The Mask of Publius

Alexander Hamilton and the Politics of Expediency

Bibliographic Data

ID13044598
AuthorsQuentin Taylor (Rogers State University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume5
Issue1
Pages55-79
Publication date2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Thought (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2161-1580 • E-ISSN: 2161-1599
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/684559
OpenAlexW2283035205
LanguageEN
References cited25

The little that has been written on the relation between Madison’s and Hamilton’s private views on the Constitution and those found in The Federalist tends to support the surmise of Jefferson: that in places the authors defended positions to which they did not fully adhere. In Hamilton’s case, this is a major understatement. And yet a careful reading of his Federalist essays points to something far more complex and nuanced than a simple act of concealing his actual views or putting the best face on a plan he discountenanced. Undoubtedly, there are instances where he did both, but it is far more characteristic of him to engage in something quite different and admittedly ingenious: the creative act of construing the document in such a way as to stretch its meaning to accord more closely with the high-toned plan of government he outlined in the Federal Convention

Constitution · Convention · Epistemology · Federalist · Government (linguistics · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Original meaning · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Relation (database · Simple (philosophy · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Computer Science · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence

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