Book Review: The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Jay, and Madison

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

After the success of the American War of Independence, the newly united colonies adopted the Articles of Confederation to create a federal government over the thirteen states. That government turned out to be disastrously dysfunctional. Recognizing the need for a stronger and more well-crafted federal government, the states sent representatives to Philadelphia to draft the Constitution of the United States. In the interests of persuading the State of New York to approve the Constitution, three men wrote a series of articles in favor from October 1787 to April 1788 under the pseudonym Publius. The papers were subsequently published as a book and stand as a thorough explanation of the benefits of the new American Constitution.

The series starts at a higher level, discussing the nature of a republic then working its way down into the various articles in the Constitution. The discussions of the legislative, executive, and judiciary are quite thorough, answering specific objections and potential problems that might arise. The authors reference classical republics like in ancient Rome and Greece (they love Plutarch's Lives!) as well as more contemporary examples from Europe, especially Great Britain. They also cite the various constitutions of the various states, comparing how they handle legislatures, executives, and judiciaries, focusing on what can be learned from those contemporary experiences and examples.

The Constitution is clearly designed to balance out the powers of the various branches of government so no one branch can be dominant. The executive can put a check on laws passed by the legislature, forcing them to have a large majority to override a presidential veto. The judiciary (which they thought was the weakest part of the government) can judge certain actions or laws as compatible with the Constitution and the subsequent laws of the land, but they have no ability to craft or enforce laws. Several powers are spread over branches, like the appointment of ambassadors. The executive nominates candidates who need approval from the Senate, keeping crass cronyism by the executive in check. The legislature needs to be careful using that power too, risking an appearance of political obstruction rather than proper governing. The checks and balances keep people from giving in to their worse instincts or exploiting their positions for personal gains. The sense of the fallenness of human nature is palpable. The needed correctives make a lot of sense, discouraging bad behavior and encouraging virtuous action.

Some things have changed since the Federalist Papers, like the election of the President. Rather than voting on electors who will subsequently vote on the President, the American system has adapted somewhat, with a state's majority candidate receiving the votes assigned to that state (the number of Representatives plus two for the Senators). The system was designed from the beginning to be adaptable. They anticipated the House of Representatives could grow to 100 or 200 members, even though now it is 435. Having a deliberately dynamic Constitution has enabled the country to last so long, even through mistakes like slavery and and flip-flopping on Prohibition. 

These papers, even though they are political commentary that's over 200 years old, are well worth reading for a better understanding of how the Founding Fathers thought a political system should work and how our country has lasted so long through so many challenges.

Highly recommended.

Arizona Capitol

The Arizona Capitol building is interesting in that, like the Annapolis Capitol, it was built before statehood. Construction began in 1898 and was used as the territorial Capitol from 1901. Arizona became a state in 1912, the last of the forty-eight contiguous states. The government quickly outgrew the building, leading to further construction in the area. The building has been turned into a museum dedicated to the history of Arizona, both good and bad.

Arizona Capitol Museum

The copper dome (Arizona has many copper mines) has a statue of Winged Victory, also referred to as the Greek goddess Nike.

Winged victory

The building has four floors with a rotunda in the middle. Originally, the first floor was supposed to be the basement with a grand staircase leading up to the second floor. Now, the chandelier hangs at the second-floor level to illuminate the rotunda. 

Chandelier

Interestingly, during construction, both electric lights and gas lights were added. The only power plant in Phoenix at the time was for the electric trolley system. The Capitol used the troll's generator but it only ran during the day. For lights at night, gas was used. So all of the light fixtures had downward-facing electric bulbs and upward-facing gas lights. They have subsequently been refitted to be only electric lights.

Light goes in every direction

Inside the copper dome

View from the top

The second floor is where the supposed main doors are located. The open out into the air, so they remain locked. Except when maintenance has to clean the bird poop off the outside! The original plan was to make a grand staircase leading up to the doors but the budget fell short.

Door to nowhere

On the first floor, I visited the Buffalo Soldiers exhibit. The Buffalo Soldiers were the black cavalry troops formed after the American Civil War. They fought in the Arizona territory (among other areas) against the Native Americans. The exhibit ends with a room dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.

Statue of a Buffalo Soldier

A field uniform

A cavalry coat

A short movie on the soldiers

Civil rights in Arizona

Across the hall is an exhibit dedicated to the USS Arizona, a ship that was sunk during the Bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The hall has a model of the ship.

USS Arizona

A lot of the formal silver from the ship is on display.

Punch bowl

Other fancy silver

A piece of the hull was taken out (the ship is still underwater in Honolulu Harbor) and has wound up at the museum.

