Federalist No. 78

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Alexander Hamilton, author of Federalist No. 78
Alexander Hamilton, author of Federalist No. 78

Federalist No. 78 is an essay by Alexander Hamilton, the seventy-eighth of the Federalist Papers. Like all of the Federalist Papers, it was published under the pseudonym Publius.

The essay was published May 28, 1788 and first appeared in a newspaper, where most contemporary readers would have seen it, on June 14 of the same year. It was written to explicate and justify the structure of the judiciary under the proposed Constitution of the United States; it is the first of six essays by Hamilton on this issue. In particular, it addresses concerns by the Anti-Federalists over the scope and power of the federal judiciary. Federalist No. 78 is titled, "The Judiciary Department."

The Federalist Papers, as a foundation text of constitutional interpretation, are frequently cited by American jurists. Of all the essays, No. 78 is the second-most cited, behind only Federalist No. 42.[1]

In Federalist No. 78 Hamilton says that the Judiciary branch of the proposed government would be the weakest of the three. This is because it has neither "FORCE nor WILL", in other words congress controls the money flow and the president control the military while the courts only control decisions. The judiciary needs help from the other branches to uphold it's judgments.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  Ira C. Lupu, "The Most-Cited Federalist Papers." 15 Constitutional Commentary 403-410 (1998)

[edit] External links

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Related topics: Anti-Federalist Papers | United States Constitution
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