MY DEAR SIR,
I will make no apology for my delay in answering your inquiry some time
since made, because I could offer none which would satisfy myself.
I will make no apology for my delay in answering your inquiry some time
since made, because I could offer none which would satisfy myself.
Hamilton - 1834 - Life on Hamilton - v2
The legislature were invested with a " power to
lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay
the debts, and to provide for the common defence and gen-
eral welfare of the United States. "
The office of the executive had been reconsidered. His
term was reduced from seven to four years, and, adopting
in part Hamilton's views, he was to be chosen by electors;
but, reluctant to relinquish the policy which would con-
sider the states, and not the people, of the union as the
basis of the constitution, each state was to appoint, " in
such manner as its legislature may direct, a number of
/ electors equal to its representation in congress. " If the
candidate should not have a majority of the ballots of the
whole number of electors, the eventual choice devolved on
the senate.
Hamilton was opposed to this provision--it being an
essential part of his policy, that the chief magistrate should
not be chosen by any pre-existing body, and should be the
representative of the people, and not of the states. The
eventual choice by the senate was also repugnant to his
views. He saw, as an inevitable consequence, that many
of the states, to secure to their senators an ultimate control
over the executive, would defeat the choice by electors.
Rather than incur this evil, to which, as the president
was re-eligible, would be superadded the danger of a cor-
rupt influence being exerted by him upon the senate, he is
represented as preferring that the highest electoral ballot,
though not that of a majority, should appoint him.
The constitution of this office was a subject of consid-
eration until near the termination of their deliberations:
an effort being made, but defeated, to extend the execu-
tive term from four years to seven, to declare him not
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? HAIHUTOII.
539
re-eligible, and to restore the choice to the national legis-
lature.
Hamilton's views as to the structure of the government,
were modified during the progress of these discussions.
In his minutes of the debates taken at an early period
of its deliberations, this remark is found: "At the period
which terminates the duration of the executive, there will
be always an awful crisis in the national situation. " This
apprehension grew with his reflections; and when he saw
that the senate were to be chosen for a period of only six
years, with terms ceasing by rotation, and to be chosen by
the states in their sovereign capacities, and not by electors
of the people, it became a necessary consequence that he
would limit the duration of the executive office propor-
tionably. A president of so great duration as good beha-
viour, with a senate of so limited a duration, would soon
have become its master.
Influenced by these considerations, he drew up a second
plan while the convention was sitting, which limited the
term of the president to only three years.
The powers of the president were again discussed, and
were established according to the provisions in his first
plan. He was declared to be commander-in-chief of the
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of
the several states. All treaties were to be made by him,
with the advice and consent of the senate, with this quali-
fication, that "two-thirds of the senators present concur. "
In defining the power of appointment, with the exception
that the senate were to have a voice in that of the heads
of the executive departments, his plan was also closely
followed. The other provisions as to this great office,
were analogous to those he had devised; and though with-
out the guards he had sought to interpose, the great prin-
ciple was finally established, that he was to be chosen
through the medium of electors chosen by the people.
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? 540
THE LIFE OF
His first plan, it is seen, contemplated a house of repre-
sentatives, to consist in the first instance of one hundred
members. This number was proposed by Hugh William-
son, but was not approved.
A house of representatives, to consist of sixty-five mem-
bers, which the scheme then before the convention had in
view, he thought was on so narrow a scale as to be dan-
gerous, and justly to warrant a jealousy for the liberty of
the country. It was the more important in his view to
enlarge it, because of the determination to give the event-
ual choice of the president to that branch of the legislature,
and from a belief, as he remarked, " that the connection be-
tween the president and senate would tend to perpetuate
him by corrupt influence. "* Hamilton's "earnestness and
anxiety " on this point were felt by Washington, and after
the convention had refused to enlarge the representation, at
the last moment of its sitting, when he rose to put the final
question on the constitution, he requested that the ratio of
representation should be established at thirty instead of
forty thousand for each representative, until a census should
be taken. The diminished ratio was unanimously assented
to. In further security of liberty, Hamilton's important
precaution had been adopted, excluding any "religious
test" as a qualification for office, but omitting the prohibi-
tion in his plan of the establishment " by law of any reli-
gious sect or denomination. "
One article of the draft then before that body provided
that, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of
the states in the union for an amendment of the constitu-
tion, the legislature of the United States should call a con-
vention for that purpose.
To this article two serious objections existed: one, that
such an application would not be made by the states, unless
* Madison's Debates, 1533.
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? HAMILTON.
541
with a view to increase their powers, and the more enfee-
ble the general government; the other, the danger to be
apprehended of throwing open the whole constitution to a
future convention, a measure which might result in a dis-
solution of the union.
Hamilton's plan avoided these evils. Unwilling to lose
his hold upon the constitution about to be recommended as
the great bond of union, it provided that amendments
might be proposed by the legislature of the United States,
two-thirds of its members concurring, which, if ratified by
the legislatures or conventions of two-thirds of the states
composing the union, should become parts. of the still ex-
isting constitution.
His plan also probably led to the provisions in the fifth
article of the constitution, which was the result of a com-
promise.
The draft of a constitution reported on the sixth of Au-
gust, proposed that it should be laid before congress for
their approbation, and declared it as " the opinion of the
convention," that it should be afterwards submitted to a
convention, to be chosen in each state under the recom-
mendation of its legislature, to receive its ratification.
Should congress not have thought proper to submit the
constitution to be ratified, an event which, from the tem-
per previously displayed by that body, was not improbable,
the labours of the convention would have been regarded
as little more than a solemn farce.
Hamilton's plan declared, "that this constitution shall
be submitted to the consideration of conventions in the
several states, the members whereof shull be chosen by the
people, under the direction of their legislatures; the rati-
fication of each state being final, with power to each con-
vention, thus immediately expressing the will of the people
to appoint its senators and representatives, who, as Wash-
ington wodd be the choice, were to elect the first president.
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? 542
THE LIFE OF
Thus the establishment of the constitution was ensured,
the people of each state ratifying it, becoming by that act
parties to it, and forming the nucleus of a more extended
union.
The last article of the present constitution was evidently
framed in reference to this provision, though it embodied
a vicious principle of the confederation; declaring that
"the ratification of the conventions of nine* states shall be
sufficient for the establishment of the constitution between
the states so ratifying" it.
A revised plan of the constitution was reported by John-
son, on the twelfth of September, with a letter to congress
stating it to be the result of a spirit of amity, and of that
mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of
their political situation rendered indispensable. Several
amendments having been made to the plan, an engrossed
copy was read before the convention on the seventeenth
of September.
Though doubting much of the efficacy of several of its
provisions, Hamilton earnestly urged the unanimous ap-
proval of all the members of the convention. Three--
Gerry, Mason, and Randolph--withheld their assent;
all the other delegates affixed their signatures, among
which Hamilton's name appears as the sole representative
of New-York.
From the previous narrative, it appears that any uncom-
pcllcd disclosure of the proceedings of the federal conven-
tion, was a breach of an express stipulation among its mem-
bers. It was to be expected that those who could violate
that stipulation, would not be very scrupulous as to the ac-
curacy of their statements.
The eminent position Hamilton held before this nation,
would naturally excite opposition and lead to misrepre-
* Seven had been proposed, then ten, then nine.
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? HAMILTON.
543
sentation. In the absence of real grounds of inculpation,
the more apt would be the resort to imputations of opinions
offensive to the easily excited suspicions of a jealous popu-
lation.
Such was the policy of his enemies. His theoretic doubts
of the permanency of purely democratic institutions, and
of their power to promote the happiness of a community,
and his approval of the British constitution, however quali-
fied, the open avowal of which ought to have produced
the opposite effect, were tortured into evidence of opinions
unfriendly to liberty, and these opinions were soon repre-
sented as designs.
Some additional statements are thus rendered necessary.
In the reply previously referred to, made by Hamilton to
an anonymous attack in the year seventeen hundred and
ninety-two, at the seat of government, when nearly all the
members of the convention were living, to a charge that
he "opposed the constitution in the grand convention, be-
cause it was too republican," he remarked, "This I af-
firm to be a gross misrepresentation. To prove it so, it
were sufficient to appeal to a single fact, namely, that the
gentleman alluded to was the only member from the state
to which he belonged who signed the constitution, and, it is
notorious, against the prevailing weight of the official in-
fluence of the state, and against what would probably be
the opinion of a large majority of his fellow-citizens, till
better information should correct their first impressions.
