A collection
The Union and Its Necessity
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Federalist No. 1: General Introduction
Hamilton opens the whole project here, setting out why the case for the Constitution deserves a hearing on its merits rather than its volume. He names the interests that will...
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Federalist No. 2: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence
Jay makes the case that Americans are already one people by geography, language, and shared struggle, and that union is the natural inheritance rather than a novelty to be feared....
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Federalist No. 3: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force and Influence
Jay continues on foreign danger, arguing that a single national government will handle treaties and disputes with more care and consistency than thirteen separate ones could. The thread is competence:...
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Federalist No. 4: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force and Influence
Jay turns from the causes of war to its conduct, holding that a united America can field a single defense and speak abroad with one steady voice. Division, he warns,...
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Federalist No. 5: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence
Jay closes his foreign-danger sequence with a hard look at what disunion would actually feel like: rival confederacies, shifting alliances, and the slow drift toward treating neighbors as threats. Union...
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Federalist No. 6: Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States
Hamilton shifts the danger inward, arguing that separate states would not stay at peace with one another. Ambition, commercial rivalry, and the ordinary friction of neighbors have set nations against...
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Federalist No. 7: The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States
Hamilton presses the case for likely conflict between the states, walking through territory, trade, and debt as flashpoints. The essay is a sober inventory of where fellow citizens might come...
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Federalist No. 8: The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States
Hamilton describes what war between the states would cost a free people: standing armies, hardened borders, and the steady erosion of the liberties that peace allows. The warning is concrete,...
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Federalist No. 9: The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection
Hamilton argues that a firm union is the best guard against the factional turmoil that wrecked earlier republics. Drawing on newer thinking about how a larger republic can govern itself,...
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Federalist No. 10: The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection
Madison's most famous essay confronts the problem of faction head on, arguing that a large republic can dilute the power of any single interest rather than be captured by it....
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Federalist No. 11: The Utility of the Union in Respect to Commercial Relations and a Navy
Hamilton makes the commercial argument for union: a single market and a shared navy would give America real weight in trade and real protection at sea. Prosperity and independence, he...
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Federalist No. 12: The Utility of the Union In Respect to Revenue
Hamilton continues on revenue, showing how a union can raise the funds a government needs through trade rather than by squeezing its citizens. The practical point underneath is that a...
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Federalist No. 13: Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy in Government
Hamilton offers a brief, almost bookkeeping argument: one national government is simply cheaper to run than several rival ones. Economy in government is presented as its own kind of public...
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Federalist No. 14: Objections to the Proposed Constitution From Extent of Territory Answered
Madison answers the worry that a republic cannot govern a territory as large as America. He separates a republic from a direct democracy and argues the new plan was built...