The Effective Republic: Administration and Constitution in the Thought of Alexander Hamilton

328 Pages·1992·22.431 MB·English

by  Harvey Flaumenhaft

The EffectiveRepublic

The Effective Republic
Administration and Constitution
in the Thought ofAlexanderHamilton
Harvey Flaumenhaft
DukeUniversityPress DurhamandLondon1992
©1992DukeUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper00
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
appearonthelastprintedpageofthisbook.
This book isdedicated
tomymother,
Fay Flaumenhaft,
andtothememory
ofmyfather,
LouisFlaumenhaft,
andofmy teacher,
Herbert]. Storing

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Principles 7
PartOne: PopularRepresentation
II TheCharacteristicSpiritofSociety 15
III TheNaturalRightsofMankind 34
IV TheStructuralFoundationofGovernment 41
V ThePartitionofPower 61
PartTwo: EfficaciousAdministration
VI AdministrativeEfficacy 69
VII Unity 82
VIII UnityandDuration 99
IX Duration 133
X RepublicanConstitution 158
PartThree: ConstitutionalIntegrity
XI Independent]udgment 205
XII Partisanship,Partiality,andPartsofGovernment 225
XIII Partisanship,Partiality,andPopularLiberty 241
XIV Returnto FirstPrinciples 250
Conclusion 261
Notes 269
Index 311

Acknowledgments
Agenerous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities sup
portedmycompletionofthefinalversionofthisbook.
Adaptations of parts of an earlier version appeared in the following
publications:
Review of Gerald Stourzh's Alexander Hamilton and the Idea ofRepublican
Government, in TheAmericanPolitical ScienceReview67 (June1973): 637-
39;
"AlexanderHamiltonontheFoundationofGoodGovernment,"ThePolitical
ScienceReviewer6 (BicentennialIssue: Fall1976):143-214;
"Hamilton'sAdministrativeRepublicand theAmericanPresidency,"in The
Presidency in the Constitutional Order, edited byJoseph M. Bessette and
JeffreyTulis (BatonRouge: LouisianaStateUniversityPress,1981), pp. 65-
112;
"AmericanismAbroad," in Constitutionalism in Perspective, edited bySarah
BaumgartnerThurow (Lanham, Md.: University Press ofAmerica, 1988),
PP·240-51.
I am grateful for permission to reprint from those publications. The
followingpapersalsopresentedearlierversionsofpartsofthisbook:
"AlexanderHamiltonontheAdministrationofLiberty,"presentedtoapanel
on"AmericanLiberty: The ProblematicCharacterofaFoundingConcept,"
at the Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association,
MountPocono,Pennsylvania,10-12November1977;
"The Administrative Republic ofAlexanderHamilton," presented to acon-