How, then, can he be believed to have opposed a thing
which he actually agreed to, and that in so unsupported a
situation and under circumstances of such peculiar respon-
sibility? To this, I shall add two more facts :--One, that
the member in question never made a proposition to the
convention which was not conformable to the republican
theory. The other, that the highest toned of any of the
propositions made by him, was actually voted for by the
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? 544
THE LIFE OF
representatives of several states, including some of the
principal ones, and including individuals who, in the esti-
mation of those who deem themselves the only republicans,
are pre-eminent for republican character. More than this
I am not at liberty to say. "*
* That Virginia voted for a president during good behaviour, is seen in the
journal of the seventeenth of July, and that Madison gave one of these votes
is not controverted by him in his report of the proceedings of that day. He
only seeks to explain it. His statement is, that Doctor McClurg moved this
term of service, with the comment, that" the probable object of this motion was
merely to enforce the argument against the re-eligibility of the executive ma-
gistrate by holding out a tenure during good behaviour, as the alternative for
keeping him independent of the legislature. " Madison reports his own
speech on this motion, which, as far as it relates to it, docs not disapprove it,
and adds this observation in a note: "The view here taken of the subject,
was meant to aid in parrying the animadversions likely to fall on the motion
of Doctor McClurg, for whom J. M. had a particular regard. The Doctor,
though possessing talents of the highest order, was modest and unaccustom-
ed to exert them in public debate. " It will be recollected that this explana-
tion is given after Hamilton's public and then uncontradicted charge, that
Madison's views on this subject did not differ from his own. Complaisance
strained to its utmost limit might induce these remarks to parry animadver-
sions on a friend, but complaisance did not require that Madison should not
merely have sought to parry censure of the proposition of a friend which ho
wished himself to be regarded as disapproving, but that he should have record-
ed his rote in favour of it. "This vote," he also observes in a note, " is not
to be considered as any certain index of opinion, as a number in the affirma-
tive probably had it chiefly in view to alarm those attached to a dependence
of the executive on the legislature, and thereby facilitate some final arrange-
ment of a contrary tendency. The avowed friends of an executive ' during
good behaviour,' were not more than three or four, nor is it certain they would
have adhered to such a tenure. " Madison has also left the evidence that he
did not at that time regard such a term of office as being inconsistent with
the republican theory. "If," he wrote, " we resort for a criterion to the dif-
ferent principles on which different forms of government are established, we
may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on a govern-
ment which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body
of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during plea-
sure, for a limited period, or during good behaviour," &c. --Federalist, No. 39.
Thus his vote and his theory were at this time consistent with each other. --
Mad. Papers, 1125, 6, 9.
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? HAMILTON.
545
A subsequent misstatement of his course in the conven-
tion, drew forth a voluntary publication from Luther Mar-
tin. "That Hamilton in a most able and eloquent address,
did express his general ideas upon the subject of govern-
ment, and of that government which would in all human
probability be most advantageous for the United States, I
admit; but, in thus expressing his sentiments, he did not
suggest a wish that any one officer of the government
should derive his power from any other source than the
people; that there should be in any instance an hereditary
succession to office, nor that any person should continue
longer than during good behaviour. "
Another publication appeared, charging him with having
proposed a monarchy to the convention. This was denied,
and it was replied, that "he proposed a system composed
of three branches, an assembly, a senate, and a governor.
That the assembly should be elected by the people for three
years, and that the senate and governor should be likewise
elected by the people, during good behaviour. "
In answer to this publication, Hamilton published a full
explanatory view of the propositions made by him.
"Thus the charge," he said, "is at length reduced to spe-
cific terms. Before it can be decided, however, whether
this would be a monarchy or a republic, it seems necessary
to settle the meaning of those terms.
"No exact definitions have settled what is or is not a re-
publican government as contradistinguished from a monar-
chical. Every man who speaks or writes on the subject,
has an arbitrary standard in his own mind. The mad de-
mocrat will have nothing republican which docs not accord
with his own mad theory. He rejects even representation.
Such is the opinion held by a man, now one of Mr. Jeffer-
son's ministers. Some authors denominate every govern-
ment a monarchy, in which the executive authority is placed
in a single hand, whether for life or for years, and wheth-
69
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? 546
THE LIFE OF
er conferred by election or by descent. According to this
definition, the actual government of the United States, and
of most of the states, is a monarchy.
"In practice, the terms republic and republican have been
applied with as little precision. Even the government of
England, with a powerful hereditary king, has been re-
peatedly spoken of by authors as a commonwealth or re-
public. The late government of Holland, with an heredi-
tary stadtholder, was constantly so denominated. That
of Poland, previous to the dissolution of the state, with an
executive for life, was never called by any other name.
"The truth seems to be, that all governments have been
deemed republics, in which a large portion of the sove-
reignty has been vested in the whole or in a considerable
body of the people; and that none have been deemed mon-
archies, as contrasted with the republican standard, in
wjjie^i there has not been an hereditary chief magistrate.
( "Were we to attempt a correct definition of a republi-
can government, we should say,'That is a republican gov-
ernment, in which both the executive and legislative organs
are appointed by a popular election, and hold their offices
upon a responsible and defeasible tenure. ' If this be not
so, then the tenure of good behaviour for the judicial de-
partment is anti-republican, and the government of this
state is not a republic; if the contrary, then a govern-
ment would not cease to be republican because a branch
of the legislature, or even the executive, held their offices
during good behaviour. In this case the two essential cri-
teria would still concur--the creation of the officer by a
popular election, and the possibility of his removal in the
course of law, by accusation before, and conviction by, a
competent tribunal.
"How far it may be expedient to go, even within the
bounds of the theory, in framing a constitution, is a differ-
ent question, upon which we pretend not to give our
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? HAMUTON. 547
>
opinion. It is enough for the purpose of our assertion, if
it be in principle correct. For even then, upon the state-
ment of the 'citizen'Jijmself, General Hamilton did not
propose a monarchy. J
"Thus much too we will add, that whether General Ham-
ilton at any stage of the deliberations of the convention
did, or did not make the proposition ascribed to him, it is
certain that his more deliberate and final opinion, adopted
a moderate term of years for the duration of the office of
president; as also appears by a plan of a constitution, in
writing now in this city, drawn up by that gentleman in detail.
"Whether the first system presented by Mr. Hamilton,
was the one to which he gave a decided preference, it
would be difficult to say, since we find him adopting and
proposing a different one in the course of the sitting of the
convention. It may have been that his opinion was nearly
balanced between the two; nay, it is possible he may
have really preferred the one last proposed, and that the
former, like many others, was brought forward to make it
the subject of discussion, and see what would be the opin-
ions of different gentlemen on so momentous a subject.
And, it is now repeated with confidence, that the Virginia
delegation did vote for the most energetic form of govern-
ment, and that Mr. Maddison was of the number. But we
desire to be distinctly understood, that it was never intended,
by mentioning this circumstance, to impeach the purity of
Mr. Maddison's motives. To arraign the morals of any
man, because he entertains a speculative opinion on gov-
ernment different from ourselves, is worse than arrogance.
He who does so, must entertain notions in ethics extremely
crude, and certainly unfavourable to virtue. "
It is not to be believed that such a statement would have
been thus publicly made, challenging contradiction, during
the lives of so many members of the convention, if it had
been in any respect erroneous; nor that Hamilton would
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? 548
THE LIFE OF
have referred to his second plan of a constitution as being
"in writing now in this city," unless it was there to be
produced. This was a topic of much interest, and much
canvassed in the political controversies which had arisen,
yet his representation was not controverted. Another
exposition of his opinions is found in a letter addressed by
him to Colonel Pickering during the following year. *
* New-York, September 16, 1803.
MY DEAR SIR,
I will make no apology for my delay in answering your inquiry some time
since made, because I could offer none which would satisfy myself. I pray
you only to believe that it proceeded from any thing rather than want of re-
spect or regard. I shall now comply with your request.
The highest toned propositions which I made in the convention were for
a president, senate, and judges, during good behaviour; a house of represen-
tatives for three years. Though I would have enlarged the legislative power
of the general government, yet I never contemplated the abolition of the state
governments; but on the contrary, they were, in some particulars, constitu-
ent parts of my plan.
This plan was, in my conception, conformable with the strict theory of a
government purely republican; the essential criteria of which are, that the
principal organs of the executive and legislative departments be elected by
the people, and hold their offices by a responsible and temporary or defeasible
tenure.
A vote was taken on the proposition respecting the executive. Five states
were in favour of it; among these Virginia; and though, from the manner of vo-
ting by delegations, individuals were not distinguished, it was morally certain,
from the known situation of the Virginia members, (six in number, two of
them, Mason and Randolph, professing popular doctrines,) that Madison must
have concurred in the vote of Virginia. Thus, if I sinned against republi-
canism, Mr. Madison was not less guilty.
