By the time Alexander Hamilton wrote Federalist Paper No. 1 in 1787, the thirty-two-year-old founding father had assembled a resume more impressive than those of most modern presidents. Hamilton had served as Washington’s Chief-of-Staff during the Revolution, been elected as one of New York’s representatives to the Congress of the Confederation, founded the Bank of New York and drafted the resolution for a constitutional convention. Just think what Hamilton could have done had he been introduced to Red Bull or 5-Hour Energy drinks.
Having experienced the inefficiencies of the Confederation government first hand, in Federalist No. 1 Hamilton communicated the “fierce urgency of now,” to steal a more contemporary phase, of ratifying the federal constitution. Writing in the Independent Journal, Hamilton called upon the people of New York to “deliberate on a new Constitution” and weigh the consequences which meant “nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world.” Indeed, Hamilton commented that this debate would decide the vital question of “whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.” How’s that for getting your reader’s attention?
As a veteran of the Revolution, however, Hamilton had seen how the self-interest of individual states could interfere with the national interest, and he realized that ratification of the Constitution would not come easily. “Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests,” Hamilton wrote. “But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected.” Unfortunately, Hamilton predicted, “Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these” were apt to hinder the process.
Hamilton recognized that the biggest obstacle to securing passage of the Constitution would be those Americans who opposed the creation of a strong federal government. Contrary to the claims of opponents of a powerful national government who said that the new Constitution was a threat to liberty, Hamilton argued that “the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.”
Hamilton’s eighteenth-century arguments offer keen political insights to twenty-first-century conservatives and libertarians. The passion and dedication that Hamilton devoted to the cause of the Constitution and union is a reminder of the enduring value of our civic religion. Hamilton’s warnings against allowing sectarian and party interests to trump the public good should be respected in all public policy discussions, and we should always aim, as Hamilton did, to advocate “the safest course for your liberty, your dignity, and your happiness.”
More important — and more relevant to today’s political climate — is Hamilton’s emphasis on civility in political debate. As Hamilton mused, “in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.” While there are very few crowds carrying literal fire and swords today, the invective typical of “conservatives” like Michael Savage, the Birchers and the Birthers is equally troubling, especially in an age in which partisan media outlets like MSNBC, CNN and the New York Times pounce on every opportunity to lump all conservatives in with the lunatic fringe. Conservatives from Hamilton to Lincoln to Reagan have always known that they were on the right side of history, and our generation of conservatives is no different. We have always won, and will continue to win, with the power of our ideas and the certainty of our convictions.
George E. Bianchi, Jr., a senior at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, is a weekly contributor to The D.C. Writeup.
Loading ...