The Effective Republic: Administration and Constitution in the Thought of Alexander Hamilton

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Duke University Press, 20 de fev. de 1992 - 314 páginas
The United States has been distinguished among free governments as a “presidential” republic. In The Effective Republic, Harvey Flaumenhaft shows how the study of Alexander Hamilton’s political thought opens the way to understanding the nature of this republic and the reasons for its development.
Although Hamilton exterted an extraordinary influence on American institutions, his contribution and the thinking behind it often have been obscured and misconstrued by piecemeal approaches to his voluminous writings. Here, Flaumenhaft draws upon more than two dozen volumes of Hamilton’s papers to produce a comprehensive account of his thought on the principles of politics—the account which Hamilton himself hoped to give in a multivolume treatise, but died before producing.
Beginning with a discussion of the place of general principles in Hamilton’s thought, The Effective Republic proceeds to his views on popular representation as a safeguard of individual liberty. Flaumenhaft then elaborates on Hamilton’s thinking about efficacious administration, especially how the President and Senate meet the requirements of unity and duration in a republic, and on the importance of an independent judiciary for constitutional integrity. What emerges clearly as Hamilton’s chief concern is the need to make government not only safe but effective—hindered from doing harm by its popular base, but also, through the differentiation of administrative powers and tasks, capable of doing good.
Interpreting, linking, and, and arranging Hamilton’s words, Flaumenhaft allows Hamilton to speak for himself, to explain his benificiaries his vision of what the republican experiment needed in order to succeed.
 

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Conteúdo

Principles
7
Popular Representation
13
The Characteristic Spirit of Society
15
The Natural Rights of Mankind
34
The Structural Foundation of Government
41
The Partition of Power
61
Efficacious Administration
67
Administrative Efficacy
69
Republican Constitution
158
Constitutional Integrity
203
Independent Judgment
205
Partisanship Partiality and Parts of Government
225
Partisanship Partiality and Popular Liberty
241
Return to First Principles
250
Conclusion
261
Notes
269

Unity
82
Unity and Duration
99
Duration
133

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