I may truly then say that I never proposed either a president or senate for
ETSTand that I neither recommended nor meditated the annihilation of the
state governments. ^
And I may'add, that in the course of the discussions in the convention,
neither the propositions thrown out for debate, nor even those voted in tho
earlier stages of deliberation, were considered as evidences of a definitive opin-
ion in the proposer or voter. It appeared to me to be in some sort understood
that, with a view to free investigation, experimental propositions might be
made, which were to be received merely as suggestions for consideration.
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? HAMILTON.
These statements receive light from the letter of a con-
temporary. * "I will conclude this long epistle by a con-
cise account of a conversation had with Hamilton, which
may not be deemed uninteresting, since it exhibits him as
Accordingly it is a fact, that my final opinion was against an executive du-
ring good behaviour, on account of the increased danger to the public Iran-
quillity incident to the election of a magistrate of this degree of permanency.
In the plan of a constitution which I drew up while the convention was
sitting, and which I communicated to Mr. Madison about the close of it,
perhaps a day or two after, the office of president has no greater duration
than for three years.
This plan was predicated upon these bases :--1. That the political princi-
ples of the people of this country would endure nothing but a republican
government. --2. That in the actual situation of the country, it was itself
right and proper that the republican theory should have a fair and full trial. --
3. That, to such a trial it was essential that the government should be so
constructed as to give it all the energy and the stability reconcilable with
the principles of that theory. These were the genuine sentiments of my
heart, and upon them I then acted.
I sincerely hope that it may not hereafter be discovered that through want
of sufficient attention to the last idea, the experiment of republican govern-
ment, even in this country, has not been as complete, as satisfactory, and as
decisive, as could be wishcd. t
* Governor Lewis.
t In the appendix, No. 5, to Madison's Debates, this letter is referred to as evidence that
"Colonel Humilton was under the erroneous impression that this paper limited the duration
of the presidential term to three years. "
The " paper" tiius referred to by Madison, is the jir. *t plan. The term of three years is
in the second plan. Madison has not left behind him the original of cither of tho plans
which Hamilton gave him, but his copy of one of them. Hamilton's statement is, that he
"communicated to Madison the plan in which the omco of president has no greater dura-
tion than three years, not that ho left it with him, but on tho contrary publicly refers to it
as "a plan of a constitution in writing now in this c'ttr, drawn up by that gentleman in
detail. "
Having obtained a copy of the first plan, which probably was used dunns the debates
in the convention, Madison retains it in his pessescion, and refers to it as evidence of Ham-
ilton's "want of memory," and not to tho second plan, which Hamilton tenders as giving
the testimony to the change of his opinions. But he does not deny that there was a second
plan. It will be remarked that the volume cnntniriiug the Journal of the Convention de-
posited in tbe department of state is imperfect--the. minutes of September 15tii being crossed
with a pen. and that tho deficiency is supi'li"d by minutes furnished by Madison. Thus,
the evidence which this part of the journal might have given on this subject, is lost. --Juur
ual, p. 1179, in a note.
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? 550
THE LIFE OF
a statesman who looked beyond the present to the far fu-
ture interests of his country. It is well known that he
never was in the habit of concealing or disguising his sen-
timents on the subject of government.
"Openly denouncing, on all occasions, the assertion'that
the best administered was best,' as a political heresy,
maintaining the superior aptitude to a good administration
pif-mmc systems over others, and giving the preference,
abstractedly considered, to a well-balanced and limited
ThonarchyTye was at the same time undeviating from the
opinion-liMft such a government could not be established
in the United States, because a necessary ingredient in its
composition, a privileged order, would be sought for in
vain among a people whose favourite motto was ' Liberty
and Equality. ' When, therefore, the paragraphists of the
day announced that he had proposed in the convention of
the states a monarchic form of government, I was satis-
fied it was the effect of misconception or designed misre-
presentation.
"A second version, that he proposed a presidency for life,
I thought more probable, but determined to suspend my
opinion until I should have an interview with him. This
was afforded to me soon after his return to the city of
New-York. The monarchic proposition, as I expected,
he explicitly denied. 'The other he admitted, with the qua-
lification, a president during good behaviour, or for a com-
petent period, subject to impeachment, with an ineligibility
forever thereafter.
"' My reasons,'" he said, " ' were, an exclusion, as far as
possible, of the influence of executive patronage in the choice
of a chief magistrate, and a desire to avoid the incalculable
mischief which must result from the too frequent elec-
tions of that officer. In conclusion, he made the following
prophetic observation: 'You nor I, my friend, may not
live to see the day, but most assuredly it will come, when
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? HAMILTON.
551
every vital interest of the state will be merged in the all-
absorbing question of who shall be the next President ? '"
As to the opinions entertained by him on the theory of
government, it is felt that in the mode in which, from a
desire to withhold nothing, they appear, much injustice
may have been done him; as in the brief of his great
speech, previous to an exposition of his first plan of a con-
stitution, the mere general heads are given without those
qualifications that must have formed an essential part of it;
while, of the various efforts made by him to harmonize
and to adjust the different parts of the complicated scheme
as it progressed, evolving new views and sources of
thought, and thus informing the mind of the convention, so
little can be placed before the public.
Happily, in a comparison of this brief with his numbers
of the Federalist, they will be found, with the exception
of his abstract discussion of the theory of government, in a
great measure to have filled up its outline. r~
From these sources it is ascertained that/the leading
maxim of Hamilton was, that a good government consists
in a vigorous execution, that such vigour is "essential to
the security of liberty," and that, " in the contemplation of
a sound and(jKell-informed mind, their interests never can
be separated. " 1
To reconcije the requisite vigour with the perfect se-
curity of liberty, he well knew was almost impracticable;
to approximate them was all that he hoped to effect; but in
what mode this could best be accomplished, was a problem
which he acknowledged to be full of difficulties.
His well-founded and openly avowed doubts upon a sub-
ject which has embarrassed every reflecting practical mind,
have been denounced as evidences of dispositions unfriendly
to freedom, and upon so slight a basis has been raised a mass
of prejudice which impeded all his efforts to promote the
well-being of this country. To apply to him his own gen-
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THE LIFE OF
eral remark, his " enlightened zeal for the energy and effi-
ciency of government, has been stigmatized as the off-
spring of a temper fond of power, and hostile to the prin-
ciples of liberty. " Without caring to propitiate popular
prejudices on a subject as to which his'own declaration is
deemed sufficient--" I presume I shall not be disbelieved
when I declare, that the establishment of a republican
government on a safe and solid basis is an object of all
others nearest and most dear to my own heart"--it is
enough to refer to the whole tenor of his life.
At the age of seventeen he is seen combating the arbi-
trary policy of England; exhorting the American people
to resistance; unfolding the future glories of the empire;
rejecting with scorn the idea of a system sustained "by
pensioners, placemen, and parasites;" holding up to them,
as the great prize of the contest they were invited to
wage, the establishment of the "steady, uniform, unshaken
security of constitutional freedom," and avowing with a
noble enthusiasm, which was his perpetual inspiration, " I
would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but
take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty, amidst the din and
tumult of arms, displaying all the evils of a want of gov-
ernment, and urging " a solid confederation. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-one, pressing on the
minds of the public, in the " Continentalist," the organiza-
tion of a "great federative republic, closely linked in the
pursuit of a common interest. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-two, inducing the legis-
lature of New-York to propose "a general convention,
authorized to revise and amend the confederation. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-three, at least an equal
participator in every effort to invigorate the confederacy,
framing an appeal to the people, exhibiting its infirmities,
and inviting them to establish a well-balanced government.
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? HAMILTON. 553
In seventeen hundred and eighty-four, cautioning them
against the excesses of liberty, and enjoining them to watch,
with more intensity than the vestal fife, " this sacred de-
posit" which had been confided to them.
In seventeen hundred and eighty-five, imploring them to
dismiss the jealousies which had been excited for their de-
struction, and to repose their trust where it should be
placed--" all government implying trust. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-six, again addressing
them from Annapolis, and invoking them, by the strongest
motives, to appoint a convention empowered to frame a
constitution "adequate to the exigencies of the union. "
And in seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, after indu-
cing the concurrence of New-York and the co-operation
of congress, as a member of that convention, sacrificing all
prejudgments; surrendering his matured opinions, and la-
bouring until he saw a constitution framed, not such as he
would have desired, but " having, as far as was consistent
with its genius, all the features of a good government;" a
constitution to which he pledged his support by his signa-
ture--to fulfil which pledge he devoted all his energies.
