James Madison: Federalist 14

Questions for Further Study

• 1. Some historians argue that the Constitution was a retreat from the Declaration of Independence. By allowing the continuation of slavery, creating a powerful central government with an unelected Senate and president, and limiting the options for structural change to the amending process, the Constitution is said to repudiate the Revolutionary, democratic, and egalitarian spirit of the Declaration. Others argue that the Constitution simply codified the Declaration by providing a legal framework for republican government. Discuss the relationship between the ideals of the two founding documents. Do they conflict with each other or are they in fundamental agreement? Refer to the Declaration of Independence and to Federalist 10, Federalist 14, and Federalist 51.
• 2. In Federalist 14, Madison considers whether expansion into the Northwest Territory might make the republic too large. He responds by envisioning that the federal republic would have the capacity to build better roads, open the eastern waterways to navigation, and generally improve interaction throughout the Union. Comment on the effects of expansion of the United States beyond the limits that Madison envisioned and how they played out both positively and negatively in the ensuing years. Refer, for example, to Thomas Jefferson’s Message to Congress about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Alexander Hamilton’s Letter to Harrison Gray Otis on Westward Expansion, the Joint Resolution of Congress for the Annexation of Texas, the Homestead Act, and “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.“