The History Book Club discussion

This is the thread for the discussion of FEDERALIST. NO 21.

This paper is titled OTHER DEFECTS OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION .

This paper was written by Alexander Hamilton.

by Alexander Hamilton

Hello Folks,

We will be continuing with the next paper of the Federalist Papers - Federalist No. 21.

FEDERALIST No. 21 OTHER DEFECTS OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION (Written by Alexander Hamilton)


If you are catching up, that is no problem; we have a thread dedicated to each paper so you can catch up when you are able.

Bentley

We find ourselves on the following paper:

FEDERALIST No. 21 Other Defects of the Present Confederation (Alexander Hamilton)

Links to 21:

http://federali.st/21

You can also listen to them being read orally to you:

Federalist 21 audio:

http://michaelscherervoice.com/the-fe...

Source: Michael Scherer

How To Get the Most Out of Your Reading:

May I also suggest that you bring up the on line text version of the paper you are reading (in this case Federalist Paper 21) or open to it in your book and then start the Michael Scherer audio; it does have more power when a strong voice is reading the paper and you will get more out of it reading along while listening to it.

Summary:

Federalist No. 21 is an essay by Alexander Hamilton, the twenty-first of the Federalist Papers. It was published on December 12, 1787 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all the Federalist Papers were published. It is titled, "Other Defects of the Present Confederation."

In Federalist No. 21 Alexander Hamilton focuses on the three main imperfections of government under the Articles of Confederation, and how the Constitution will rectify these problems.

First, Hamilton observes that the current government has no power to enforce laws, and also lacks a mutual guarantee of state rights.

Under the Articles, a faction could easily take control of a state and the government wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Then, Hamilton comments on the inefficiency of the confederation's current method of collecting taxes by quotas, and denounces it a a method by which the states may be broken apart.

According to Hamilton, however, these problems are easily rectifiable, and the Constitution will fix all of them if it is approved.

Source: Wikipedia

Tell me if you have read Federalist Paper 21 and please quote the sentence, sentences, paragraph that you like the best or which moved or impressed you the most.

Please discuss why you made that selection and what you liked about it or why it stood out.

Let us try to discuss the Federalist Papers specifically in this discussion; it really is not a political discussion; it really is an examination of the papers themselves. Of course, policy and politics may come up and things we are doing now versus what the papers stated; but the focus is always the papers first and politics second not the other way around. In fact, all three of the authors of the papers changed their positions frequently.

Remember all = that in message three there is a link to an on line version that you can read easily, read along to the audio which I recommended you do, and you can also do a cut and paste of the sentence, sentences, paragraphs you liked and then do a paste into your post so that we can discuss what you liked and why.

Also, remember that once you have expressed your view; that others can post a dispute, an explanation, or an agreement. Everybody is entitled to their opinion but let us keep the discussions about the papers not about anyone's personal beliefs. You are not going to persuade someone to adopt your political beliefs here; so when somebody disagrees with you or has another point of view - that is OK - let it go. We are here to discuss the papers and get a lot out of the discussion not promote an ideology.

Keep discussion civil and respectful.