In this series of acts, having one uniform and single
end--the " establishment of a republican government upon
a safe and solid basis "--will be found an ample refutation
of all the calumnies which have been propagated.
But, while repelling this accusation of his hostility to the
existing system, it would have been a not less injustice to
his memory to have concealed his distrusts of the success
of an unbalanced democracy.
History had shown all free governments, either convulsed
by intestine feuds and foreign influence, or prostrated be-
fore the mob and surrendered to arbitrary hands; exhibit-
ing in every stage of their progress deeper shades of
misery and humiliation.
To this current of human affairs there existed but one
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? 554
THE LIFE OF
exception. A government, springing up amidst the bigotry
and barbarism of the middle ages, had been seen gradually
moulded by the steady influence of enlightened opinion;
resisting during centuries every form of violence, and
when at last overthrown by the crimes of its magistrates,
recovering itself by the strong influence it had itself cre-
ated, and renewed in its vigour by constitutional checks,
the fruits of experience; susceptible of amendment with-
out necessarily jeopardizing its existence; and notwith-
standing its defects--for what government is without de-
fects ? --imparting to its people the greatest security and
largest amount of durable happiness which any constitution
ever had bestowed. /
Thus finding in the British government a system pro-
ceeding upon the fact, that society is necessarily composed
of different interests, and obViating the great difficulty of
all governments by preserving a counterpoise of each in-
terest ; exerting itself, but regulated in that exertion, for its
own protection. Thus seeing \he realization of that for
which the wise of antiquity had Wished, but had not dared
to hope,* which the experience of centuries had approved,
can it be a source of surprise that he entertained the opin-
ion, that " it was a model, though unattainable, to be ap-
proached as near as possible. " \^
But his was not a blind or indiscriminate admiration^.
The representation that " it was his error to adhere too
closely to the precedents of the British constitution; that
he conceded sometimes, in these precedents, equal authori-
ty to what was good and bad, to its principles and its
* Cicero observes--de Rcpub. ]. 2--"Esse oplime constitutam rempubli-
cam qua) cx tribus ^cneribus illis, rcgali, optimo, et populari, sit modicc con-
fusa. " And Tacitus, in his Annals, remarks, " Cunctas nationes, et urbes,
populus aut primorcs, aut singuli regunt; delecta ex his ct constituta repub-
lics) forma laudari facilius quam evenire, vel si evenit, haud diuturna esso
potest. "
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? HAMILTON.
555
abuses; that he did not allow to the variety of political
forms, to the flexibility of human society, a sufficient share
nor a bold enough confidence,"* is founded on the calum-
nies of his opponents, propagated for the two-fold purpose
of exciting against him the jealousy of the American peo-
ple, and of impairing his permanent fame.
In his commentary on the federal constitution, when
speaking of the kingdom of Great Britain, he observes :f
"Her peculiar felicity of situation has, in a great degree,
preserved the liberty which that country to this day enjoys,
in spite of the prevalent venality and corruption. "
He is previously seen to have condemned the great in-
novation in her system, in the vote of septennial from tri-
ennial parliaments, as producing an "overgrown power" in
the crown; and referring to what he calls " these danger-
ous practices," he extols " the important distinction, so well
understood in America, between a constitution established
by the people and unalterable by the government, and
alterable" by it.
He speaks also of the "ostentatious apparatus of her
monarchy" as a source of expense, and adverts to her ex-
perience as presenting to mankind " so many political les-
sons, both of the monitory and exemplary kind. "
He dwells upon the superiority, in one particular, of the
federal constitution, as separating the judiciary entirely
from all political agency, and points out the "absurdity of
subjecting the decisions of men selected for their know-
ledge of the laws, acquired by long and laborious study,
to the revision and control of men, who, for the want of
the same advantage, cannot but be deficient in that know-
ledge. "
Nor was he insensible to the variety of political forms
? Vie Corrcspondance et Ecrits de Washington, &c. par M. Guizot.
t Federalist, Nos. 8, 53, and 56.
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? 556
THE LIFE OF
suggested by the flexibility of human nature, and the vary-
ing condition of society. In his letter to Washington pre-
viously quoted, he is seen to remark, that though " the peo-
ple were not ripe for such a plan as he advocated, yet there
was no reason to despair of their adopting one equally en-
ergetic;" and in this convention he proposed two plans of
government, founded on different principles, and with dif-
ferent combinations of the same principle; and aided large-
ly in forming the compound system which was adopted.
In answer to the objections derived from former expe-
rience to republican governments, he exclaims: "Happily
for mankind, stupendous fabrics reared on the basis of
liberty, which have flourished for ages, have, in a few glo-
rious instances, refuted these gloomy sophisms; and, I
trust, America will be the broad and solid foundation of
other edifices, not less magnificent, which will be equally
permanent monuments of their error. "
Hamilton was too wise not to have known that a con-
stitution such as that of England--though, if it had been
established, it would have maintained itself--could not be
established in the United States; that every attempt to in-
troduce it with the consent of the people, would be a
fruitless folly, and, without that consent, a hideous crime.
He sought to effect all that was practicable under such cir-
cumstances--to embody in a republican system such checks
as it would admit--to reconcile, to the utmost extent its
genius would bear, energy and stability with real liberty--
hoping that this great commonwealth might repose under
a Constitutional Charter, granted and revocable by the
people, until experience should suggest and cure its defects.
The jealousy of political rivalry has misrepresented his
views, and condemned his "peculiar opinions," because
they did not prevail.
But it forgot that it is the characteristic of minds of the
first order to aim at objects above the common reach.
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? HAMILTON.
557
The eye that penetrates beyond the horizon of error; the
hand which, amid its daily ministrations, is ever pointing
to some great future good; the genius that, always fertile
in expedient, feels that the power which impels, makes
sure its aim ;--these all are directed by a generous confi-
dence of success, springing from conscious unexhausted
resources, that will not, cannot despair.
Ordinary men do not admit the magic virtues, the al-
most inspiration by which they are overruled to perform
their respective parts; but the influence is exerted, the
plans, the institutions, the hopes of the world are raised,
and though the agent may be unseen, or withdrawn, it
moves on in glorious harmony with the high destinies he
has prescribed.
It is true that Hamilton's views did not all prevail, but
their conservative character was imparted to this great
reform, and much of its best spirit may still be due to la-
bours which, though not wholly successful, owing to the
hesitations of others, were not without the choicest fruits. *
His whole plan was not adopted; but when it is asked
whose plan was, the answer is, that of no individual.
"The truth is," Hamilton remarked, "the plan, in all its
parts, was a plan of accommodation. "
As a great bond of union to a dissolving confederacy,
he valued it beyond all price; but as creating a compound
government of a very extraordinary and complicated na-
ture, in common with Washington and Patrick Henry, and
other distinguished individuals, he doubted its results. "I
acknowledge," he said, when recommending its adoption,
* Guizot remarks--" Hamilton must be classed among the men who have
best known the vital principles and fundamental conditions of a government;
not of a government such as this, but of a government worthy of its mission
and of its name. There is not in the constitution of the United States an
element of order, of force, of duration, which he has not powerfully contribu-
ted to introduce into it, and to cause to predominate. "
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? 558
THE LIFE OF
"a thorough conviction, that any amendments which may
upon mature consideration be thought useful, will be ap-
plicable to the organization of the government, not to the
mass of its powers. "
These doubts have been derided as extravagant, and the
prosperity of this country has been appealed to as a com-
plete refutation of them. How far this prosperity is to be
ascribed to the influences of the constitution, other than as
a mean of preserving the national union, is not easily as-
certained; but certainly, without derogating from the value
of that instrument, much of it may be attributed to a pe-
culiar felicity of situation and of circumstances, indepen-
dent of the government.
Nor is prosperity, in its most observed aspects, an uner-
ring or a universal test of the excellence of political in-
stitutions; for it cannot be denied, that a nation may have
fast increasing wealth, and expanding power, and widely
diffused intelligence, and boundless enterprise, while prin-
ciples may be at work in its system that will ultimately #
render all these advantages sources of evil.
