My grand ambition to read through the entirety of The Federalist this year is, shall we say, on the ropes. I have not been as diligent with my reading as I hoped, and writing a poem for each essay is no small feat! But I have managed to render the first ten in verse. More to come. In the meantime, enjoy these. (For background, read “The Federalist in a Year, With Poetry.”)
No. 1 - Hamilton
The proposed Constitution is a test of our people
Whether history will repeat or change its course.
May government be founded on reflection & choice,
Or be subject always to accident & force?
Views will be mixed. Be guided by truth.
(Everyone’s tainted by his own ambition.)
Let me lay my own cards on the table:
The necessity of Union is my highest conviction.
On two things does good government depend:
Energy (the means) and Liberty (the end).
No. 2 - Jay
That Union is key, the People well know.
As a nation we toiled and bled for this land.
Behold what bounty will Union bestow,
Guided withal by a Provident hand.
Divisive men shun.
Learned men prize.
Men of the Convention,
Prudent and wise,
Have proposed (not imposed) for your approbation
A Charter to hearten and prosper our nation.
Nos. 3-5 - Jay
(Each a haiku)
A Union of States
Is less apt to cause a war—
United we stand.
Common interests
Require mutual defense—
Divided we fall.
If not united,
Foreign powers will play us
Off one another.
No. 6 - Hamilton
(Iambic pentameter)
It’s time to wake from the deceitful dream.
We live not in some Utopian age.
The past is not past—we stand in its stream.
Perfect wisdom we have yet to engage.
“Republics pacify! Commerce softens!”
So the opponents of Union will cheer.
But hist’ry says republics war often.
Nat’ral enemies are the ones more near.
The evil: sov’reignties disconnected.
Remedy: more solemn ties effected.
No. 7 - Hamilton
That men love money is as trite as true.
Land and trade, debt and taxes
Will always supply just cause for wars.
Hence we need the constitutional glue—
For common rules, market access
And adjustments by reason, not force.
No. 8 - Hamilton
True, a standing army isn’t banned
But let the dispassionate understand:
Military defense is needed regardless.
No sovereign state can ever be guard-less.
Europe is not the model—
Prone to strife among neighbors divided,
Conflict for them a constant exposure.
Britain rather emulate—
Strong because internally united.
Protected, like us, by an ocean enclosure.
No. 9 - Hamilton
Small republics are unstable—
Violent tendencies.
Confederation is better—
Montesquieu agrees.
No. 10 - Madison
Faction is the problem that demands a solution—
The leading cause of republics’ dissolution.
Virtue alone cannot be the plan—
Faction is sown in the nature of man.
Don’t kill the cause, for liberty suffers.
Control the effects. These are the buffers:
A large republic with interests diverse
Mean power and wealth are widely dispersed.
And elected leaders will opinion refine
To ensure “public interest” is broadly defined.
Where policy rests on broad coalitions,
A republic is cured of factional divisions.
I didn't realize you were an able poet! Quite the undertaking and I wish you good luck, sir!