Presidential Appointments - Federalist #76
In Federalist #76 Alexander Hamilton discusses the process by which political appointments are made.
Federalist #76
Alexander Hamilton
April 1, 1788
In Federalist #76 Alexander Hamilton promotes the provision in the Constitution to allow the President to make political appointments with the consent of the Senate.
He outlines the possible methods by which this could be done then makes a prediction that turned out to be proven wrong.
Checks and Balances
Hamilton argues that there are only three ways which political appointments can be made...by the President, by the Senate, or by the President with the approval of the Senate.
The latter is the method chosen in the Constitution because it conforms to the Checks and Balances process the Frames were trying so hard to achieve.
The President alone could appoint cronies while the Senate alone would be the victim of partisan divides.
Invalid Prediction
Interestingly, Hamilton predicts that the virtue of Senators (virtue being seen as a necessary element of a successful Republic) meant they would infrequently resort to holding up appointments for political reasons.
This thought was proven wrong fairly quickly and continues as a problem through modern times, with politicians slowing down the approval of citizens of character based on ideological disagreements with their opponent.
I publish Federalist summaries every Friday (and stories about random Founders the other six days of the week).
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Do you love what the Founders had to say?
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