62 
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 F ederalist, in which he received important aid and cooperation from James 
