Analytical Essay: The Campaign For The Constitution

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The campaign for the Constitution was a long one and during it Hamilton, along with John Jay and James Madison, took up the pseudonym “Publius” and wrote essays to newspapers across the nation, encouraging the public to vote in favor of ratifying the Constitution. In all, there were eighty-five essays that came to be known as “The Federalist Papers.” John Jay wrote two, Madison wrote thirty-two, and Hamilton wrote all of the remaining fifty-one. The most well known essay of the collection was Federalist No. 84, written by Hamilton, which first proposed the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution in ensure the rights of the states were honored (Foner Web; Witten Web; Hamilton Print). After the Constitution was ratified in 1787 and George Washington was elected as President in 1789, Hamilton was appointed as his Secretary of the Treasury, making him the first to hold the position. This put him in charge of the economic and financial stability of a nation which was facing massive war debts and had little to no connected federal infrastructure in either areas. He was not cowed by this, however, and used the leeway the Constitution provided in regards to his powers and his political connections to his advantage in passing the programs and laws he wanted to put in place. …show more content…

Madison promised that he would aid the bill’s passage if Hamilton traded the rights of New York to be the nation’s capital. The deal was struck, the bill passed, and the event incidentally helped create the area now called Washington D.C. (PBS

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