A collection
Energetic Government, Defense and Taxation
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Federalist No. 23: The Necessity of a Government as Energetic as the One Proposed to the Preservation of the Union
Hamilton opens the case for an energetic government, arguing that the powers needed for common defense cannot be fenced in by good intentions. If the country expects a government to...
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Federalist No. 24: The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered
Hamilton defends the power to keep armed forces in peacetime, answering the fear of standing armies with the reality of frontiers and foreign neighbors. The argument trusts an accountable legislature...
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Federalist No. 25: The Same Subject Continued: The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered
Hamilton continues on defense, arguing that leaving military matters to individual states would be both unequal and unsafe. National problems, he holds, need national answers, and security is among the...
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Federalist No. 26: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered
Hamilton takes up the idea of binding the legislature's hands on defense and finds it unworkable. The better safeguard, he argues, is regular review and the people's vote, not a...
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Federalist No. 27: The Same Subject Continued: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered
Hamilton argues that a well-run national government will earn the habit of obedience, not compel it. As citizens feel its benefits in ordinary life, the need for force recedes, and...
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Federalist No. 28: The Same Subject Continued: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered
Hamilton confronts the hardest question directly: what if force is needed against unrest. He answers that a large republic is better placed to meet disorder fairly, and that the same...
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Federalist No. 29: Concerning the Militia
Hamilton turns to the militia, arguing that national oversight of training need not mean a citizen army turned against its own. A uniform, well-regulated militia, he holds, is a free...
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Federalist No. 30: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton begins his case for a general power to tax, arguing that a government denied reliable revenue is a government set up to fail. Money, unglamorous as it is, is...
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Federalist No. 31: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton defends the breadth of the taxing power on principle: where the ends are legitimate, the means must be adequate. A government held responsible for the country's needs cannot be...
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Federalist No. 32: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton reassures the states that the national taxing power leaves their own largely intact. The two can coexist, he argues, drawing on the same citizens without one extinguishing the other,...
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Federalist No. 33: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton answers alarm over the necessary-and-proper and supremacy clauses, arguing they add no power that the grant of authority did not already imply. They state plainly what any working government...
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Federalist No. 34: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton continues on concurrent taxation, illustrating how national and state revenue can run side by side without collision. The country's future needs, he argues, are too large to leave the...
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Federalist No. 35: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton takes up the practical objections to taxation, including the worry that legislators cannot represent every trade. He argues that broad classes of interest find their voice through natural leaders,...
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Federalist No. 36: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation
Hamilton closes the taxation sequence by addressing fears of double taxation and federal overreach into internal duties. The remedy he points to is the same throughout: an accountable legislature, watched...