Hamilton’s extended meditation on the importance of a federal army continued in Federalist #28, the penultimate essay on the topic.

The debates concerning a standing army take an interesting turn in Federalist #27.

If you had asked educated Americans during the Constitutional period when America was “founded,” they likely would have answered “1688.”

Last week, in discussing Federalist #24, I rehearsed in some detail some of the antifederalist arguments concerning a standing army, the main subject of Hamilton’s essays 24-29.

The next six Federalist essays (24-29), all written by Hamilton, deal with one of the most controversial powers in the Constitution: the ability to create a standing army, which, the critics claimed, posed an essential and enduring threat to liberty.

Federalist 23, while repeating many themes previously explored, begins in an interesting fashion: with a concession.

In Federalist 22 Hamilton reviews and repeats some of his earlier arguments concerning commerce and the need for a central authority that regulates and sets uniform standards.

After Madison’s digression into history in the previous three papers, Hamilton returns his attention in Federalist 21 to what he regards as the greatest flaws of the government under the Articles of Confederation…

The use and interpretation of the historical record presents one of the more interesting aspects of the American Constitutional period.

At the end of Federalist 16 Hamilton wisely warned us against expecting too much from either government itself or a plan for government.

In Federalist 16, Hamilton continued the argument he made in 15 and raises the stakes.

The challenges of a lack of union, especially a problem in trade and commerce and security, occupied Publius in essays 11-14; in the subsequent nine essays thoughts concerning the crisis of union achieve a heightened clarity.

Madison begins Federalist 14 by restating the arguments made in the first 13 papers

In March of 1785 the Continental Congress entertained a motion to amend section 9 of the Articles of Confederation, giving Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign powers and among the states.

Having dealt with the disease of faction attendant to republican forms of government, Hamilton, in Federalist #11 returns to the issue of unity.

In my last essay, part 1 of a reflection Federalist #10, I dealt with Madison’s definition of faction.

Federalist 10, along with 51, are the two best-known of the 85 essays.

After directing his attention to the problems of internal dissolution, Hamilton expands on the problem in Federalist #9, one of his most carefully thought through essays, and one that draws on a number of different sources for his argument.

Outside the screened-in porch and downwind from us fourteen lambs graze in the dark.

John Jay fell ill after he completed the fifth Federalist, contributing only one more to the series (No. 64).