Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Analysis

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Alexander Hamilton 's Federalist Paper #15 called The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union was a primary document that showed the problems with the Articles of Confederation and how it was detrimental to the United States. He is warning the American people that their country could begin to crumble if some issues weren 't addressed. Most of what Hamilton writes about was already popular among the Americans, and he acknowledges this when he writes about how his piece may be "tedious or irksome." Under the Articles, the government did not have enough authority over the states to properly govern. The national government could merely recommend laws, but the states had the final say. The states could advance their own …show more content…

Hamilton calls this a "national humiliation. "He also mentions how weak the military was, as how unprepared the Americans would be if they were attacked. Hamilton writes," Are we in a condition to resent or to repel the aggression? We have neither troops, nor treasury, nor government." He notes how the Spanish were able to dominate trade in the Mississippi due to the US 's weak military capabilities. The Mississippi River divided the Spanish and the Americans, but the Spanish had the advantage due to the American 's weak military. He warns that if no change is made, there will be anarchy. Hamilton states,"...there are material imperfections in our national system, and that something is necessary to be done to rescue us from impending anarchy." Hamilton urges that a new Constitution must be adopted in order to avoid any missteps in the formation of the United States of …show more content…

A primary document, it was a message for the Federalists and to the American public in general. Although they did not fully support the Articles of Confederation, they did not want a new Constitution to be written. These people were concerned about how little freedom they would have if the federal government got more power. Because of this, they are against the beliefs of the Federalists. The Anti-Federalists are also concerned about how the national government could abuse its power if given a higher authoritative role in the revised Constitution. In order to show the concern, the authors write, “the legislative power is competent to lay taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; there is no limitation to this power..." The Anti-Federalists were afraid that allowing the national government to have so much power would be like living under Britain 's authority all over again. This would render the American Revolution pointless, they believed. They supported the state governments in having authority to tax, govern, and to have independence from the central government in doing so. They believe that if the central government starts taxing the people, the state governments would not be able to raise money

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