Alexander Hamilton Quotes
It is far more rational to suppose that the courts were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and the legislature, in order, among other things, to keep the latter within the limits assigned to their authority.
Hamilton, Alexander. "The Federalist No. 78." The Federalist, edited by Jacob E. Cooke, Wesleyan UP, 1961, p. 525.
The highest court in New York.
This concept of balance of power and the equal role of the judiciary is actually quite rare. Even in Parliamentary democracies the parliament can override any court interpretation. In England, the upper legislative house, the House of Lords, actually serves as the nation’s highest or supreme court. And these “Law Lords” can override all regular judicial bodies.
The view that the Supreme Court was the final arbiter of constitutional controversies was not held in early America.
This constitution was written 7 years before the national constitutional convention. It shows that there was concern about the separation of powers in United States even before the Constitution was drafted. See {616750} for an even clearer statement of the separation of powers principle.
Hatch was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time.
Some of the Founding Fathers did not conceive of the kind of judiciary where Federal courts could nullify an act of the Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. Morris was one. Others did. The Constitution is not very explicit on this point, but the nation has settled with a process that would have surprised Morris and a few others.
Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman, politician, legal scholar, military commander, lawyer, banker, and economist. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Post newspaper. As the first secretary of the treasury, Hamilton was the main author of the economic policies of George Washington's administration. He took the lead in the federal government's funding of the states' debts, as well as establishing the nation's first two de facto central banks, the Bank of North America and the First Bank of the United States, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. His vision included a strong central government led by a vigorous executive branch, a strong commercial economy, government-controlled banks, support for manufacturing, and a strong military.
