m INTRODUCTION. 



it into effectual and successful operation. Alexander Hamilton, while yet a stu- 

 dent in Columbia College, defended the republican cause in a series of essays, 

 marked with so much ability and wisdom, that they were attributed to the pen 

 of John Jay, who was then in the fore ground in the councils of the state and the 

 union. Of the talents exhibited by Hamilton, as a confidential aid-de-camp of 

 the commander-in-chief, we have not room to speak. In 1782, the ardent yet 

 discreet Hamilton, became a member of the bar, and was elected a delegate 

 to congress, and acquired a commanding influence in that body. In 1786, he 

 was a member of the legislature of this state, and in the same year was a delegate 

 to the convention which formed the constitution of the United States. Disap- 

 pointed in procuring the adoption of what he deemed essential features of such 

 an instrument, he nevertheless acquiesced in the decisions of the convention, and 

 gave his free and unreserved assent to the constitution as it was promulgated by 

 that august body. It was a mighty task to prepare a form of government which 

 should guaranty the union, the liberties, and the happiness of a rising people ; but 

 a greater task remained. That people consisted of thirteen states, each of which 

 had a separate constitution, local interests, and peculiar institutions, and was 

 jealous of every thing which might, in the remotest degree, tend to diminish 

 power and influence, deemed essential to popular liberty and self preservation. 

 Whatever rendered the constitution acceptable to one or several states, awakened 

 the jealousies of others, while, throughout the whole union, the people divided into 

 two angry and violent parties ; the one apprehending that the federal power 

 would be too weak to preserve the national security — the other, that that power 

 would be too oppressive, and result in despotism, even more unendurable than 

 that which had been so recently overthrown. To reconcile these conflicting 

 opinions and interests, and procure the assent of the states to the constitution 

 which had been proposed, and when adopted to carry it into successful opera- 

 tion, under circumstances the most disheartening, was the task assumed by 

 Hamilton. He addressed to the people a series of letters under the signature of 

 the Federalist, in which he received important aid and cooperation from James 



