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The Constitution’s Deep Roots
Federalist is universally acknowledged as an American classic, as an indispensable source for an understanding and appreciation of the original
meaning and purpose of almost every provision of the Constitution. To
his lasting fame and credit, it was Alexander Hamilton who organized
the collective effort to publish The Federalist and wrote most of the essays.
Speaking for most of the delegates who attended the Philadelphia
Convention, and certainly for many of his countrymen as well, Hamilton
confronted the basic dilemma Americans faced in 1787. The Articles of
Confederation, he wrote in Federalist No. 15, were an invitation to disaster. ‘‘We may indeed with propriety be said to have reached almost the
last stage of national humiliation,’’ wrote Hamilton. Something must be
done, he said, ‘‘to rescue us from impending anarchy.’’ The nation was
steeped in debt to foreigners and its own citizens; valuable American territories were still in the possession of Great Britain; there were no troops
or funds to repel invaders; access to the Mississippi River was impeded
by Spain; commerce had declined to its lowest point. So great was ‘‘the
imbecility of our government,’’ he complained, that foreign governments
would not even deal with it. ‘‘The evils we experience,’’ Hamilton concluded, ‘‘do not proceed from minute or partial imperfections, but from
fundamental errors in the structure of the building, which cannot be
amended otherwise than by an alteration in the first principles and main
pillars of the fabric.’’
It was on this basis that the Framers proceeded to construct a new
framework of government, casting aside the Articles of Confederation
and building a new edifice, from the ground up, on ‘‘first principles.’’ But
they did not have to begin from scratch. Before we explore the meaning
and substance of those ‘‘first principles,’’ and seek to discover how and
why they were incorporated into the Constitution, it is essential that we
first examine their origin and historical development. ‘‘Not to know
what happened before one was born,’’ as we were reminded long ago by
Cicero, the great Roman statesman, ‘‘is always to be a child.’’ American
political leaders were hardly ignorant or contemptuous of the past. The
Framers respected the wisdom of their ancestors, especially their religious learning. They had been reared on the King James version of the
Bible, and at least half of them—being Episcopalians—were well acquainted with the Book of Common Prayer. They also respected the les-