The Subject of Our Controversy with the Mother Country
FOUNDERS CORNER: SPEECHES, PAMPHLETS, LETTERS, QUOTES
Alexander Hamilton, December 15, 1774
... Before I proceed to confirm this assertion by the most obvious arguments, I will...
Hamilton: Address of the Annapolis Convention, 1786
The Moral Liberal, Classics Library
Alexander Hamilton: The Works of Alexander Hamilton, Volume 1, 1774: Address of the Annapolis Convention, 1786
To the Honorable the Legislatures...
Two Pivotal Crises—Steve Farrell
Liberty Letters with Steve Farrell
It was October the 27, 1787, when Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 1, observed this pivotal truth:
"It has been frequently...
Momentary Passions and Fatal Precedents
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
Nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions, by letting...
Disunion Disastrous, Commerce a False Guarantor of Peace
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 6
Wednesday, November 14, 1787
THE three last numbers of this paper have been dedicated to an enumeration of the...
Free Prosperous Commerce is Blessing to Agriculture
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as...
Taxing Power—Within Bounds of Constitution—is a Necessity
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, 1787
IT HAS been already observed that the federal government ought to possess the power of providing for the support of...
Alexander Hamilton on Governments and the Nature of Law
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of law, that it be attended with a...
Hamilton: Wherein States Retain Sovereign Power in Its "Full Vigor"
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
I affirm that ... would, under the plan of the convention, retain that authority in the most absolute and...
Hamilton: Wherein States Retain Sovereign Power in Its “Full Vigor”
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
I affirm that ... would, under the plan of the convention, retain that authority in the most absolute and...
Alexander Hamilton: Beware of "Crisis" Politicians
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
Nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions, by letting...
Alexander Hamilton: Beware of “Crisis” Politicians
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
Nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions, by letting...
Utopian Speculations: Free Trade, A Confederacy of Neighboring Sovereigns, and Peace
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, 1787
The three last numbers of this Paper have been dedicated to an enumeration of the dangers to which we should...
Hamilton on the Need for Wise Encouragements and Restraints
LIBERTY LETTERS, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 1782
The vesting Congress with the power of regulating trade ought to have been a principal object of the confederation for...
On Orchestrated Character Assaults
Liberty Letters with Steve Farrell
I do not know Herman Cain, and so I cannot say whether he is guilty or not of the politically...
Anarchy is Not the State of Nature—Alexander Hamilton
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, February 23, 1775
On February 23, 1775, as part of a larger discussion, young Alexander Hamilton hones in on a point...
Hamilton's 1780 Call for a Constitutional Convention
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, 1780
Agreeably to your request and my promise I sit down to give you my ideas of the defects of our...
Hamilton’s 1780 Call for a Constitutional Convention
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, 1780
Agreeably to your request and my promise I sit down to give you my ideas of the defects of our...
Hamilton on the Disastrous Inefficiencies of The Confederation
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton, 1778
Editor's Note: The date is 13 February 1778; the Articles of Confederation had just been sent to the states for...
Hamilton: Consumption Taxes Best for America
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
It is evident from the state of the country, from the habits of the people, from the experience we have...
Unseating the Mistress of the World
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
I shall briefly observe, that our situation invites and our interests prompt us to aim at an ascendant in the...
Hamilton: Neutrality, a Privilege of the Strong
Liberty Letters, Alexander Hamilton
The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by...
On the Death of Alexander Hamilton
Eliphalet Nott eulogizes Alexander Hamilton following his death, even as he makes a strong case against dueling.
On the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
At a revolution's start an extreme spirit of jealousy against encroachment is natural and necessary, but stability and durability require a check on pure democracy