive and judicial branch as specified in the proposed Constitution. After two years later, on May. 29, 1790, the ratification process for the Constitution was completed. Before the U.S Constitution was drafted and ratified, the U.S government system was weakened. Many people of the nation didn’t trust a strong, central government that would have certain privileges over the states. The idea of Federalism was strongly advocated by the Federalist Papers, explaining why it was important for the nation to have a strong central government rather than just be a union of states. Without the support of the Federalist Papers, the U.S government system might look very different from today. Bibliography "The Federalist Papers." The Complete Federalist Papers . Web. 5 Mar. 2015. .

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