Federalist 84: “An Injudicious Zeal for Bills of Rights” | Hamilton on the Question of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution

Today, we are talking about Federalist 84. We typically organize our analysis of these essays around three big ideas concerning the essay under review – here are three big ideas concerning Federalist 84:

Big idea one: in Federalist 84, Hamilton, responding to concerns about the lack of a bill of rights in the Constitution, denied that the Constitution should be augmented by a bill of rights.

Big idea two: In Federalist 84, Hamilton addressed concerns that the Constitution would vest too much power in the hands of those working in a capital too far from constituents to allow them to understand what happens in government

Big idea three: in Federalist 84, Hamilton denied that fears of increased expense of the new government should be the basis of opposition to ratification of the Constitution.