1788 · Skopia

Showing 41 works across all media from 1788

Essay · Political literature

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 7.6

Nonfiction · Political philosophy

The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison

1788 · 648 pages

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote eighty-five essays to sell New York on the Constitution, arguing that a large republic tames factions and that ambition must counteract ambition. Courts still quote them.

★ 7.3

Nonfiction · Philosophy

Critique of Practical Reason

1788 · 224 pages

You know you ought to do what you would rather not, and Kant takes that as proof you are free. Freedom, God, and immortality return as what practical reason must assume.

★ 7.1

Essay · Political literature

It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 7.0

Essay · Political literature

Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 7.0

Essay · Political literature

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

Federalist 47 · 1788

★ 7.0

Essay · Political literature

Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

Federalist 55 · 1788

★ 3.9

Essay · Political literature

Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist 70 · 1788

★ 3.8

Essay · Political literature

The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts.

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist 78 · 1788

★ 3.8

Essay · Political literature

It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.

Federalist 48 · 1788

★ 3.8

Intuition of truth, not preceded by perceptible meditation, is genius.

1788

★ 3.8

Essay · Political literature

If mankind were to resolve to agree in no institution of government, until every part of it had been adjusted to the most exact standard of perfection, society would soon become a general scene of anarchy, and the world a desert.

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist 65 · 1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist 78 · 1788

★ 3.7

Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation.

1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

The defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.

Federalist 48 · 1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.

Federalist 45 · 1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.

Federalist 39 · 1788

★ 3.7

Essay · Political literature

We may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.

Federalist 39 · 1788

★ 3.7

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