USS Arizona hull

Map of the Pearl Harbor bombing

The highlight of the second floor is the Iron Rails Connecting the Copper State exhibit. The Arizona Railroad Historical Society is building a large miniature train set representing the whole state. In a nod to history, the set represents Arizona in the 1950s. The train set is still being built. It was supposed to be finished in 2022 but the Covid lockdown slowed the project down. In another nod to history, the budget for the train set is similar to the late 1800s cost to build the entire building, approximately $136,000.

Massive train set

A bit of Phoenix

One of the unifying themes of the set is Arizona's 5 Cs. Cattle was first on display. They were raised in the Phoenix area and other environs. Phoenix had one of the largest stockyards owned by a single owner.

Cattle yards in Phoenix

Another C is Citrus. With the desert environment, citrus trees grew well, except for the heavy sunshine. The railroad modeler giving a tour of the set said that they painted the trunks of the trees white to reflect the heat away. My use of the word "they" is intentionally ambiguous, since both the Arizonans from a hundred years ago and the railroad modelers both painted their respective tree trunks.

Arizona citrus

Cotton was another big industry. Egyptian cotton became popular but could not be grown in the wetter climate of the eastern American south, so the industry sprang up here. This might be one part of the display that isn't finished yet. 

Cotton

Just above cotton is the city of Prescott, one of the early territorial capitals. There was some wrangling over where the capital should be, with Tucson and Prescott competing. Eventually, the geographically middle compromise of Phoenix as the capital won the day.

Prescott

The fourth C is Climate. People came to Arizona for the dry, healthful air. A famous example is Doc Holliday, part of Wyatt Earp's retinue. Holliday had tuberculosis. 

The climate section

The fifth C is not Cactus, though the model railroaders made a joke adding two additional Cs, one being Cactus.

Plenty of that around here

Nor is fifth C for Canyon, as in the Grand Canyon. The canyon is at the end of the display but that part is still being worked on. A photo is on the outside and the other face of the canyon is on the side of the display. An artist is painting the river on the floor but the paint was still drying when I visited, so I could only get a picture from further away.

Grand Canyon

The fifth C is Copper, a mineral readily available in the area. The guy working on the display said that copper is represented by all the copper wiring that electrifies the system!

Out in the hall is a Lego recreation of the state flag. They had to get custom-colored pieces for the dark blue and the red. The flag is made of 113,998 bricks because that is also how many square miles of land are in Arizona!

Arizona flag

The hall also has signs of various state items, the most fun of which is the state dinosaur, the Sonorasaurus. It's a Sonora lizard!

Sonorasaurus

This survey chain was used in measuring the land back in the territorial days.

Survey chain

A map shows the tribes that inhabited the area before European and Eastern Americans came.

Earlier civilizations

The governor's rooms have portraits and a few items from previous occupants.

Portrait gallery

Governor's office sans furniture

Items from popular governor George Hunt

Another exhibit details the history of the World War II Japanese Internment Camps that were in Arizona. President Roosevelt signed an order to displace Japanese-Americans on the west coast for fear of where their loyalties lie. The border line ran through Arizona.

Map of divide

The camps involved forced labor, some to support the war effort.

Enforced labor

Items used in the camp (some made there)

An effort was made to Christianize the Japanese-Americans even though the camps officially allowed freedom of worship. Shinto and Buddhist practices were allowed and thrived to some degree.

Religious practices

The older, first-generation immigrant prisoners often did not know much English and did not do a lot of the official work because of the communication barrier. Some turned to making art to alleviate boredom. Examples of lapel pins are on display, featuring birds carved out of scraps of wood or metal.

Art from the camps

Back in the main hall, a display shows various ores that are found in Arizona.

Natural resources

Another exhibit is dedicated to women's suffrage and prominent women from the state. 

Suffrage statue

More stuff from the suffrage era

The third floor has the meeting chambers for the legislative and judicial branches of the government. The house floor is open to visitors. The house chamber is decorated as it was during the Arizona Constitutional Convention, one of the steps the territory had to go through before becoming a state.

House chamber

More of the house chamber

View from the gallery

A sample desk

The Arizona supreme court room is not very large at all.

Supreme court room

Another famous Arizonan!

View from the gallery of the supreme court

The senate chamber is loaned out to civic groups who want to use it for ceremonies. When I visited, the doors were locked for a later event. After visiting the museum, I walked over to the current senate building to get a picture.

Current senate

On the fourth floor of the museum is a model of the building with a removable roof!

Model

An old-time-style map shows the original trolley routes in Phoenix.

Metro map!

An exhibit talks about the construction of the building. Part of the work was putting the state's seal in the floor of the rotunda. The artists were given a description of the seal and recreated it almost perfectly...they left out the cow that's supposed to be in the bottom right.

Explanation of the error

The seal in the floor

The proper seal

"Ditat Deus" means "God Enriches" and is the state motto. It refers to the wealth of resources in the state and is a nice expression of gratitude for such abundance.

The capitol museum is a great place to visit, with a lot of information about the history of Arizona.