Key Themes in Federalist Papers 21, 31, 37, and 51

Overview of Major Themes in the Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers sought to inspire a nation — generating a sense of identity and freedom not only from British rule and British identity, but also from the notion that the American government was flawed and ineffective. Several Federalist Papers in particular discuss how the government ought to be structured and help address some of the fears and aspirations of the American public. The papers examined here are Nos. 21, 31, 37, and 51. They discuss truths and principles, the formation of union, the preservation of rights and liberties, and strategies for constructing effective government. There are several themes expressed throughout the Federalist Papers as a whole, and examining them helps illuminate the specific papers that develop these themes in depth.

Energy is one of the major themes and became a primary objective of the planned constitution. The authors sought to envision and establish a government with sufficient energy to govern effectively and avoid serious pitfalls. This meant the government needed the ability to address domestic issues and perform the appropriate functions of administration without risking public upheaval. Federalist No. 21 demonstrates how the need for effective government and management was not only apparent, but a primary concern.

Union is another central theme. The authors of the Federalist Papers argue enthusiastically in defense of requiring a union of all thirteen states. Unification not only develops a sense of pride and nationalism, but also prevents potential conflicts from arising within the country. The authors contend that the freedom of Americans depends on the maintenance of national unity and on the actions taken to generate it — including elections, which leads to the next major theme: delegated authority.

Delegated authority is one of the fundamental ideologies of an anti-monarchist government. It refers principally to the public conferring upon nominated representatives the authority to make and execute laws. Elections allow citizens to choose who will represent them in government and provide a means of unifying the country by granting the people the power and the right to determine who will represent them and implement laws on their behalf.

The implementation of laws was another objective the authors wished to address, along with how the government could contain such laws and prevent abuse of power and corruption. Separation of powers and checks and balances are two themes running throughout the Federalist Papers, expressing the founders' desire to ensure balanced power across government and to avoid violations of rights as well as tyrannical rule. By allocating power among various branches of government, the founders hoped to prevent any one branch from dictating the others. Through checks and balances, each branch is granted explicit powers over the other two, with no single division able to usurp authority from its equals.

The final two themes discussed in the Federalist Papers are federal government and republican government. Federal government refers to a separation of powers between a central, national government and lesser political bodies. In the United States, authority and accountability are shared between the national government and state governments. A republican government, by contrast, is one based on representation — the people designate representatives who then deliberate on civic matters. Republican government was the model the founders strived for when they wrote the papers, with federal government serving as the framework for control and rule.

Federalist No. 21: Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

In Federalist No. 21, Hamilton builds upon earlier papers' criticism of confederacies that afford too little power and authority to the principal government. He argues three specific points that demonstrate how America's system of rule under the Articles of Confederation produced an ineffectual and weak national government. Hamilton first addresses the failure of the national government to enforce its own legislation. Without enforcement of laws, there was little purpose in passing them. States would have no fear of serious repercussions for disregarding nationally enacted laws, creating inevitable trouble for the nation.

For instance, if an individual attempted to overtake Pennsylvania, under the Articles the national government would have been unable to intervene. Hamilton also discusses the inability of the national government under the Articles to effectively collect revenue from the states. National expenses were — and had been — paid for by revenue collected from the states, yet the government lacked any means of compelling states to pay amounts owed or even of determining what those amounts should be.

Hamilton contends that there is no impartial way to determine how much each state should contribute in revenue. He therefore argues that the national government should possess the power to enforce a nationwide consumption tax paid directly to the national government by all citizens. If citizens wished to pay less in consumption tax, they would simply need to consume less — maintaining the tax rate at a sensible and manageable level. This consumption tax is analogous to the modern sales tax. Several economists agree that a national sales tax, rather than a patchwork of state sales taxes, could help eliminate unnecessary taxes, give citizens more control over how much they pay, and provide better tools for regulating national consumption.

Federalist No. 51: Checks, Balances, and the Control of Government

Federalist No. 51 is one of the most recognizable and central of the Federalist Papers, famously contending that one must first enable the government to regulate the governed, and then oblige it to control itself. The authors propose that part of this responsibility involves the operative cooperation of an organization built on separated powers (Bingham and O'Leary 78). Madison's argument naturally relies not only on formal institutions, which could be designed, but also on the specific sociological character of American society — which he regarded as a fortunate starting point for the writers of the new constitution. The institutional element in his solution was checks and balances, ensuring numerous access points into government and numerous ways to counterbalance the power that any one branch might accumulate over another.

Madison began his argument in Federalist No. 51 with the acknowledgment that the "have-nots" in any society are exceedingly likely to encroach upon the "haves." Class struggle, in essence, becomes entangled with politics. As he wrote: "But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others." (Hamilton, Madison and Jay 336) To mitigate class struggle and achieve effective rule, one must unite a country through common interest and the preservation of rights. Hamilton explains the importance of sanction and the need to compel compliance while punishing noncompliance:

"The next most palpable defect of the subsisting Confederation, is the total want of a SANCTION to its laws. The United States, as now composed, have no powers to exact obedience, or punish disobedience to their resolutions, either by pecuniary mulcts, by a suspension or divestiture of privileges, or by any other constitutional mode." (Hamilton et al. 52)

Conclusion

The Federalist Papers were a means of arguing, criticizing, and highlighting ways to make the United States government better. Without them, the current government would be devoid of its present functioning structure. The Federalist Papers provided the nation a framework for self-governance and self-management that has endured for centuries.

Works Cited

Bingham, Lisa Blomgren, and Rosemary O'Leary. "Federalist No. 51: Is the Past Relevant to Today's Collaborative Public Management?" Public Administration Review 71.s1 (2011): 78–82. Print.

Hamilton, Alexander, et al. Selected Federalist Papers. 1st ed. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2001. Print.

Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers. 1st ed. New York: Cosimo Classics, 2006. Print.