Editing Alexander Hamilton (section)

===Constitution and ''The Federalist Papers''===
{{Main|United States Constitution|The Federalist Papers}}
[[File:Alexander Hamilton making the first draft of the Constitution for the United States 1787 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1|Portrait of Hamilton authoring the first draft of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in 1787]]

In 1787, Hamilton served as assemblyman from [[New York County]] in the [[New York State Legislature]] and was chosen as a delegate at the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] in [[Philadelphia]] by his father-in-law [[Philip Schuyler]].<ref name=schachner>{{cite book |last=Schachner |first=Nathan |title=Alexander Hamilton |url=https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto0000scha_p8e9 |location=New York |publisher=D. Appleton Century |asin=B0006AQUG2 |year=1946}}</ref>{{rp|191}}<ref>Morton, p. 169.</ref> Even though Hamilton had been a leader in calling for a new Constitutional Convention, his direct influence at the Convention itself was quite limited. Governor [[George Clinton (vice president)|George Clinton]]'s faction in the New York legislature had chosen New York's other two delegates, [[John Lansing Jr.]] and [[Robert Yates (politician)|Robert Yates]], and both of them opposed Hamilton's goal of a strong national government.<ref name=chernow227-228>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n246 pp. 227–228].</ref><ref name=Morton15>Morton, p. 131.</ref> Thus, whenever the other two members of the New York delegation were present, they decided New York's vote, to ensure that there were no major alterations to the Articles of Confederation.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|195}}

Early in the convention, Hamilton made a speech proposing a president-for-life; it had no effect upon the deliberations of the convention. [[Constitutional Convention (United States)#Alternative plans|He proposed]] to have an elected president and elected [[United States Senate|senators]] who would serve for life, contingent upon "good behavior" and subject to removal for corruption or abuse; this idea contributed later to the hostile view of Hamilton as a monarchist sympathizer, held by James Madison.<ref name=chernow232>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n251 p. 232].</ref> According to Madison's notes, Hamilton said in regards to the executive, "The English model was the only good one on this subject. The hereditary interest of the king was so interwoven with that of the nation, and his personal emoluments so great, that he was placed above the danger of being corrupted from abroad... Let one executive be appointed for life who dares execute his powers."<ref name=LarsonWinship2005>{{cite book |last=Madison |first=James |title=The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison |editor1-first=Edward J. |editor1-last=Larson |editor2-first=Michael P. |editor2-last=Winship |location=New York |publisher=Modern Library |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKk_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |pages=50–51 |isbn=978-0-8129-7517-8}}</ref>

Hamilton argued, "And let me observe that an executive is less dangerous to the liberties of the people when in office during life than for seven years. It may be said this constitutes as an elective monarchy ... But by making the executive subject to [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]], the term 'monarchy' cannot apply ..."<ref name=LarsonWinship2005/> In his notes of the convention, Madison interpreted Hamilton's proposal as claiming power for the "rich and well born". Madison's perspective all but isolated Hamilton from his fellow delegates and others who felt they did not reflect the ideas of revolution and liberty.<ref>[[#stewart|Stewart, 2016]], p. 33</ref>

During the convention, Hamilton constructed a draft for the Constitution based on the convention debates, but he never presented it. This draft had most of the features of the actual Constitution. In this draft, the Senate was to be elected in proportion to the population, being two-fifths the size of the House, and the president and senators were to be elected through complex multistage elections, in which chosen electors would elect smaller bodies of electors; they would hold office for life, but were removable for misconduct. The president would have an absolute veto. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] was to have immediate jurisdiction over all lawsuits involving the United States, and state governors were to be appointed by the federal government.<ref>Mitchell, pp. I:397–398.</ref>

At the end of the convention, Hamilton was still not content with the final Constitution, but signed it anyway as a vast improvement over the Articles of Confederation, and urged his fellow delegates to do so also.<ref>Brant, p. 195.</ref> Since the other two members of the New York delegation, Lansing and Yates, had already withdrawn, Hamilton was the only New York signer to the United States Constitution.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|206}} He then took a highly active part in the successful campaign for the document's ratification in New York in 1788, which was a crucial step in its national ratification. He first used the popularity of the Constitution by the masses to compel George Clinton to sign, but was unsuccessful. The state convention in Poughkeepsie in June 1788 pitted Hamilton, Jay, [[James Duane]], [[Robert Le Roy Livingston|Robert Livingston]], and Richard Morris against the Clintonian faction led by [[Melancton Smith]], Lansing, Yates, and [[Gilbert Livingston (legislator)|Gilbert Livingston]].<ref name=Denboer15>Denboer, p. 196.</ref>

Clinton's faction wanted to amend the Constitution, while maintaining the state's right to secede if their attempts failed, and members of Hamilton's faction were against any conditional ratification, under the impression that New York would not be accepted into the Union. During the state convention, New Hampshire and Virginia becoming the ninth and tenth states to ratify the Constitution, respectively, had ensured any adjournment would not happen and a compromise would have to be reached.<ref name=Denboer15/><ref name=Kaplan15>Kaplan, p. 75.</ref> Hamilton's arguments used for the ratifications were largely iterations of work from ''The Federalist Papers'', and Smith eventually went for ratification, though it was more out of necessity than Hamilton's rhetoric.<ref name=Kaplan15/> The vote in the state convention was ratified 30 to 27, on July 26, 1788.<ref>Denboer, p. 197.</ref>

====''The Federalist Papers''====
Hamilton recruited John Jay and James Madison to write ''The Federalist Papers'', a series of essays, to defend the proposed Constitution. He made the largest contribution to that effort, writing 51 of the 85 essays published. Hamilton supervised the entire project, enlisted the participants, wrote the majority of the essays, and oversaw the publication. During the project, each person was responsible for their areas of expertise. Jay covered foreign relations. Madison covered the history of republics and confederacies, along with the anatomy of the new government. Hamilton covered the branches of government most pertinent to him: the executive and judicial branches, with some aspects of the Senate, as well as covering military matters and taxation.<ref name=chernow247>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n266 pp. 247–248].</ref> The papers first appeared in ''[[The Independent Journal]]'' on October 27, 1787.<ref name=chernow247/>

Hamilton wrote the first paper signed as [[Publius (praenomen)|Publius]], and all of the subsequent papers were signed under the name.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|210}} Jay wrote the next four papers to elaborate on the confederation's weakness and the need for unity against foreign aggression and against splitting into rival confederacies, and, except for [[Federalist No. 64|No. 64]], was not further involved.<ref name=chernow252-257>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n271 pp. 252–257].</ref><ref name=schachner />{{rp|211}} Hamilton's highlights included discussion that although republics have been culpable for disorders in the past, advances in the "science of politics" had fostered principles that ensured that those abuses could be prevented, such as the division of powers, legislative checks and balances, an independent judiciary, and legislators that were represented by electors (No. 7–9).<ref name=chernow252-257/> Hamilton also wrote an extensive defense of the constitution (No. 23–36), and discussed the Senate and executive and judicial branches (No. 65–85). Hamilton and Madison worked to describe the anarchic state of the confederation (No. 15–22), and the two have been described as not being significantly different in thought during this time period—in contrast to their stark opposition later in life.<ref name=chernow252-257/> Subtle differences appeared with the two when discussing the necessity of standing armies.<ref name=chernow252-257/>