Federalist Constitution Additions: Understanding Their Lasting Impact

The Federalists, supporters of the US Constitution, believed that a strong national government was necessary for the United States to function as an independent nation. They argued that the Constitution was required to safeguard the liberty and independence that the American Revolution had created. To address fears that the Constitution would give the central government too much power, Federalists Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wrote The Federalist Papers, a series of 85 essays that analysed the Constitution in detail and outlined the built-in checks and balances meant to divide power between the three branches of government. The Federalists also added a Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, to the Constitution to gain the support of the Anti-Federalists.

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Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, that appeared in New York newspapers, primarily the Independent Journal and the New York Packet, between October 1787 and August 1788. The essays urged New York delegates to ratify the Constitution, advocating for a strong national government, with powers to pass laws, regulate commerce, print/coin money, engage in international trade as one nation, and settle disputes among the states.

The Federalists, supporters of the proposed Constitution, believed that a strong national government was necessary for the United States to function as an independent nation and to safeguard the liberty and independence gained through the American Revolution. They argued that the Constitution, with its checks and balances, was effectively a Bill of Rights and that it did not need to explicitly list individual rights and liberties. However, to gain the support of the Anti-Federalists, they agreed to add a Bill of Rights, which included the First Amendment, to the Constitution.

The Federalist Papers are significant because they provide insight into the intentions and ideology of the Federalists during the creation of the U.S. Constitution. They outline the Federalists' belief that the greatest threat to the United States was not the abuse of central power, but the excesses of democracy, and their support for a strong central government, an expansive interpretation of congressional powers, and a mercantile economy. The Federalist Papers also highlight the political divisions that emerged within the Federalist Party during the presidency of George Washington, with some members allying with former Anti-Federalists.

In conclusion, the Federalist Papers played a crucial role in shaping the ratification of the Constitution and the early political landscape of the United States, and they continue to be an important collection of documents that offer a window into the country's founding principles and the debates surrounding its formation.

Bill of Rights

The Federalists opposed the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, believing it to be unnecessary and potentially dangerous. They argued that the Constitution already ensured individual rights for citizens and that a strong federal government was needed. Alexander Hamilton, a prominent Federalist, asserted in Federalist Paper Number 84 that a Bill of Rights could be dangerous, as it might set a precedent for omitted rights to be considered as not retained. He also noted that historically, bills of rights had been ineffective in times of crisis.

The Anti-Federalists, on the other hand, wanted a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties and prevent the federal government from becoming too powerful. They believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government and wanted to codify individual rights. Without a Bill of Rights, they argued, the government might infringe on freedoms of speech, press, and religion, and the right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures.

The absence of a Bill of Rights became an obstacle to the Constitution's ratification by the states. The Federalists eventually conceded to support a Bill of Rights after the Constitution was ratified, to ensure its passage. This compromise led to the inclusion of a preamble to the Bill of Rights, explaining that the amendments were a response to the demand for amendments from state ratifying conventions.

The Bill of Rights, comprising ten amendments, was crafted to protect the fundamental rights of citizens. These amendments include freedom of speech, press, and religion, the right to assembly and petition, and protection from unwarranted government intrusion. The process of interpreting and applying these rights in specific situations, however, presented challenges that required judicial clarification.

Checks and balances

The Federalist Papers, and in particular Federalist No. 51, written by James Madison or Alexander Hamilton, under the pseudonym Publius, is one of the most important texts for understanding the system of checks and balances in the US Constitution.

Madison, in Federalist No. 51, explains and defends the checks and balances system in the Constitution. He argues that each branch of government is framed so that its power checks the power of the other two branches. This is to ensure that the government does not overstep its powers and to protect the rights of the people and the country. Madison writes that:

> "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition."

The idea is that the different branches of government would be in competition with each other, preventing any one branch from becoming too powerful. Madison also notes that the people are the source of legitimate authority, and that the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals or minorities will be protected from the tyranny of the majority.

