50 Fun Facts About The Federalist Papers

In Federalist No. 51, Madison wrote that no government would be needed if men were what?

Angels would need no rulers, Madison reasoned, but real people do. So a government must first control the governed and then be obliged to control itself.

Which pen name, borrowed from a founder of the Roman Republic, signed all of The Federalist Papers?

Publius honored Publius Valerius Publicola, whose nickname meant friend of the people. Hamilton had already used the name in 1778 for three letters attacking a congressman.

Which branch do The Federalist Papers call 'the least dangerous', holding neither sword nor purse?

The judiciary, Hamilton argued in No. 78, can only issue rulings and must rely on the executive to carry them out. That weakness was his case for giving judges permanent tenure.

Hamilton left a list claiming 63 Federalist Papers as his own days before dueling which vice president?

Aaron Burr's shot proved fatal, and the list was later used in print to credit each essay to an author. Madison answered with a rival list of his own.

What addition to the Constitution did Hamilton call unnecessary and even dangerous in Federalist No. 84?

A bill of rights, Hamilton warned, would list exceptions to powers never granted and so offer a pretext to claim more. He called the Constitution itself, in every rational sense, a bill of rights.

The Federalist Papers were addressed to the people of which state, where ratification was in doubt?

New York was Hamilton's home state and a doubtful one, so most of the essays open by greeting its people. It ratified in July 1788, after ten other states already had.

Which author of The Federalist Papers contributed only five essays after falling ill early in the project?

John Jay wrote Nos. 2 through 5, fell ill, and came back only for No. 64. In 1789 he became the first head of the Supreme Court.

Madison wrote in Federalist No. 10 that what is to faction as air is to fire?

Liberty feeds faction the way air feeds fire, so Madison called abolishing it a remedy worse than the disease. He set out to control the effects of faction instead.

Which quality in the executive does Hamilton call a leading character of good government in Federalist No. 70?

Energy, for Hamilton, meant a president able to repel attacks and enforce the laws steadily. A feeble executive, he warned, means a badly executed government.

Which thinker, quoted at length in Brutus No. 1, does Madison call 'the oracle' in Federalist No. 47?

Montesquieu's rule that the three powers of government must be kept apart was so revered that critics turned it on the Constitution. Madison replied that he never meant total separation.

Which first national charter do The Federalist Papers attack as too weak to preserve the Union?

The Articles of Confederation let Congress only request men and money from the states, never raise them itself. Hamilton began dissecting that flaw in No. 15, the first of six essays on the subject.

In which medium did The Federalist Papers first appear, months before two bound volumes collected them?

Newspapers ran the essays so fast that three or four could appear in a single week, leaving critics little time to reply.

Federalist No. 51 argues the structure of government must furnish what between its separate departments?

Checks and balances are named in the essay's own title, and Madison's method was to give each department the means and motives to resist the others. Rival interests would supply the defect of better motives.

In Federalist No. 51, what does Madison say must be made to counteract itself so no branch dominates?

Ambition, set against ambition, ties each officeholder's self-interest to defending the turf of the office. Madison admitted it was a poor reflection on human nature that such devices were needed.

Which doctrine, later affirmed in Marbury v. Madison, did Hamilton argue for in Federalist No. 78?

Judicial review follows from Hamilton's point that a constitution is fundamental law, so judges must prefer it to any statute that conflicts with it. The Supreme Court adopted the principle in 1803.

Federalist No. 68 defends which method of choosing the president, a part critics had barely attacked?

The Electoral College, Hamilton wrote, lets the sense of the people operate through electors chosen for that single task. If the method was not perfect, he boasted, it was at least excellent.

Federalist No. 69 argues an American president would hold far less power than which hereditary ruler?

Britain's king held his crown for life as an inheritance and was sacred and inviolable, Hamilton noted. A president would be elected for four years and remain answerable to the law.

Which bargain over counting enslaved people toward seats in Congress does Madison defend in Federalist No. 54?

