Evening star., 1926-04-03


wrote of Alexander Hamilton: "He
must ever be classed among the men
who have best understood the vital
principles and elemental conditions of
government there is not lin the
Constitution of the United States an
element of order. or force, or duration
which he did not powerfully contrib
ute to secure"
Hamilton believed i'm q strongly cen
tralized government He saw almost
too clearly the evils of a loosely bound
confederation of States, in which
there could arise such animosities as
arose under the Articles of Confedera.
ton. when New Jersey and Connects
cut proposed to have no commercial
relations with New York: when New
York proposed to war with Vermont
and Connecticut with PENNSYLVANIA
Because of such conditions he failed
as John Fiske said. ito understa nd
what was really sound and valua BILE
in State rights"
He saw around him such conditions
of ignorance and intolerance that he
felt no faith in pure democracy. In
the New York State convention for
consideration of the Constitution he
said: 1T has been observed that a
pure democracy, if that were practica
bic. would be the most perfect govern
ment. Experience has proved that no
position in politics is more false than
this. The ancient democra cies, in
which the people themselves deliber.
ated. never posSest one feature OF
good government Their very char.
acter was, tyranny; their figure de.
formity. When they assembled, sthe
held of debate presented an ungovern.
able mob, not only incapable of delib-
GRAFTON, but prepared for every enor.
nifty. In those assemblies the people
of one faction brought forward their
plans of ambition systematically.
They were opposed by their enemies
of another party; and it became a
matter OF contingency whether the
people subjected themselves TO be led
bllndly by the one or the other
Believing thus. Hamilton suggested
an aristocratic republic and a balance
of authority. He proposed that land
ed proprietors should elect the Presi-
dent and the Senators; that those Off
Gals should hold office during their
lives. or at least during satisfactory
fultlllment of their duties: that the
President should appoint the govern
ors Of the States. and that those gov.
ernors should have the power to veto
the acts of the State Legislatures,
Thus Hamilton would have struck at
democracy and at State rights, and
have established a system that John
Ffske SAYS could not have endured.
Why. then. is he spoken of as one of
the great creators of the Constitution
which embodies principles so differ
ent7
The principal reason is his intense
belief in the necessity of a strong
union and well-organized general gov
ernment. In the eleventh number of
the FederaliSt, he wrote: Let the
thirteen States. bound together in a
strict and indisSoluble Union concur
in erecting one great American sys-
TEN, superior to the control of all
transatlantic force or influence" In
1892, in a letter to Edward Darlington
Of Virginia, he placed first THE ne
eessity of Union 10 the respecta bilty
and happiness of this country: and
second. the necessity of an efficient
general government to maintain the
Union
In his defense of the Constitution
Hamilton wrote: There are four
things which | humbly conceive are
essential to the well-being-I may
venture to say, the eXistence-of the
United States as an Independent
power. First, an indissoluble Union
of the States under one Federal head:
second. a sacred regard to public
Justice; third. the adoption of a
proper peace establishment. and
fourth. the prevalence of that pacific
and friendly disposition among the
people of. the United States which will
induce them to forget their local
prejudices and politics to make those
mutual concessions which are requi-
site to the general nrOSDeritV and in
some instances to sacrifice their in