Experience had hitherto been supposed to teach, that a
stable government required the operative counterpoise of
the different interests of property and numbers. The
federal constitution has substituted for these, theoretic
checks; a senate representing states, which are only the
artificial representatives of different aggregates of the peo-
ple, and a house of representatives chosen directly by the
same people under the influence of those states--this sen-
ate of greater duration than the popular branch, and there-
fore supposed to be removed from immediate popular im-
pulses, yet by the doctrine of instruction, which is fast
becoming a law of the system, rendered the mere organ
of these impulses; an executive chosen by the members
of separate electoral colleges of the people of the states,
sitting apart and supposed to be secure from the too direct
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lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay
the debts, and to provide for the common defence and gen-
eral welfare of the United States. "
The office of the executive had been reconsidered. His
term was reduced from seven to four years, and, adopting
in part Hamilton's views, he was to be chosen by electors;
but, reluctant to relinquish the policy which would con-
sider the states, and not the people, of the union as the
basis of the constitution, each state was to appoint, " in
such manner as its legislature may direct, a number of
/ electors equal to its representation in congress. " If the
candidate should not have a majority of the ballots of the
whole number of electors, the eventual choice devolved on
the senate.
Hamilton was opposed to this provision--it being an
essential part of his policy, that the chief magistrate should
not be chosen by any pre-existing body, and should be the
representative of the people, and not of the states. The
eventual choice by the senate was also repugnant to his
views. He saw, as an inevitable consequence, that many
of the states, to secure to their senators an ultimate control
over the executive, would defeat the choice by electors.
Rather than incur this evil, to which, as the president
was re-eligible, would be superadded the danger of a cor-
rupt influence being exerted by him upon the senate, he is
represented as preferring that the highest electoral ballot,
though not that of a majority, should appoint him.
The constitution of this office was a subject of consid-
eration until near the termination of their deliberations:
an effort being made, but defeated, to extend the execu-
tive term from four years to seven, to declare him not
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? HAIHUTOII.
539
re-eligible, and to restore the choice to the national legis-
lature.
Hamilton's views as to the structure of the government,
were modified during the progress of these discussions.
In his minutes of the debates taken at an early period
of its deliberations, this remark is found: "At the period
which terminates the duration of the executive, there will
be always an awful crisis in the national situation. " This
apprehension grew with his reflections; and when he saw
that the senate were to be chosen for a period of only six
years, with terms ceasing by rotation, and to be chosen by
the states in their sovereign capacities, and not by electors
of the people, it became a necessary consequence that he
would limit the duration of the executive office propor-
tionably. A president of so great duration as good beha-
viour, with a senate of so limited a duration, would soon
have become its master.
Influenced by these considerations, he drew up a second
plan while the convention was sitting, which limited the
term of the president to only three years.
The powers of the president were again discussed, and
were established according to the provisions in his first
plan. He was declared to be commander-in-chief of the
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of
the several states. All treaties were to be made by him,
with the advice and consent of the senate, with this quali-
fication, that "two-thirds of the senators present concur. "
In defining the power of appointment, with the exception
that the senate were to have a voice in that of the heads
of the executive departments, his plan was also closely
followed. The other provisions as to this great office,
were analogous to those he had devised; and though with-
out the guards he had sought to interpose, the great prin-
ciple was finally established, that he was to be chosen
through the medium of electors chosen by the people.
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? 540
THE LIFE OF
His first plan, it is seen, contemplated a house of repre-
sentatives, to consist in the first instance of one hundred
members. This number was proposed by Hugh William-
son, but was not approved.
A house of representatives, to consist of sixty-five mem-
bers, which the scheme then before the convention had in
view, he thought was on so narrow a scale as to be dan-
gerous, and justly to warrant a jealousy for the liberty of
the country. It was the more important in his view to
enlarge it, because of the determination to give the event-
ual choice of the president to that branch of the legislature,
and from a belief, as he remarked, " that the connection be-
tween the president and senate would tend to perpetuate
him by corrupt influence. "* Hamilton's "earnestness and
anxiety " on this point were felt by Washington, and after
the convention had refused to enlarge the representation, at
the last moment of its sitting, when he rose to put the final
question on the constitution, he requested that the ratio of
representation should be established at thirty instead of
forty thousand for each representative, until a census should
be taken. The diminished ratio was unanimously assented
to. In further security of liberty, Hamilton's important
precaution had been adopted, excluding any "religious
test" as a qualification for office, but omitting the prohibi-
tion in his plan of the establishment " by law of any reli-
gious sect or denomination. "
One article of the draft then before that body provided
that, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of
the states in the union for an amendment of the constitu-
tion, the legislature of the United States should call a con-
vention for that purpose.
To this article two serious objections existed: one, that
such an application would not be made by the states, unless
* Madison's Debates, 1533.
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? HAMILTON.
541
with a view to increase their powers, and the more enfee-
ble the general government; the other, the danger to be
apprehended of throwing open the whole constitution to a
future convention, a measure which might result in a dis-
solution of the union.
Hamilton's plan avoided these evils. Unwilling to lose
his hold upon the constitution about to be recommended as
the great bond of union, it provided that amendments
might be proposed by the legislature of the United States,
two-thirds of its members concurring, which, if ratified by
the legislatures or conventions of two-thirds of the states
composing the union, should become parts. of the still ex-
isting constitution.
His plan also probably led to the provisions in the fifth
article of the constitution, which was the result of a com-
promise.
The draft of a constitution reported on the sixth of Au-
gust, proposed that it should be laid before congress for
their approbation, and declared it as " the opinion of the
convention," that it should be afterwards submitted to a
convention, to be chosen in each state under the recom-
mendation of its legislature, to receive its ratification.
Should congress not have thought proper to submit the
constitution to be ratified, an event which, from the tem-
per previously displayed by that body, was not improbable,
the labours of the convention would have been regarded
as little more than a solemn farce.
Hamilton's plan declared, "that this constitution shall
be submitted to the consideration of conventions in the
several states, the members whereof shull be chosen by the
people, under the direction of their legislatures; the rati-
fication of each state being final, with power to each con-
vention, thus immediately expressing the will of the people
to appoint its senators and representatives, who, as Wash-
ington wodd be the choice, were to elect the first president.
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THE LIFE OF
Thus the establishment of the constitution was ensured,
the people of each state ratifying it, becoming by that act
parties to it, and forming the nucleus of a more extended
union.
The last article of the present constitution was evidently
framed in reference to this provision, though it embodied
a vicious principle of the confederation; declaring that
"the ratification of the conventions of nine* states shall be
sufficient for the establishment of the constitution between
the states so ratifying" it.
A revised plan of the constitution was reported by John-
son, on the twelfth of September, with a letter to congress
stating it to be the result of a spirit of amity, and of that
mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of
their political situation rendered indispensable. Several
amendments having been made to the plan, an engrossed
copy was read before the convention on the seventeenth
of September.
Though doubting much of the efficacy of several of its
provisions, Hamilton earnestly urged the unanimous ap-
proval of all the members of the convention. Three--
Gerry, Mason, and Randolph--withheld their assent;
all the other delegates affixed their signatures, among
which Hamilton's name appears as the sole representative
of New-York.
From the previous narrative, it appears that any uncom-
pcllcd disclosure of the proceedings of the federal conven-
tion, was a breach of an express stipulation among its mem-
bers. It was to be expected that those who could violate
that stipulation, would not be very scrupulous as to the ac-
curacy of their statements.
The eminent position Hamilton held before this nation,
would naturally excite opposition and lead to misrepre-
* Seven had been proposed, then ten, then nine.
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? HAMILTON.
543
sentation. In the absence of real grounds of inculpation,
the more apt would be the resort to imputations of opinions
offensive to the easily excited suspicions of a jealous popu-
lation.
Such was the policy of his enemies. His theoretic doubts
of the permanency of purely democratic institutions, and
of their power to promote the happiness of a community,
and his approval of the British constitution, however quali-
fied, the open avowal of which ought to have produced
the opposite effect, were tortured into evidence of opinions
unfriendly to liberty, and these opinions were soon repre-
sented as designs.
Some additional statements are thus rendered necessary.
In the reply previously referred to, made by Hamilton to
an anonymous attack in the year seventeen hundred and
ninety-two, at the seat of government, when nearly all the
members of the convention were living, to a charge that
he "opposed the constitution in the grand convention, be-
cause it was too republican," he remarked, "This I af-
firm to be a gross misrepresentation. To prove it so, it
were sufficient to appeal to a single fact, namely, that the
gentleman alluded to was the only member from the state
to which he belonged who signed the constitution, and, it is
notorious, against the prevailing weight of the official in-
fluence of the state, and against what would probably be
the opinion of a large majority of his fellow-citizens, till
better information should correct their first impressions.
