What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Federalist Paper

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The Federalist Papers were written to calm the different fears that many Americans at the time felt about having a strong national government. Much of the fear was instituted into the minds of Americans from the harsh abuse of power from the British Empire during the time period of 1763 – 1775. These Federalist Papers not only alleviate the fear of Americans but also as an effective system of government to deals with many of the issues under the current Articles of Confederation. Some of these issues including the treatment of the US from other foreign nations, the struggles of dealing with a failing economy, the lack of power for the government to raise a militia, and as well as problems with democracy. American citizens were in …show more content…

Foreign nations did not taking the US seriously in any manner. Even after gaining independence, the US was not seen as the powerful nation it was. Foreign nations took advantage of this weakness. Britain tried to exploit the rift of settlers in Vermont by offering them aid and to join the British colony of Canada. Also, Spain didn’t give trading rights to people southwest of the Mississippi for a long time. This weakness of a nation hurt in its trading opportunities. Lack of trading with foreign nations was a big hit to the economy. With a powerful national government mentioned in the Federalist Papers, the national government would have the power to raise a militia at any time. This federal power would be crucial in achieve in respect from foreign nations especially in methods of trading. In Article 11, Madison states, “In the prosecution of military operations in the West Indies, it will readily be perceived that a situation so favorable would enable us to bargain with great advantage for commercial privileges.” The US was much divided between the North and South in between different methods of labor. While the North was more industrial and the South was very preoccupied with economic gains from slavery. This division of methods of labor would only inspire different foreign nations to trade with different parts of the US. This …show more content…

One of the biggest problems of government is making decisions that favor the majority of the society especially the working class. Without a strong national government usually one side is favored while the other is not accounted for. There needs to be a huge part of government that will make decisions benefiting both sides of the majority of the working class both land owners and non-land owning citizens. In Article 10 Madison states, “But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.” Government with stronger state governments tend to give a bias to a particular class than the other. This lack of full representation of all types of working citizens is left unrepresented without a strong national government. Another important factor pointed out on the economic failure the Federalist Papers point out is the lack of money to pay for the amount of debt the US was in at the time. Without the power of the national government the debt from the revolutionary war. The debt could be slowly paid off from proper taxation of all the states in a unified effort. In Article 30, Madison states, “From the scantiness of the resources of the country, the necessity of diverting the established funds in the case supposed

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