1The Examination Number XIII, [27 February 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
The advocates of the power of Congress to abolish the Judges, endeavor to deduce a presumption of intention favorable to their doctrine, from this argument—The provision concerning the tenure of office (say they) ought to be viewed as a restraint upon the Executive Department, because , to this Department belongs the power of removal; in like manner as the provision concerning the diminution...
2The Examination Number XIV, [2 March 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
In the course of the debate in the Senate, much verbal criticism has been indulged; many important inferences have been attempted to be drawn from distinctions between the words shall and may . This species of discussion will not be imitated, because it is seldom very instructive or satisfactory. These terms, in particular cases, are frequently synonymous, and are imperative or permissive,...
3The Examination Number I, [17 December 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
Instead of delivering a speech to the House of Congress, at the opening of the present session, the President has thought fit to transmit a Message . Whether this has proceeded from pride or from humility, from a temperate love of reform, or from a wild spirit of innovation, is submitted to the conjectures of the curious. A single observation shall be indulged—since all agree, that he is...
4The Examination Number III, [24 December 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
Had our laws been less provident than they have been, yet must it give us a very humble idea of the talents of our President as a statesman, to find him embarrassed between an absolute abandonment of revenue, and an inconvenient accumulation of treasure. Pursuing the doctrine professed by his sect , that our public debt is a national curse which cannot too promptly be removed, and adhering to...
5The Examination Number XVI, [19 March 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
The President, as a politician, is in one sense particularly unfortunate. He furnishes frequent opportunities of arraying him against himself—of combating his opinions at one period by his opinions at another. Without doubt, a wise and good man may, on proper grounds relinquish an opinion which he has once entertained, and the change may even serve as a proof of candour and integrity. But with...
6The Examination Number IV, [26 December 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
It is a matter of surprise to observe a proposition to diminish the revenue, associated with intimations which appear to contemplate war. The suggestions in the Message respecting the Barbary States, plainly enough imply, that treaties are found to be too feeble cords to bind them; and that a resort to coercive means will probably be requisite to enforce a greater sense of justice towards us....
7The Examination Number VI, [2 January 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
In answer to the observations in the last number it may perhaps be said that the Message meant nothing more than to condemn the recent multiplication of Federal Courts, and to bring them back to their original organization: considering it as adequate to all the purposes of the Constitution; to all the ends of justice and policy. Towards forming a right judgment on this subject, it may be...
8The Examination Number X, [19 January 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
The same Subject continued. As to Holland being the second power which acknowledged our Independence, and made a treaty with us, a step which involved her in war with Great Britain, it was deemed proper to treat her with a marked respect. Besides this, from the time of our revolution to the present, we have had large money concerns with her people. A trusty and skilful public agent was for a...
9The Examination Number XI, [3 February 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
The Message observes that “in our care of the public contributions entrusted to our direction, it would be prudent to multiply barriers against the dissipation of public money, appropriating specific sums to every specific purpose, susceptible of definition; by disallowing all applications of money varying from the appropriation in object, or transcending it in amount by reducing the undefined...
10The Examination Number XV, [3 March 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
It is generally understood that the Essays under the Title of the Federalist, which were published at New York, while the plan of our present Federal Constitution was under the consideration of the people, were principally written by two persons James Madison, now Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton, formerly Secretary of the Treasury. who had been members of the Convention which devised...
11The Examination Number II, [21 December 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
The next most prominent feature in the Message, is the proposal to abandon at once all the internal revenue of the country. The motives avowed for this astonishing scheme, are that “there is reasonable ground of confidence that this part of the revenue may now be safely dispensed with—that the remaining sources will be sufficient to provide for the support of government, to pay the interest of...
12The Examination Number V, [29 December 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
In the rage for change, or under the stimulus of a deep-rooted animosity against the former administrations, or for the sake of gaining popular favor by a profuse display of extraordinary zeal for economy, even our judiciary system has not passed unassailed. The attack here is not so open as that on the revenue; but when we are told that the states individually have “ principal care of our...
13The Examination Number XVII, [20 March 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
It was intended to have concluded the argument respecting the Judiciary Department with the last number. But a speech lately delivered By Mr. Giles in the House of Representatives, having since appeared, which brings forward one new position, and reiterates some others in a form well calculated to excite prejudice, it may not be useless to devote some further attention to the subject. The new...
14The Examination Number VII, [7 January 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
The next exceptionable feature in the Message, is the proposal to abolish all restriction on naturalization, arising from a previous residence. In this the President is not more at variance with the concurrent maxims of all commentators on popular governments, than he is with himself. The Notes on Virginia are in direct contradiction to the Message, and furnish us with strong reasons against...
15The Examination Number VIII, [12 January 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
Resuming the subject of our last paper we proceed to trace still farther, the consequences that must result from a too unqualified admission of foreigners, to an equal participation in our civil, and political rights. The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common National sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign...
16The Examination (concluded) Number XVIII, [8 April 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
In order to cajole the people, the Message abounds with all the common-place of popular harrangue, and prefers claims of merit, for circumstances of equivocal or of trivial value. With pompous absurdity are we told of the “ multiplication of men, susceptible of happiness ,” (as if this susceptibility were a privilege peculiar to our climate) “ habituated to self-government, and valuing its...
17The Examination Number IX, [18 January 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
The leading points of the Message have been sufficiently canvassed, and it is believed to have been fully demonstrated, that this communication is chargeable with all the faults which were imputed to it on the outset of the Examination. We have shewn that it has made or attempted to make prodigal sacrifices of constitutional energy, of sound principle, and of public interest. In the doctrine...
18The Examination Number XII, [23 February 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
From the manner in which the subject was treated in the fifth and sixth numbers of The Examination, it has been doubted, whether the writer did or did not entertain a decided opinion as to the power of Congress to abolish the offices and compensations of Judges, once instituted and appointed pursuant to a law of the United States. In a matter of such high constitutional moment, it is a sacred...