How, then, can he be believed to have opposed a thing
which he actually agreed to, and that in so unsupported a
situation and under circumstances of such peculiar respon-
sibility? To this, I shall add two more facts :--One, that
the member in question never made a proposition to the
convention which was not conformable to the republican
theory. The other, that the highest toned of any of the
propositions made by him, was actually voted for by the
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THE LIFE OF
representatives of several states, including some of the
principal ones, and including individuals who, in the esti-
mation of those who deem themselves the only republicans,
are pre-eminent for republican character. More than this
I am not at liberty to say. "*
* That Virginia voted for a president during good behaviour, is seen in the
journal of the seventeenth of July, and that Madison gave one of these votes
is not controverted by him in his report of the proceedings of that day. He
only seeks to explain it. His statement is, that Doctor McClurg moved this
term of service, with the comment, that" the probable object of this motion was
merely to enforce the argument against the re-eligibility of the executive ma-
gistrate by holding out a tenure during good behaviour, as the alternative for
keeping him independent of the legislature. " Madison reports his own
speech on this motion, which, as far as it relates to it, docs not disapprove it,
and adds this observation in a note: "The view here taken of the subject,
was meant to aid in parrying the animadversions likely to fall on the motion
of Doctor McClurg, for whom J. M. had a particular regard. The Doctor,
though possessing talents of the highest order, was modest and unaccustom-
ed to exert them in public debate. " It will be recollected that this explana-
tion is given after Hamilton's public and then uncontradicted charge, that
Madison's views on this subject did not differ from his own. Complaisance
strained to its utmost limit might induce these remarks to parry animadver-
sions on a friend, but complaisance did not require that Madison should not
merely have sought to parry censure of the proposition of a friend which ho
wished himself to be regarded as disapproving, but that he should have record-
ed his rote in favour of it. "This vote," he also observes in a note, " is not
to be considered as any certain index of opinion, as a number in the affirma-
tive probably had it chiefly in view to alarm those attached to a dependence
of the executive on the legislature, and thereby facilitate some final arrange-
ment of a contrary tendency. The avowed friends of an executive ' during
good behaviour,' were not more than three or four, nor is it certain they would
have adhered to such a tenure. " Madison has also left the evidence that he
did not at that time regard such a term of office as being inconsistent with
the republican theory. "If," he wrote, " we resort for a criterion to the dif-
ferent principles on which different forms of government are established, we
may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on a govern-
ment which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body
of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during plea-
sure, for a limited period, or during good behaviour," &c. --Federalist, No. 39.
Thus his vote and his theory were at this time consistent with each other. --
Mad. Papers, 1125, 6, 9.
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? HAMILTON.
545
A subsequent misstatement of his course in the conven-
tion, drew forth a voluntary publication from Luther Mar-
tin. "That Hamilton in a most able and eloquent address,
did express his general ideas upon the subject of govern-
ment, and of that government which would in all human
probability be most advantageous for the United States, I
admit; but, in thus expressing his sentiments, he did not
suggest a wish that any one officer of the government
should derive his power from any other source than the
people; that there should be in any instance an hereditary
succession to office, nor that any person should continue
longer than during good behaviour. "
Another publication appeared, charging him with having
proposed a monarchy to the convention. This was denied,
and it was replied, that "he proposed a system composed
of three branches, an assembly, a senate, and a governor.
That the assembly should be elected by the people for three
years, and that the senate and governor should be likewise
elected by the people, during good behaviour. "
In answer to this publication, Hamilton published a full
explanatory view of the propositions made by him.
"Thus the charge," he said, "is at length reduced to spe-
cific terms. Before it can be decided, however, whether
this would be a monarchy or a republic, it seems necessary
to settle the meaning of those terms.
"No exact definitions have settled what is or is not a re-
publican government as contradistinguished from a monar-
chical. Every man who speaks or writes on the subject,
has an arbitrary standard in his own mind. The mad de-
mocrat will have nothing republican which docs not accord
with his own mad theory. He rejects even representation.
Such is the opinion held by a man, now one of Mr. Jeffer-
son's ministers. Some authors denominate every govern-
ment a monarchy, in which the executive authority is placed
in a single hand, whether for life or for years, and wheth-
69
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? 546
THE LIFE OF
er conferred by election or by descent. According to this
definition, the actual government of the United States, and
of most of the states, is a monarchy.
"In practice, the terms republic and republican have been
applied with as little precision. Even the government of
England, with a powerful hereditary king, has been re-
peatedly spoken of by authors as a commonwealth or re-
public. The late government of Holland, with an heredi-
tary stadtholder, was constantly so denominated. That
of Poland, previous to the dissolution of the state, with an
executive for life, was never called by any other name.
"The truth seems to be, that all governments have been
deemed republics, in which a large portion of the sove-
reignty has been vested in the whole or in a considerable
body of the people; and that none have been deemed mon-
archies, as contrasted with the republican standard, in
wjjie^i there has not been an hereditary chief magistrate.
( "Were we to attempt a correct definition of a republi-
can government, we should say,'That is a republican gov-
ernment, in which both the executive and legislative organs
are appointed by a popular election, and hold their offices
upon a responsible and defeasible tenure. ' If this be not
so, then the tenure of good behaviour for the judicial de-
partment is anti-republican, and the government of this
state is not a republic; if the contrary, then a govern-
ment would not cease to be republican because a branch
of the legislature, or even the executive, held their offices
during good behaviour. In this case the two essential cri-
teria would still concur--the creation of the officer by a
popular election, and the possibility of his removal in the
course of law, by accusation before, and conviction by, a
competent tribunal.
"How far it may be expedient to go, even within the
bounds of the theory, in framing a constitution, is a differ-
ent question, upon which we pretend not to give our
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? HAMUTON. 547
>
opinion. It is enough for the purpose of our assertion, if
it be in principle correct. For even then, upon the state-
ment of the 'citizen'Jijmself, General Hamilton did not
propose a monarchy. J
"Thus much too we will add, that whether General Ham-
ilton at any stage of the deliberations of the convention
did, or did not make the proposition ascribed to him, it is
certain that his more deliberate and final opinion, adopted
a moderate term of years for the duration of the office of
president; as also appears by a plan of a constitution, in
writing now in this city, drawn up by that gentleman in detail.
"Whether the first system presented by Mr. Hamilton,
was the one to which he gave a decided preference, it
would be difficult to say, since we find him adopting and
proposing a different one in the course of the sitting of the
convention. It may have been that his opinion was nearly
balanced between the two; nay, it is possible he may
have really preferred the one last proposed, and that the
former, like many others, was brought forward to make it
the subject of discussion, and see what would be the opin-
ions of different gentlemen on so momentous a subject.
And, it is now repeated with confidence, that the Virginia
delegation did vote for the most energetic form of govern-
ment, and that Mr. Maddison was of the number. But we
desire to be distinctly understood, that it was never intended,
by mentioning this circumstance, to impeach the purity of
Mr. Maddison's motives. To arraign the morals of any
man, because he entertains a speculative opinion on gov-
ernment different from ourselves, is worse than arrogance.
He who does so, must entertain notions in ethics extremely
crude, and certainly unfavourable to virtue. "
It is not to be believed that such a statement would have
been thus publicly made, challenging contradiction, during
the lives of so many members of the convention, if it had
been in any respect erroneous; nor that Hamilton would
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? 548
THE LIFE OF
have referred to his second plan of a constitution as being
"in writing now in this city," unless it was there to be
produced. This was a topic of much interest, and much
canvassed in the political controversies which had arisen,
yet his representation was not controverted. Another
exposition of his opinions is found in a letter addressed by
him to Colonel Pickering during the following year. *
* New-York, September 16, 1803.
MY DEAR SIR,
I will make no apology for my delay in answering your inquiry some time
since made, because I could offer none which would satisfy myself. I pray
you only to believe that it proceeded from any thing rather than want of re-
spect or regard. I shall now comply with your request.
The highest toned propositions which I made in the convention were for
a president, senate, and judges, during good behaviour; a house of represen-
tatives for three years. Though I would have enlarged the legislative power
of the general government, yet I never contemplated the abolition of the state
governments; but on the contrary, they were, in some particulars, constitu-
ent parts of my plan.
This plan was, in my conception, conformable with the strict theory of a
government purely republican; the essential criteria of which are, that the
principal organs of the executive and legislative departments be elected by
the people, and hold their offices by a responsible and temporary or defeasible
tenure.
A vote was taken on the proposition respecting the executive. Five states
were in favour of it; among these Virginia; and though, from the manner of vo-
ting by delegations, individuals were not distinguished, it was morally certain,
from the known situation of the Virginia members, (six in number, two of
them, Mason and Randolph, professing popular doctrines,) that Madison must
have concurred in the vote of Virginia. Thus, if I sinned against republi-
canism, Mr. Madison was not less guilty.
