His Views, However, Were Represented By Madison; And It Is
Now Generally Understood That The Constitution As It Stands Is
The
joint work of Madison and Hamilton.* The democratic bias, of which
it necessarily contains much, and without which it
Could not have
obtained the consent of the people, was furnished by Madison; but
the conservative elements, of which it possesses much more than
superficial observers of the American form of government are wont to
believe, came from Hamilton.
* It should, perhaps, be explained that the views of Madison were
originally not opposed to those of Hamilton. Madison, however,
gradually adopted the policy of Jefferson - his policy rather than
his philosophy.
The very preamble of the Constitution at once declares that the
people of the different States do hereby join themselves together
with the view of forming themselves into one nation. "We, the
people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Here
a great step was made toward centralization, toward one national
government, and the binding together of the States into one nation.
But from that time down to the present the contest has been going
on, sometimes openly and sometimes only within the minds of men,
between the still alleged sovereignty of the individual States and
the acknowledged sovereignty of the central Congress and central
government.
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