Federalist Essays - United States, The Federalist Papers

Federalist The Constitution came out to a world full of criticism. To put to sleep many of the objections that the critics had to the Constitution a number of those in favor of it such as Hamilton, Madison and John Jay wrote the Federalist. While there were many arguments for the Constitution, there were two that played a major part in American life. The first major argument was that the powers of the government came directly or indirectly from the common people. The second argument stated that to keep the government in check there is a series of checks and balances that will not let one branch of government gain too much control. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay put forth many of the arguments in support of the Constitution, but these two stood out more than the rest. In more depth, the first argument states that the government is directly related to the common people. The powers of the government come from ordinary powers or the common people and these ordinary powers have the ability to make changes in the government. The Constitution was designed in a manner as to protect the people of the nation both at the time the Constitution was produced and up to a time that the government might be destroyed. The protection of the people and their ordinary powers is achieved by allowing the citizens under the constitution to alter the government that the Constitution set up. The House of Representatives for example derives its powers from the people of America - the House is set up in such a manner that the people of America have a direct part in the government. The involvement of the people in government was a crucial argument in support of the Constitution, for it stated that the government would for the most part move in a direction derived by the popu lous of America. The second argument put forth by Hamilton, Madison and Jay was that the Constitution set up a form of checks and balances to protect the people from the government. Under the Constitution, three major branches were created the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branch. The legislature creates laws, the executive executes the laws and the judicial branch interprets the laws. With each branch having different powers no one branch can be tainted and then abuse its governmental powers. The statement of the checks and balances answered the concern that the government would become too powerful. With checks and balances, the government can only become as powerful as the people will allow. This fundamental plan also creates safeguards against the event of a president becoming a dictator. The argument about the system of checks and balances proves to be a system designed to protect the people of America from the government. These arguments provide for the security of the government and the people under the Constitution. Hamilton, Madison and Jay under the Federalist were showing that the government is run for the people and that they are directly involved in the governmental process. They also answered the concern that the government may become too large as restriction occurs through the system of checks and balances. The idea of the Federalist pamphlet was to put to rest many of the Anti-federalist concerns with the Constitution. The two major arguments made showed that the Constitution was in support of the masses of America. A republican form of government uses representatives to represent the people of America in the government. The argument against a republican form of government stands on one key principle that the people of America are not capable of being run directly or indirectly by the common people. A firm believer in the Constitution and the form of government it creates, Hamilton would be for a republican form of government. James Madison who is often called the father of the Constitution counters the argument against the republican form of government. The argument against a republican form of government hit a major cord with many of the prominent citizens. Many were afraid to leave the government in the hands of people that they saw as uneducated. The idea that spread was that the average person was not qualified to vote. At the time the