I may truly then say that I never proposed either a president or senate for
ETSTand that I neither recommended nor meditated the annihilation of the
state governments. ^
And I may'add, that in the course of the discussions in the convention,
neither the propositions thrown out for debate, nor even those voted in tho
earlier stages of deliberation, were considered as evidences of a definitive opin-
ion in the proposer or voter. It appeared to me to be in some sort understood
that, with a view to free investigation, experimental propositions might be
made, which were to be received merely as suggestions for consideration.
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? HAMILTON.
These statements receive light from the letter of a con-
temporary. * "I will conclude this long epistle by a con-
cise account of a conversation had with Hamilton, which
may not be deemed uninteresting, since it exhibits him as
Accordingly it is a fact, that my final opinion was against an executive du-
ring good behaviour, on account of the increased danger to the public Iran-
quillity incident to the election of a magistrate of this degree of permanency.
In the plan of a constitution which I drew up while the convention was
sitting, and which I communicated to Mr. Madison about the close of it,
perhaps a day or two after, the office of president has no greater duration
than for three years.
This plan was predicated upon these bases :--1. That the political princi-
ples of the people of this country would endure nothing but a republican
government. --2. That in the actual situation of the country, it was itself
right and proper that the republican theory should have a fair and full trial. --
3. That, to such a trial it was essential that the government should be so
constructed as to give it all the energy and the stability reconcilable with
the principles of that theory. These were the genuine sentiments of my
heart, and upon them I then acted.
I sincerely hope that it may not hereafter be discovered that through want
of sufficient attention to the last idea, the experiment of republican govern-
ment, even in this country, has not been as complete, as satisfactory, and as
decisive, as could be wishcd. t
* Governor Lewis.
t In the appendix, No. 5, to Madison's Debates, this letter is referred to as evidence that
"Colonel Humilton was under the erroneous impression that this paper limited the duration
of the presidential term to three years. "
The " paper" tiius referred to by Madison, is the jir. *t plan. The term of three years is
in the second plan. Madison has not left behind him the original of cither of tho plans
which Hamilton gave him, but his copy of one of them. Hamilton's statement is, that he
"communicated to Madison the plan in which the omco of president has no greater dura-
tion than three years, not that ho left it with him, but on tho contrary publicly refers to it
as "a plan of a constitution in writing now in this c'ttr, drawn up by that gentleman in
detail. "
Having obtained a copy of the first plan, which probably was used dunns the debates
in the convention, Madison retains it in his pessescion, and refers to it as evidence of Ham-
ilton's "want of memory," and not to tho second plan, which Hamilton tenders as giving
the testimony to the change of his opinions. But he does not deny that there was a second
plan. It will be remarked that the volume cnntniriiug the Journal of the Convention de-
posited in tbe department of state is imperfect--the. minutes of September 15tii being crossed
with a pen. and that tho deficiency is supi'li"d by minutes furnished by Madison. Thus,
the evidence which this part of the journal might have given on this subject, is lost. --Juur
ual, p. 1179, in a note.
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? 550
THE LIFE OF
a statesman who looked beyond the present to the far fu-
ture interests of his country. It is well known that he
never was in the habit of concealing or disguising his sen-
timents on the subject of government.
"Openly denouncing, on all occasions, the assertion'that
the best administered was best,' as a political heresy,
maintaining the superior aptitude to a good administration
pif-mmc systems over others, and giving the preference,
abstractedly considered, to a well-balanced and limited
ThonarchyTye was at the same time undeviating from the
opinion-liMft such a government could not be established
in the United States, because a necessary ingredient in its
composition, a privileged order, would be sought for in
vain among a people whose favourite motto was ' Liberty
and Equality. ' When, therefore, the paragraphists of the
day announced that he had proposed in the convention of
the states a monarchic form of government, I was satis-
fied it was the effect of misconception or designed misre-
presentation.
"A second version, that he proposed a presidency for life,
I thought more probable, but determined to suspend my
opinion until I should have an interview with him. This
was afforded to me soon after his return to the city of
New-York. The monarchic proposition, as I expected,
he explicitly denied. 'The other he admitted, with the qua-
lification, a president during good behaviour, or for a com-
petent period, subject to impeachment, with an ineligibility
forever thereafter.
"' My reasons,'" he said, " ' were, an exclusion, as far as
possible, of the influence of executive patronage in the choice
of a chief magistrate, and a desire to avoid the incalculable
mischief which must result from the too frequent elec-
tions of that officer. In conclusion, he made the following
prophetic observation: 'You nor I, my friend, may not
live to see the day, but most assuredly it will come, when
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? HAMILTON.
551
every vital interest of the state will be merged in the all-
absorbing question of who shall be the next President ? '"
As to the opinions entertained by him on the theory of
government, it is felt that in the mode in which, from a
desire to withhold nothing, they appear, much injustice
may have been done him; as in the brief of his great
speech, previous to an exposition of his first plan of a con-
stitution, the mere general heads are given without those
qualifications that must have formed an essential part of it;
while, of the various efforts made by him to harmonize
and to adjust the different parts of the complicated scheme
as it progressed, evolving new views and sources of
thought, and thus informing the mind of the convention, so
little can be placed before the public.
Happily, in a comparison of this brief with his numbers
of the Federalist, they will be found, with the exception
of his abstract discussion of the theory of government, in a
great measure to have filled up its outline. r~
From these sources it is ascertained that/the leading
maxim of Hamilton was, that a good government consists
in a vigorous execution, that such vigour is "essential to
the security of liberty," and that, " in the contemplation of
a sound and(jKell-informed mind, their interests never can
be separated. " 1
To reconcije the requisite vigour with the perfect se-
curity of liberty, he well knew was almost impracticable;
to approximate them was all that he hoped to effect; but in
what mode this could best be accomplished, was a problem
which he acknowledged to be full of difficulties.
His well-founded and openly avowed doubts upon a sub-
ject which has embarrassed every reflecting practical mind,
have been denounced as evidences of dispositions unfriendly
to freedom, and upon so slight a basis has been raised a mass
of prejudice which impeded all his efforts to promote the
well-being of this country. To apply to him his own gen-
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? 552
THE LIFE OF
eral remark, his " enlightened zeal for the energy and effi-
ciency of government, has been stigmatized as the off-
spring of a temper fond of power, and hostile to the prin-
ciples of liberty. " Without caring to propitiate popular
prejudices on a subject as to which his'own declaration is
deemed sufficient--" I presume I shall not be disbelieved
when I declare, that the establishment of a republican
government on a safe and solid basis is an object of all
others nearest and most dear to my own heart"--it is
enough to refer to the whole tenor of his life.
At the age of seventeen he is seen combating the arbi-
trary policy of England; exhorting the American people
to resistance; unfolding the future glories of the empire;
rejecting with scorn the idea of a system sustained "by
pensioners, placemen, and parasites;" holding up to them,
as the great prize of the contest they were invited to
wage, the establishment of the "steady, uniform, unshaken
security of constitutional freedom," and avowing with a
noble enthusiasm, which was his perpetual inspiration, " I
would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but
take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty, amidst the din and
tumult of arms, displaying all the evils of a want of gov-
ernment, and urging " a solid confederation. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-one, pressing on the
minds of the public, in the " Continentalist," the organiza-
tion of a "great federative republic, closely linked in the
pursuit of a common interest. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-two, inducing the legis-
lature of New-York to propose "a general convention,
authorized to revise and amend the confederation. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-three, at least an equal
participator in every effort to invigorate the confederacy,
framing an appeal to the people, exhibiting its infirmities,
and inviting them to establish a well-balanced government.
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? HAMILTON. 553
In seventeen hundred and eighty-four, cautioning them
against the excesses of liberty, and enjoining them to watch,
with more intensity than the vestal fife, " this sacred de-
posit" which had been confided to them.
In seventeen hundred and eighty-five, imploring them to
dismiss the jealousies which had been excited for their de-
struction, and to repose their trust where it should be
placed--" all government implying trust. "
In seventeen hundred and eighty-six, again addressing
them from Annapolis, and invoking them, by the strongest
motives, to appoint a convention empowered to frame a
constitution "adequate to the exigencies of the union. "
And in seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, after indu-
cing the concurrence of New-York and the co-operation
of congress, as a member of that convention, sacrificing all
prejudgments; surrendering his matured opinions, and la-
bouring until he saw a constitution framed, not such as he
would have desired, but " having, as far as was consistent
with its genius, all the features of a good government;" a
constitution to which he pledged his support by his signa-
ture--to fulfil which pledge he devoted all his energies.
In this series of acts, having one uniform and single
end--the " establishment of a republican government upon
a safe and solid basis "--will be found an ample refutation
of all the calumnies which have been propagated.
