Analysis Of Federalist Paper Number 70 By Alexander Hamilton

In Federalist Paper Number 70, Alexander Hamilton wrote an article titled The Executive Department Further Considered. In this paper Hamilton using the pseudonym Publius, makes the case for a single-person executive chief for the future federal government. Hamilton writes that the President must have qualities as an “Executive which are the most necessary ingredients…vigor and expedition. ” However, when referring to the legislature, Hamilton turned 180 degrees and instead proffered that the people’s house be cautious and methodical. He wrote, “In the legislature, promptitude of decision is oftener an evil than a benefit. The differences of opinion, and the jarrings of parties in that department of the government, though they may sometimes

Perhaps one of the best arguments for lack of speed in Congress was laid out by a paper in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1963, when the editors wrote, “The Slowness of Congress, its traditional process, its respect for minority sentiment, all these will be enjoyed at one time or another by every minority, and all of us belong to the minority at times. ” Lack of speed is a check on majority by the minority. In turn each political party will be in power or out of power and thus slowness has the virtue of stopping the majority from riding roughshod over any minority group. Even though there are at least two major benefits, there are equal drawbacks of having a slow moving

These were, of course, the various checks and balances built into the Constitution. This is where the argument for incrementalism is made by advocates of making changes to law, particularly social changes, and the concept that these should be made gradually with gradual additions and subtractions in policy. Charles Lindblom described and developed the concept of Incrementalism in the mid 1950’s in his essay “The Science of Muddling Through.” Mr. Lindblom penned the article to explain why policy leaders should contemplate an atypical approach to policy change. The goal of this newly described philosophy was for leaders to sidestep massive change and its inherent problems by making slight changes to improve upon existing policy. The upside to incrementalism is that is allows policy changes to play out over time with limited risk to cause social upheaval. In addition, incrementalism, as opposed to massive change, thus allows each of the fifty states to be test beds for federal policy as these minor changes are implemented and used differently throughout the United