1/ An interesting nugget from my preparation for "History Matters" this AM.
We were talking about campaigning & the threat of demagogues, and I recalled & wanted to use this quote from A.Ham:
2/ I had forgotten that this quote was from the very first Federalist essay.
Hamilton was arguing that opponents to the proposed Constitution would probably appeal to the passions of the public to get them outraged over the Constitution's alleged tyrannical powers.
3/ In Federalist #1, Hamilton was basically saying that opponents to the Constitution would engage in demagogic politics to stir public passions against ratification with untruths.
In essence, he was denouncing opponents to the Constitution as demagogues of a kind.
4/ He then went on to explain that the Federalist essays were intended to offer "the evidence of truth" about the Constitution, so people wouldn't be led astray by the falsehoods of these demagogues.
The Federalist essays are framed as fodder against demagogic politicos.
5/ Many people treat the Federalist as objective commentary on the Constitution, which it wasn't intended to be.
It defends it.
But until this AM, I hadn't seen Hamilton's attempt to brand opponents dangerous demagogues...& hadn't seen how the project was pitched against them.
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