But, while repelling this accusation of his hostility to the
existing system, it would have been a not less injustice to
his memory to have concealed his distrusts of the success
of an unbalanced democracy.
History had shown all free governments, either convulsed
by intestine feuds and foreign influence, or prostrated be-
fore the mob and surrendered to arbitrary hands; exhibit-
ing in every stage of their progress deeper shades of
misery and humiliation.
To this current of human affairs there existed but one
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? 554
THE LIFE OF
exception. A government, springing up amidst the bigotry
and barbarism of the middle ages, had been seen gradually
moulded by the steady influence of enlightened opinion;
resisting during centuries every form of violence, and
when at last overthrown by the crimes of its magistrates,
recovering itself by the strong influence it had itself cre-
ated, and renewed in its vigour by constitutional checks,
the fruits of experience; susceptible of amendment with-
out necessarily jeopardizing its existence; and notwith-
standing its defects--for what government is without de-
fects ? --imparting to its people the greatest security and
largest amount of durable happiness which any constitution
ever had bestowed. /
Thus finding in the British government a system pro-
ceeding upon the fact, that society is necessarily composed
of different interests, and obViating the great difficulty of
all governments by preserving a counterpoise of each in-
terest ; exerting itself, but regulated in that exertion, for its
own protection. Thus seeing \he realization of that for
which the wise of antiquity had Wished, but had not dared
to hope,* which the experience of centuries had approved,
can it be a source of surprise that he entertained the opin-
ion, that " it was a model, though unattainable, to be ap-
proached as near as possible. " \^
But his was not a blind or indiscriminate admiration^.
The representation that " it was his error to adhere too
closely to the precedents of the British constitution; that
he conceded sometimes, in these precedents, equal authori-
ty to what was good and bad, to its principles and its
* Cicero observes--de Rcpub. ]. 2--"Esse oplime constitutam rempubli-
cam qua) cx tribus ^cneribus illis, rcgali, optimo, et populari, sit modicc con-
fusa. " And Tacitus, in his Annals, remarks, " Cunctas nationes, et urbes,
populus aut primorcs, aut singuli regunt; delecta ex his ct constituta repub-
lics) forma laudari facilius quam evenire, vel si evenit, haud diuturna esso
potest. "
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? HAMILTON.
555
abuses; that he did not allow to the variety of political
forms, to the flexibility of human society, a sufficient share
nor a bold enough confidence,"* is founded on the calum-
nies of his opponents, propagated for the two-fold purpose
of exciting against him the jealousy of the American peo-
ple, and of impairing his permanent fame.
In his commentary on the federal constitution, when
speaking of the kingdom of Great Britain, he observes :f
"Her peculiar felicity of situation has, in a great degree,
preserved the liberty which that country to this day enjoys,
in spite of the prevalent venality and corruption. "
He is previously seen to have condemned the great in-
novation in her system, in the vote of septennial from tri-
ennial parliaments, as producing an "overgrown power" in
the crown; and referring to what he calls " these danger-
ous practices," he extols " the important distinction, so well
understood in America, between a constitution established
by the people and unalterable by the government, and
alterable" by it.
He speaks also of the "ostentatious apparatus of her
monarchy" as a source of expense, and adverts to her ex-
perience as presenting to mankind " so many political les-
sons, both of the monitory and exemplary kind. "
He dwells upon the superiority, in one particular, of the
federal constitution, as separating the judiciary entirely
from all political agency, and points out the "absurdity of
subjecting the decisions of men selected for their know-
ledge of the laws, acquired by long and laborious study,
to the revision and control of men, who, for the want of
the same advantage, cannot but be deficient in that know-
ledge. "
Nor was he insensible to the variety of political forms
? Vie Corrcspondance et Ecrits de Washington, &c. par M. Guizot.
t Federalist, Nos. 8, 53, and 56.
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? 556
THE LIFE OF
suggested by the flexibility of human nature, and the vary-
ing condition of society. In his letter to Washington pre-
viously quoted, he is seen to remark, that though " the peo-
ple were not ripe for such a plan as he advocated, yet there
was no reason to despair of their adopting one equally en-
ergetic;" and in this convention he proposed two plans of
government, founded on different principles, and with dif-
ferent combinations of the same principle; and aided large-
ly in forming the compound system which was adopted.
In answer to the objections derived from former expe-
rience to republican governments, he exclaims: "Happily
for mankind, stupendous fabrics reared on the basis of
liberty, which have flourished for ages, have, in a few glo-
rious instances, refuted these gloomy sophisms; and, I
trust, America will be the broad and solid foundation of
other edifices, not less magnificent, which will be equally
permanent monuments of their error. "
Hamilton was too wise not to have known that a con-
stitution such as that of England--though, if it had been
established, it would have maintained itself--could not be
established in the United States; that every attempt to in-
troduce it with the consent of the people, would be a
fruitless folly, and, without that consent, a hideous crime.
He sought to effect all that was practicable under such cir-
cumstances--to embody in a republican system such checks
as it would admit--to reconcile, to the utmost extent its
genius would bear, energy and stability with real liberty--
hoping that this great commonwealth might repose under
a Constitutional Charter, granted and revocable by the
people, until experience should suggest and cure its defects.
The jealousy of political rivalry has misrepresented his
views, and condemned his "peculiar opinions," because
they did not prevail.
But it forgot that it is the characteristic of minds of the
first order to aim at objects above the common reach.
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? HAMILTON.
557
The eye that penetrates beyond the horizon of error; the
hand which, amid its daily ministrations, is ever pointing
to some great future good; the genius that, always fertile
in expedient, feels that the power which impels, makes
sure its aim ;--these all are directed by a generous confi-
dence of success, springing from conscious unexhausted
resources, that will not, cannot despair.
Ordinary men do not admit the magic virtues, the al-
most inspiration by which they are overruled to perform
their respective parts; but the influence is exerted, the
plans, the institutions, the hopes of the world are raised,
and though the agent may be unseen, or withdrawn, it
moves on in glorious harmony with the high destinies he
has prescribed.
It is true that Hamilton's views did not all prevail, but
their conservative character was imparted to this great
reform, and much of its best spirit may still be due to la-
bours which, though not wholly successful, owing to the
hesitations of others, were not without the choicest fruits. *
His whole plan was not adopted; but when it is asked
whose plan was, the answer is, that of no individual.
"The truth is," Hamilton remarked, "the plan, in all its
parts, was a plan of accommodation. "
As a great bond of union to a dissolving confederacy,
he valued it beyond all price; but as creating a compound
government of a very extraordinary and complicated na-
ture, in common with Washington and Patrick Henry, and
other distinguished individuals, he doubted its results. "I
acknowledge," he said, when recommending its adoption,
* Guizot remarks--" Hamilton must be classed among the men who have
best known the vital principles and fundamental conditions of a government;
not of a government such as this, but of a government worthy of its mission
and of its name. There is not in the constitution of the United States an
element of order, of force, of duration, which he has not powerfully contribu-
ted to introduce into it, and to cause to predominate. "
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? 558
THE LIFE OF
"a thorough conviction, that any amendments which may
upon mature consideration be thought useful, will be ap-
plicable to the organization of the government, not to the
mass of its powers. "
These doubts have been derided as extravagant, and the
prosperity of this country has been appealed to as a com-
plete refutation of them. How far this prosperity is to be
ascribed to the influences of the constitution, other than as
a mean of preserving the national union, is not easily as-
certained; but certainly, without derogating from the value
of that instrument, much of it may be attributed to a pe-
culiar felicity of situation and of circumstances, indepen-
dent of the government.
Nor is prosperity, in its most observed aspects, an uner-
ring or a universal test of the excellence of political in-
stitutions; for it cannot be denied, that a nation may have
fast increasing wealth, and expanding power, and widely
diffused intelligence, and boundless enterprise, while prin-
ciples may be at work in its system that will ultimately #
render all these advantages sources of evil.
Experience had hitherto been supposed to teach, that a
stable government required the operative counterpoise of
the different interests of property and numbers. The
federal constitution has substituted for these, theoretic
checks; a senate representing states, which are only the
artificial representatives of different aggregates of the peo-
ple, and a house of representatives chosen directly by the
same people under the influence of those states--this sen-
ate of greater duration than the popular branch, and there-
fore supposed to be removed from immediate popular im-
pulses, yet by the doctrine of instruction, which is fast
becoming a law of the system, rendered the mere organ
of these impulses; an executive chosen by the members
of separate electoral colleges of the people of the states,
sitting apart and supposed to be secure from the too direct
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-20 03:43 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva.
