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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow CLXI.: The Federalist, No. XXXIII. [Hamilton.] 1 - The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3

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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: History
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

CLXI.: The Federalist, No. XXXIII. [Hamilton.] 1 - Max Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3 [1911]

Edition used:

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911). Vol. 3.

Part of: The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 3 vols.

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CLXI.

The Federalist, No. XXXIII. [Hamilton.]1

But suspicion may ask, Why then was it [Art. I, Sect. 8, last paragraph] introduced? The answer is, that it could only have been done for greater caution, and to guard against all cavilling refinements in those who might hereafter feel a disposition to curtail and evade the legitimate authorities of the union. The convention probably foresaw, that it has been a principal aim of these papers to inculcate, that the danger which most threatens our political welfare is, that the state governments will finally sap the foundations of the union; and might therefore think it necessary, in so cardinal a point, to leave nothing to construction. Whatever may have been the inducement to it, the wisdom of the precaution is evident from the cry which has been raised against it; as that very cry betrays a disposition to question the great and essential truth which it is manifestly the object of that provision to declare.

[1 ]Hallowell’s edition, 1837; first printed in the Daily Advertiser, January 3, 1788.