The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three of every five enslaved people toward a state's seats and its direct taxes. Madison put the defense in the mouth of an imagined Southern advocate.

Which part of the Constitution did Brutus No. 1 warn could be used to abolish the state governments entirely?

The Necessary and Proper Clause, Brutus feared, could justify almost any law and leave the states with nothing to govern. His essay appeared nine days before the first Federalist paper.

What feature of the United States did Brutus No. 1 argue made governing it as one free republic impossible?

Its immense extent, Brutus argued, meant no assembly could know the minds of so many citizens, and history showed big republics turning tyrannical. Officials in so vast a country, he added, would soon rise above the people's control.

What does Madison name in Federalist No. 10 as the most common and durable source of factions?

Unequal distribution of property sets those who hold it against those without, and creditors against debtors. Madison called regulating such clashing interests the principal task of modern legislation.

Which form of government does Federalist No. 10 say can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction?

A pure democracy, where a few citizens meet and govern directly, lets one shared passion sweep the whole body. Madison said such governments were as short in their lives as violent in their deaths.

What does Madison advise in Federalist No. 10 to make an oppressive majority less likely to form?

Extending the sphere takes in so many rival groups that an oppressive bloc struggles to form or act in unison. A factious leader, Madison wrote, may kindle a flame in one state but not a general conflagration.

Federalist No. 10 says a republic can 'refine and enlarge the public views' by passing them through whom?

Elected representatives, Madison hoped, would have the wisdom to discern their country's true interest. He conceded the reverse could happen, with men of sinister designs winning votes and then betraying the voters.

Which historian's 1913 book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution drew new attention to Federalist No. 10?

Charles Beard read the essay as a masterly statement of economic determinism in politics, and scholars have argued over that reading ever since. Historian Douglass Adair credited the book with the essay's modern fame.

How does Federalist No. 51 propose to weaken the lawmaking branch, which Madison says naturally predominates?

Dividing it in two, with chambers chosen in different ways and acting on different principles, keeps lawmakers from combining too easily. The weaker executive, Madison added, might need fortifying in turn.

What does Madison call 'the end of government' and of civil society in Federalist No. 51?

Justice, Madison wrote, will be pursued until it is obtained or until freedom is lost in the pursuit. A society where the strong can oppress the weak, he warned, is as lawless as a state of nature.

Which presidential power does Federalist No. 74 say could calm a rebellion if used at the right moment?

The pardon belongs with one man, Hamilton argued, because a well-timed offer to insurgents can end a revolt, and waiting for Congress to assemble could let the moment slip. He called it a benign prerogative.

Federalist No. 65 defends making the Senate the court for which process against misconduct in office?

Impeachment, Hamilton wrote, concerns offenses that are political in nature because they injure society itself. He doubted the Supreme Court would have the fortitude for so difficult a task.

Which Massachusetts rebel leader does Hamilton call a 'desperate debtor' in Federalist No. 6?

Daniel Shays had just led the uprising that bears his name, and Hamilton argued that one man's private debts helped plunge a whole state into civil war. He set the case beside wars he blamed on Pericles' grudges.

In Federalist No. 70, what does Hamilton mean by 'unity' in the executive?

One person in charge, Hamilton argued, acts with more decision, secrecy and speed than any committee can. He pointed to Rome's paired consuls, whose quarrels repeatedly harmed the republic.

Which Roman office does Hamilton cite in Federalist No. 70 as that republic's refuge in moments of crisis?

Dictator was the formidable title under which Rome handed one man absolute power, against plotters at home and invaders abroad. Hamilton used it to show that vigor at the top can protect a republic.

Federalist No. 70 lists four ingredients of a vigorous executive: unity, duration, competent powers and what?

Adequate support meant a salary that Congress could neither raise nor cut during a president's term, the subject of No. 73. A power over a man's support, Hamilton wrote there, is a power over his will.

In Federalist No. 45, Madison calls the powers delegated to the federal government few and what?

