Federalist No. 41

Federalist No. 41 (Federalist Number 41), General View of the Powers Conferred by the Constitution, is an essay written by James Madison as the forty-first of The Federalist Papers. These essays were published by Alexander Hamilton, with John Jay and James Madison serving as co-authors, under the pseudonym "Publius." No. 41 was published on January 19, 1788 and argues about the necessity of the powers the Constitution vested upon the general government.

On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was finalized and needed ratification from the states. Shortly after, Anti-Federalists began publishing papers arguing against the Constitution, motivating Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to respond with The Federalist Papers.

Many anti-federalists believed the government's revenue-raising power should not be restricted to only external taxes. In previous essays, Publius had already shown that, “extensive powers for the national government were necessary means of attaining a necessary end." However, critics continued to argue that these extensive powers were too broad, unnecessary, and easily abused.

Federalist No. 41 - 46 examine the powers given to the general government and address concerns about the divisions of powers raised in Federalist No. 37.

In Federalist 41, Madison repeats Hamilton's argument that the country was so situated that a large standing army, an institution always dangerous to popular liberties, would not be necessary, so that the nation would not be "crushed between standing armies and perpetual taxes. . . . The power of regulating and calling forth the militia has been already sufficiently vindicated and explained."

He begins the letter by addressing the two general points of view when considering how to assign power to the government: the first being the “...sum or quantity of power” that the Constitution has given to it, and the second being the government’s structure and how the given powers are divided among its many branches. He focuses on the first question, and expands it by asking further questions:

Madison answers by stating: yes, these powers unavoidably exploitable, however, they are a “necessary means to attaining a necessary end.” The Constitution is further defended by stating that every form of government is imperfect and corruptible; the letter states that “a power to advance the public happiness involves a discretion which may be misapplied and abused.” However, he also states that before giving a particular power to the government, lawmakers must first consider whether or not the power is necessary and they must guard against the possible perversion of that power and its eventual misuse against the public; this is why the Constitution involves many checks and balances to prevent such an event from happening.

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