January is the birth month of 3 Founding Father. Alexander Hamilton originally advocated for limited, constrained powers for the federal government, yet used “Implied Powers” to justify unrestrained growth.
The Founding Capricorns
These are the Founding Fathers who are, like Elvis and Zee, Capricorns
Alexander Hamilton Was A Capricorn
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/alexander-hamilton
Hamilton was born on January 11, in 1755 or 1757 at Charlestown, on the British island of Nevis. His parents, Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton, were not married when he was born. James abandoned the family in 1766 and Rachel died in 1768. Hamilton spent his adolescence on the Danish possession of St. Croix.
Hamilton is considered to be a genius, given his accomplishments by the age of 30. While orphaned at the age of 11, he avoided this sentence to poverty. His remarkable abilities to learn gained him recognition that prompted his enrollment in a British school in New Jersey. This was his ticket out of the British Isles.
Accomplishments
Contributions to the Continental Congress
Military Service:
During the American Revolutionary War, Hamilton served as a captain in the artillery and quickly gained recognition for his leadership skills. He became an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, where he played a crucial role in strategic planning and correspondence.
Advocacy for Strong Central Government:
Disillusioned by the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, Hamilton became an advocate for a stronger national government. He believed that effective governance was essential for maintaining order and promoting economic stability.
Role at the Constitutional Convention
Hamilton attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 as a delegate from New York. He was one of the strongest proponents of a robust federal government. On June 18, 1787, he presented his own plan for government, which called for a strong executive branch and a bicameral legislature. Although his proposal was not adopted, it set the stage for discussions that would lead to compromises within the Virginia Plan and ultimately shape the Constitution.
The Federalist Papers
After the Constitution was drafted, Hamilton collaborated with James Madison and John Jay to write The Federalist Papers, a series of essays advocating for ratification. Hamilton authored 51 of the 85 essays, articulating arguments for a strong central government and addressing concerns raised by Anti-Federalists.
Contribution as Secretary of the Treasury
First Secretary of the Treasury:
Appointed by President George Washington in 1789, Hamilton laid the groundwork for America’s financial system. He implemented policies that established federal credit and created a national bank.
Economic Policies:
In his “Report on Public Credit,” he proposed that the federal government assume state debts from the Revolutionary War to stabilize national finances. His plans included tariffs on imports to generate revenue and encourage domestic manufacturing.
Founding Political Parties:
Hamilton’s vision for America led him to become a leading figure in forming the Federalist Party, which supported a strong central government and economic policies favoring commerce and industry.
Ignored At The Constitutional Convention
The Founders and the Constitution: Alexander Hamilton
On June 18, 1787, he delivered a day-long speech outlining his proposals. These proposals stretched the concept of “republican government” to the breaking point. Hamilton advocated:
a chief executive elected indirectly for life with an absolute veto over legislation;
a bicameral legislature with an elected lower house balanced by a senate indirectly elected for life;
appointment of state governors by the national authorities, with each governor to enjoy an absolute veto over state laws; and
almost no restraints on the power of the central government.
Hamilton’s Arguments in Federalist 9
Hamilton saw threats to unity:
A firm union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the states, as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection. It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy, without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions, by which they were kept perpetually vibrating between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy. If they exhibit occasional calms, these only serve as short-lived contrasts to the furious storms that are to succeed.
Government’s role was to take steps to prevent factions from forming in the first place, as a faction could generate violence and as Hamilton demonstrated, could end the stability of a government. This illustrates a dichotomy between liberty and security. The trouble with a majority rule is that it sewed the seeds for discontent that a dictator such as Napoleon could capitalize on.
Preserving Liberty and Preventing Authoritarian Government Was Hamilton’s Prime Argument To Preventing Factions
Hamilton was instrumental in fostering an environment of debate in order to show case the concepts that comprised the strength of the Constitution.
During the ratification debates, proponents of the Constitution, including Hamilton, argued for a limited federal government with clearly defined powers.
If it Ain’t Written Dollar, The Government Can’t Do It
Hamilton, after campaigning for the adoption the Constitution and a strong federal government that would be constrained, conveniently abandoned that position in favor of promoting “Implied Powers” to justify the creation of the first Federal Bank for the United State, and true bank run by the government.
Hamilton saw centralized banking, centralized finance and manufacturing at the key to power. In 1791, as the Secretary of the Treasury under Washington Hamilton urged Congress to open and central bank, and create that entity by passing a law. Jefferson and Madison opposed this.
Hamilton’s argument from the concept that in order for the federal govt to function, it has the power to carry out it’s duties. Circumstances would change, and the federal government had the ability to take the steps it needed. Otherwise that government could not function.
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/bank-ah.asp
The expediency of exercising a particular power, at a particular time, must, indeed depend on circumstances, but the constitutional right of exercising it must be uniform and invariable, the same to-day as to-morrow.
All the arguments, therefore, against the constitutionality of the bill derived from the accidental existence of certain State banks, institutions which happen to exist to-day, and, for aught that concerns the government of the United States, may disappear tomorrow, must not only be rejected as fallacious, but must be viewed as demonstrative that there is a radical source of error in the reasoning.
“The main proposition here laid down, in its true signification is not to be questioned.” But he continued, insisting, “It is not denied that there are implied as well as express powers, and that the former are as effectually delegated as the latter.”
- Alexander Hamilton’s doctrine of “implied powers” fundamentally altered the original intent of the Constitution, leading to an overreach of federal power.
- During the ratification debates, supporters of the Constitution, including Hamilton, assured the public that the federal government would only exercise explicitly enumerated powers. However, Hamilton later advocated for “implied powers,” which the article argues is a reversal of his previous position.
Like Elawn, Vivek and others, they quickly modify their positions or discard them entirely.
Virulent Opposition
To say that Hamilton’s proposition
- James Madison’s View: The article cites James Madison’s view from Federalist #45 that the federal government’s powers are “few and defined”. Madison also warned against “the doctrine of implication”.
- Reversal of Original Intent: The author contends that Hamilton’s doctrine of implied powers effectively overturned the original constitutional structure, leading to the expansion of federal power to “numerous and indefinite”.
- The First Bank of the United States: Hamilton’s advocacy for implied powers came about when he sought to justify the creation of the First Bank of the United States, which was opposed by people like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who argued that the Constitution did not grant the federal government the power to charter a bank.
FDR Runs The Ball
The 1930s was a period where interpretation of implied powers aided FDR in establishing an array of federal government powers. That exceeded the Constitution.
This case initially presented a mixed result. While the court struck down a New Deal farm subsidy program as unconstitutional because it violated the Tenth Amendment, it also made a crucial assertion about the scope of Congress’s power to tax and spend. The court, in a poorly researched opinion, stated that the Constitution’s taxation clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) granted Congress almost unlimited authority to spend for the “general welfare. This was based on a misinterpretation of Alexander Hamilton’s views, and was inconsistent with the views of most other founders, who did not believe that Congress had unlimited spending power.
Consequences
- Prior to these decisions, Congress generally balanced its budget or ran a surplus; since then, Congress has rarely balanced its budget, and the size of the deficits has continued to accelerate.
- These decisions enabled Congress to “bribe” states with their own citizens’ money, undermining state independence.
- They created a situation where special interests pursue federal dollars, irrespective of the public interest, which creates a situation where members of Congress can remain in office for decades.
- Since the 1960s, the federal government has used its unfettered spending authority to fund favored political causes and promote social theories