Jul 19

Jul 19 The Same But Better - Madison Loses His Cool in Federalist #38

Federalist #38 is a lot of fun because it is the first time the calm and collected James Madison loses his cool just a little bit.

Madison goes after the Anti-Federalists directly and throws a pretty hilarious metaphor their way.

Don’t forget, I’m starting a tour of the New York Capital Region today, so make sure you follow at least one of my social media accounts to keep up with the fun!!!!

Federalist #38

January 15, 1788

James Madison

A Bit Like Hamilton

Federalist #38 is much longer than most of the Papers, so I will attempt to sum it up as briefly as possible.

In this essay, James Madison pulls a Hamilton for the first time. By this I mean, he attacks the Anti-Federalists head on. Instead of going line-by-line and argument-by-argument, this review will look at #38 in general.

As usual, James does this with a much more mature flare than Alexander does. However, for the first time, you can see Madison’s passion coming through.

More Minds

Madison spends the first several paragraphs giving several history lessons about past constitutions around the world. He is goal with this tactic is primarily to demonstrate that previous attempts at creating a republican government were done by just one person.

By contrast, the United States Constitution was written by a large group of men from various backgrounds and lifestyles.

From Madison’s perspective, this immediately gives the document an air of legitimacy.

So Many Anti-Federal Opinions

James leaves behind the history lesson to direct his attention toward the Anti-Federalist opposition.

He notes how challenging it is to argue with Anti-Federalists, because they all seemed to have separate complaints. Though he does look particularly at many of these complaints, his overall assessment is that they seem to be grasping at straws.

Perhaps his most scathing attack is when he floats the fact that none of the Anti-Federalists have proposed anything better.

The Same But Better

Furthermore, Madison points out that the Articles of Confederation and Constitution were both created with the same goal in mind...have an organized, federated government.

The Constitution, he summarizes, simply does a better job of allowing the Federal Government to do the work it needs to do.

The Cure

Finally, Federalist #38 has a very appealing metaphor: It looks at the United States as a sick patient.

The Delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention were all doctors who eventually, began recommending the same cure.

Now that the ailment has begun to heal, the Anti-Federalist show up with their quack elixirs and claim that the medicine which had finally been agreed upon is what made the patient sick in the first place.

Have you missed our previous Federalist Friday articles?

Take a look at the full list here.

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