The Federalist Papers

“[A] dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”

Although Hamilton is in favor of America’s status as a republic answerable to the people, he cautions against anti-Federalist critics who believe that the Constitution tramples over the rights of individual Americans. He specifically calls these critics out as “demagogues,” a term used to describe politicians who appeal to the passions—and often the prejudices—of the people, in the absence of strong, rational arguments for their position. Hamilton argues that when demagogues rise to power, the people lose the very liberties they claim to cherish—a phenomenon which played out with devastatingly violent results at various points in ancient history and, in the modern era, in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.

“Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government, and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights in order to vest it with requisite powers.”

Throughout these essays, Jay and his coauthors attempt to negotiate a balance between an energetic and empowered government and the rights of the people governed. On one hand, the government must be powerful enough to provide for the safety of its citizens, which necessarily requires that citizens subordinate some of their natural rights to the rule of law. In this, The Federalist Papers and the Constitution itself bear the influence of Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, who believed that people willingly transfer some of their freedoms to sovereign authorities in exchange for the protection of other rights.