Jeff Polet examines Federalist papers no. 33, written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788.

I want to remind the reader that The Federalist consists of essays written for average citizens, mostly farmers, many of whom had to have the essays read to them, published in local newspapers.

The French philosopher René Descartes believed that knowledge resulted from “clear and distinct ideas” that occurred in the mind.

The two most consequential powers of modern governments are the power to conscript individuals into military service and to dip its hands into people’s pockets.

Debates over the Constitution always involved the balance between granting a power and limiting it.

All politics is an expression of the meaning and purpose of human life in society, and it is necessary to clarify what this expression of meaning and purpose is, both what contemporary forms of politics assume social life to be, and what in reality human society should look like or aspire to.

Hamilton’s extended meditation on the importance of a federal army continued in Federalist #28, the penultimate essay on the topic.

The debates concerning a standing army take an interesting turn in Federalist #27.

If you had asked educated Americans during the Constitutional period when America was “founded,” they likely would have answered “1688.”

Last week, in discussing Federalist #24, I rehearsed in some detail some of the antifederalist arguments concerning a standing army, the main subject of Hamilton’s essays 24-29.

The next six Federalist essays (24-29), all written by Hamilton, deal with one of the most controversial powers in the Constitution: the ability to create a standing army, which, the critics claimed, posed an essential and enduring threat to liberty.

Federalist 23, while repeating many themes previously explored, begins in an interesting fashion: with a concession.

In Federalist 22 Hamilton reviews and repeats some of his earlier arguments concerning commerce and the need for a central authority that regulates and sets uniform standards.

After Madison’s digression into history in the previous three papers, Hamilton returns his attention in Federalist 21 to what he regards as the greatest flaws of the government under the Articles of Confederation…

The use and interpretation of the historical record presents one of the more interesting aspects of the American Constitutional period.

At the end of Federalist 16 Hamilton wisely warned us against expecting too much from either government itself or a plan for government.

In Federalist 16, Hamilton continued the argument he made in 15 and raises the stakes.

The challenges of a lack of union, especially a problem in trade and commerce and security, occupied Publius in essays 11-14; in the subsequent nine essays thoughts concerning the crisis of union achieve a heightened clarity.

Madison begins Federalist 14 by restating the arguments made in the first 13 papers

In March of 1785 the Continental Congress entertained a motion to amend section 9 of the Articles of Confederation, giving Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign powers and among the states.