Defined was Madison's word for federal powers, which he said would bear mostly on war, peace, negotiation and trade abroad. Those left to the states he called numerous and indefinite.

On what condition, defended by Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, do federal judges keep their offices?

During good behavior means a judge cannot be dismissed over an unpopular ruling. Hamilton called the standard the best expedient any government could devise for a steady, upright and impartial administration of the laws.

In Federalist No. 46, Madison says Americans hold which advantage over the people of almost every other nation?

Being armed, Madison argued, meant a federal army of perhaps 30,000 could be met by a militia of nearly half a million citizens. Their attachment to state governments formed a second line of defense.

In Federalist No. 39, Madison says a republic derives all its powers, directly or indirectly, from whom?

The great body of the people, not a narrow share or a favored class of it, must be where power begins, Madison insisted. Those who govern must also hold office only for a limited period or while they serve well.

Federalist No. 39 cites the Constitution's absolute ban on what as decisive proof of its republican character?

Titles of nobility are barred to both the federal and the state governments, Madison pointed out. He paired the ban with the guarantee of a republican form of government to every state.

Which Italian city-state does Madison list in Federalist No. 39 among governments wrongly called republics?

Venice, Madison wrote, placed absolute power in a handful of hereditary nobles. He also struck Holland, Poland and England from the list of true republics.

Critics quoted in Federalist No. 39 said the convention framed a national government, treating the Union as what?

A consolidation of the states was the accusation, and Madison answered that the Constitution is neither wholly national nor wholly federal. He traced the mix through ratification, Congress, the presidency and amendments.

Under the original Constitution defended in Federalist No. 62 and No. 63, who chose United States senators?

State legislatures picked senators until the Seventeenth Amendment handed the choice to voters in 1913. No. 62 praised the old method for giving state governments a hand in forming the federal one.

Which ancient state does Federalist No. 63 name beside Sparta and Rome as a long-lived republic with a senate?

Carthage's senate is the least documented of the three, the essay admits, while Sparta and Rome each kept theirs for life. Its point was that no republic had lasted long without such a body.

Federalist No. 63 opens by arguing a stable Senate is needed to earn the United States the respect of whom?

Foreign powers, the essay argues, will not esteem a government whose policy keeps changing, while a select and lasting body feels a nation's reputation as its own. It calls this a due sense of national character.

Federalist No. 63 says a senate may sometimes be needed to defend the people against what?

Their own temporary errors and delusions, the essay says, can lead the people to call for measures they later lament. It asks what anguish Athens might have escaped had a senate restrained its passions.

Federalist No. 37 lists the 'interfering pretensions' of which two camps among the convention's difficulties?

Large and small states fought over whether power should follow wealth and importance or stay equal, and only a bargain could end it. Madison admitted the result sacrificed theoretical neatness to outside pressures.

In Federalist No. 37, whose guiding hand does Madison perceive in the convention's unexpected unanimity?

The Almighty's hand, Madison wrote, had so often come to America's relief during the Revolution that he saw it again here. He called the unanimity almost as unprecedented as it was unexpected.

In Federalist No. 55, an Athenian assembly would still be a mob even if every citizen were which philosopher?

Socrates stands for the wisest citizen imaginable, yet in any very numerous assembly, the essay warns, passion wrests the sceptre from reason. The line answered critics who wanted a bigger House.

What scornful phrase does Madison use in Federalist No. 48 for written limits on power that nothing enforces?

Parchment barriers, Madison warned, cannot stop the encroaching spirit of power. He feared lawmakers most, saying their branch was drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.

Federalist No. 1 asks whether good government can come from reflection and choice, or must depend on what?

Accident and force were the alternative Hamilton feared, so he cast the vote on the Constitution as a test for all societies. A wrong choice, he wrote, would be the general misfortune of mankind.

What kind of 1964 study backed Madison as the author of the disputed Federalist Papers?

Statistical analysis of word choice in the essays pointed to Madison, confirming what historian Douglass Adair had argued in 1944. A dozen essays had been claimed for both men.