Alexander Hamilton Quotes
Nothing can be more evident, than that an exclusive power of regulating elections for the National Government, in the hands of the State Legislatures, would leave the existence of the Union entirely at their mercy . . . . It is to little purpose to say that a neglect or omission of this kind [not letting the feds have elections], would be unlikely to take place. The constitutional possibility of the thing, without an equivalent for the risk, is an unanswerable objection.
Hamilton, Alexander. "Federalist No. 59." The Federalist, edited by Jacob E. Cooke, Wesleyan University Press, 1961, p. 398.
Martin and other anti-Federalists argued against ratifying the new Constitution as they thought that it was inimical to the state’s interest. The notion of Federalism as a danger to states is clearly stated in this quotation for the debate on Constitutional ratification. Fundamentally, are Senators representatives of their states or of the Federal Government. If the former, who can the senators be recalled or impeached by the states to who the presumably owe their loyalty? This issue, like so many others, was compromised. The States would control the selection and method of selection of the Senators but could not recall or impeach. Looking back, we see this as logically inconsistent. However, looking at it as a political compromise between two legitimate points of view, it seems quite reasonable. Early America was a combination of idealism and pragmatism which has carried throughout American history.
England did not follow this precept but the United States did and is the only country that did. In all others, education is controlled by the national government. However, Godwin's principle of separating education from government is not maintained in all the states of America. In many, the State government leaves much of the curriculum and the operations of the school to local school boards which have a great deal of discretion. However, in most of the Southern States, the State government dominates and controls education and relatively little is left to the school boards. In some the State chooses the allowable textbooks. In those cases, Godwin's principle is violated, but in most of the North East and Midwest and some of the far West the school boards have great autonomy and Goodwin's principle is upheld. It is fascinating that the more control a particular state exercises of the schools, the poorer the performance of the schools of that state. Goodwin had a terrific insight.
Mason’s view prevailed. What is interesting is that Mason saw the State as the State Legislature as opposed to the people of the state directly voting for the Senators as we do today.
Not the current Daily News. He was very critical of the NY State Legislature changing the laws affecting wills and inheritance in order to benefit some special interest when there was a profound effect on millions of other people that had not been considered by the legislature, the majority of which had never even read the legislation, but were following party leader’s instructions or that of powerful committee chairmen.
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.
