No More Learning

"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
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? HAMILTON.
559
action of the mass, yet in fact chosen, not to deliberate on
the merits of a candidate, but pledged to carry into effect
the nomination of a caucus--that candidate thus elevated,
filling an executive department of limited powers, but pos-
sessing powers far above the constitution, as the common
focus of the passions of the multitude.
Other of the ascertained effects of the system may also
be adverted to. Among the chief ends of government
are--security against foreign aggression--internal peace.
To attain the first of these objects, the force of the com-
munity must be at the command of the common sovereign;
of the latter, the law is the shield. Yet, in the only
war which has been waged, some of the most powerful
members of the union have been seen to withhold their
military force from the arm of the general government,
expressly charged with the general defence, uncontrolled,
uncompelled; while the tranquillity and existence of the
union has been jeoparded by the open defiance by a state
of the only peaceful sanction, the judicial department of
the United States, and a great power of the national gov-
ernment, the want of which was a primary motive to its
establishment, is the subject of a compromise.
Modern discoveries of art have supplied new and impor-
tant ligaments to this union. Time, with its assimilating
influences, has given that union strength. Its mutual glory
has extended over it a protecting canopy; but while the
patriot will ever devote himself to its preservation, he is
too well aware how much more probable is its dismember-
ment than its reunion, to regard as a visionary skepticism
the paternal wisdom of its founders, who feared and doubt-
ed, while they loved and hoped.
The following observations of Hamilton, written just as
the general convention adjourned, give his impressions at
that time.
"The new constitution has in favour of its success these
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? 560
THE LIFE OF
circumstances: A very great weight of influence of the
persons who framed it, particularly in the universal popu-
larity of General Washington. The good-will of the com-
mercial interest throughout the states, which will give all
its efforts to the establishment of a government capable of
regulating, protecting, and extending the commerce of the
union. The good-will of most men of property in the
several states, who wish a government of the union able to
protect them against domestic violence, and the depreda-
tions which the democratic spirit is apt to make on pro-
perty; and who are besides anxious for the respectability
of the nation. The hopes of the creditors of the United
States, that a general government possessing the means
of doing it, will pay the debt of the union. A strong
belief in the people at large of the insufficiency of the
present confederation to preserve the existence of the
union, and of the necessity of the union to their safety
and prosperity; of course, a strong desire of a change, and
a predisposition to receive well the propositions of the
convention.
"Against its success is to be put, the dissent of two or
three important men in the convention, who will think
their characters pledged to defeat the plan; the influence
of many inconsiderable men in possession of considerable
offices under the state governments, who will fear a diminu-
tion of their consequence, power, and emolument, by the
establishment of the general government, and who can
hope for nothing there; the influence of some consider--
able men in office possessed of talents and popularity, who,
partly from the same motives, and partly from a desire of
playing a part in a convulsion for their own aggrandize-
ment, will oppose the quiet adoption of the new govern-
ment; (some considerable men out of office, from motives
of ambition may be disposed to act the same part. ) Add to
these causes the disinclination of the people to taxes, and
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? HAMILTON.
561
of course to a strong government; the opposition of all
men much in debt, who will not wish to see a government
established, one object of which is to restrain the means
of cheating creditors. The democratical jealousy of the
people, which may be alarmed at the appearance of insti-
tutions that may seem calculated to place the power of the
community in few hands, and to raise a few individuals to
stations of great pre-eminence; and the influence of some
foreign powers, who, from different motives, will not wish
to see an energetic government established throughout the
states.
"In this view of the subject, it is difficult to form any
judgment whether the plan will be adopted or rejected.
It must be essentially matter of conjecture. The present
appearances and all other circumstances considered, the
probability seems to be on the side of its adoption.
"But the causes operating against its adoption are pow-
erful, and there will be nothing astonishing in the con-
trary.
"If it do not finally obtain, it is probable the discussion
of the question will beget such struggles, animosities, and
heats in the community, that this circumstance, conspiring
with the real necessity of an essential change in our present
situation, will produce civil war. Should this happen,
whatever parties prevail, it is probable governments very
different from the present in their principles, will be estab-
lished. A dismemberment of the union, and monarchies
in different portions of it, may be expected. It may how-
ever happen that no civil war will take place, but several
republican confederacies be established between different
combinations of the particular states.
"A reunion with Great Britain, from universal disgust at
a state of commotion, is not impossible, though not much
to be feared. The most plausible shape of such a business
would be, the establishment of a son of the present mon-
71'
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? 662 THE LIFE OF
arch in the supreme government of this country, with a
family compact.
"If the government be adopted, it is probable General
Washington will be the president of the United States.
This will ensure a wise choice of men tp^administer the
government, and a good administration. (Agood adminis-
tration will conciliate the confidence and affection of the
people, and perhaps enable the government to acquire
more consistency than the proposed constitution seems to
promise for so great a country. It may then triumph al-
together over the state governments, and reduce them to an
N. entire subordination, dividing the larger states into smaller
districts.
The organs of the general government may also
acquire additional strength.
"If this should not be the case, in the course of a few
years, it is probable that the contests about the boundaries
of power between the particular governments and the
general government, and the momentum of the larger states
in such contests, will produce a dissolution of th<<. union.
This, after all, seems to be the most likely result. J
"But it is almost arrogance in so complicatecTa subject,
depending so entirely on the incalculable fluctuations of
the human passions, to attempt even a conjecture about
the event.
"It will be eight or nine months before any certain
judgment can be formed respecting the adoption of the
plan. "
Anxious as his forebodings were, it will be seen that his
exertions were not for a moment relaxed. While he did
not disguise his doubts, he declared, "I am persuaded it is
the best which our political situation, habits, and opinions
will admit, and superior to any the revolution has pro-
duced. " "Though it may not be perfect in every part, it
is, upon the whole, a good one, is the best that the present
situation and circumstances of the country will permit. "
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? HAMILTON.
563
Then followed his closing appeal, recommending its adop-
tion in language which every revolving year renders more
impressive.
"To balance a large society on general laws," it had
been said,* "the judgments of many must unite in the
work. Experience must guide their labour, Time must
bring it to perfection, and the feeling of inconveniences
must correct the mistakes which they inevitably fall into
in their first trials and experiments. " "These judicious
reflections," Hamilton remarked, " contain a lesson of mo-
deration to all the sincere lovers of the union, and ought to
put them upon their guard against hazarding anarchy,
civil war, a perpetual alienation of the states from each
other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious
demagogue, in the pursuit of what they are not likely to
obtain but from time and experience. It may be in me
a defect of political fortitude, but I acknowledge that I
cannot entertain an equal tranquillity with those who affect
to treat the dangers of a longer continuance in our present
situation as imaginary. A nation without a national
government, is an awful spectacle. The establishment of a
constitution, in time of profound peace, by the voluntary
consent of a whole people, is a prodigy, to the completion
of which I look forward with trembling anxiety. "
* Home's Essays, v. 1, p. 138.
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