The US Constitution features many checks and balances. For example, bicameralism reduces legislative predominance, while the presidential veto gives the President a means of defending his priorities and preventing congressional overreach. The Senate’s role in appointments and treaties provides a check on the President, and the courts are assured independence from the political branches through good-behaviour tenure and security of compensation. Through judicial review, the courts check the other two branches, and the impeachment power gives Congress the authority to root out corruption and abuse of power in the other two branches.

The Founders also applied checks and balances to foreign policy and war powers. While Congress is given the power to declare war and to fund operations, the executive is delegated the authority to conduct the war as commander-in-chief. This balance was tested in the decades following World War II, as legislators became concerned that the executive was deploying troops into foreign conflicts without a Congressional declaration of war. In response, Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1973, which requires the President to consult with Congress whenever he sends troops into hostile situations.

The concept of checks and balances was not new, and Madison himself was influenced by political philosophers such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Baron Charles de Montesquieu, who wrote about the separation of powers almost 100 years before Madison.

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Strong central government

The Federalists, including influential figures such as Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, advocated for a strong central government as a key component of their political philosophy. They believed that a robust central authority was necessary to address the challenges facing the young nation in the 1780s and to safeguard the gains of the American Revolution.

Hamilton, Jay, and Madison articulated their vision for a strong central government in a series of 85 essays collectively known as the Federalist Papers. These essays, published under the pseudonym "Publius," played a crucial role in shaping public opinion and defending the newly written Constitution. The Federalists argued that the Constitution provided a framework for a strong national government while also protecting individual liberties through a system of checks and balances.

One of the primary concerns of the Federalists was addressing the weaknesses of the central government under the Articles of Confederation. They believed that a stronger union was necessary to ensure the stability and prosperity of the nation. This included supporting the Implied Powers of the President within the Constitution and Federal Supremacy, with the understanding that the Constitution's separation of powers and checks and balances would prevent the abuse of power and protect the rights of the people.

The Federalist Party, formed by Hamilton, Jay, and Madison, promoted economic policies that centralized power in the federal government. They advocated for the funding of the Revolutionary War debt and the assumption of state debts, the passage of excise laws, the creation of a central bank, and the maintenance of a tariff system. These policies, they argued, would ensure the financial stability of the nation and enhance its creditworthiness.

Additionally, the Federalists took a neutral stance in the war between France and Great Britain, favoring closer ties with Britain. They believed that this neutrality served the nation's best interests and allowed it to develop peacefully. The Federalists also supported a strong executive branch, with the national government taking precedence over state governments, thus establishing a clear governmental hierarchy.

Individual liberties

The original draft of the US Constitution, written in 1787, was remarkable for its time but had some notable flaws. One of the most significant was the absence of a bill of rights, which would outline the individual liberties of citizens. The Federalists, supporters of the new Constitution, initially opposed the inclusion of a bill of rights, arguing that the Constitution already contained protections for individual liberties in Article I, Sections 9 and 10, which limited the powers of Congress and the states. They also believed that the entire Constitution, with its checks and balances, served as a Bill of Rights, and that individual liberties were inherently protected by the separation of powers among the three branches of government.

However, the Anti-Federalists, who were afraid of a strong centralized government, refused to support the Constitution without a bill of rights. They believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government and wanted explicit guarantees that the new government would not trample upon their newly won freedoms of speech, press, and religion. The Federalists, including James Madison, eventually conceded to the addition of amendments specifically protecting individual liberties to ensure the adoption of the Constitution. These amendments became the Bill of Rights, which was ratified by the states in 1791.

The First Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees freedoms of religion, speech, press, peaceable assembly, and petition. It has also been interpreted to protect the right of association and privacy rights. The entire Bill of Rights was created to protect the rights that the original citizens believed were naturally theirs, including the right to exercise one's own religion, or no religion, free from government influence or compulsion. This concept of liberty means that even in a democracy, individuals have rights that no majority should be able to take away.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other organizations have dedicated themselves to holding the government to the promises made in the Bill of Rights. Through legal challenges, they have helped create a body of law that has brought the First Amendment freedoms, privacy rights, and the principles of equality and fundamental fairness to life. The Bill of Rights has thus transformed from a ""parchment barrier"" to a protective wall that shields each individual's unalienable rights from government overreach.

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