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= Federalist No. 18 =

Introduction
Federalist No. 18 is an essay by James Madison, the eighteenth of The Federalist Papers. It was published on December 7, 1787 under thepseudonym Publius, the name under which all The Federalist Papers were published. No. 18 addresses the failures of the Articles of Confederation to satisfactorily govern the United States; it is the fourth of six essays on this topic. It is titled, "The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union." Madison draws historical parallels between the Confederation and Ancient Greece, where both theAmphictyonic League and the Achaean League ended in tyranny and disintegration. This illustrates the importance of a closer union.

Historical Background
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had control over war, defense, foreign policy, foreign loans, the regulation of money, and Indian trade. The Articles reflected the grievances that the Colonies had against King George III, and as a result purposefully reserved to the states all power to tax citizens. It was also incredibly hard to get any legislation passed. Each state had only one vote in Congress, and no legislation could be passed with fewer than 9 of 13 states supporting it.

While the Articles were clearly inadequate, the new constitution alarmed many people before its ratification. Many individuals were concerned that the stronger federal government would become like a monarchy and that the states would lose their freedom, as expressed in the common phrase of the time, “13 states in 1 government would destroy liberty.” Federalist No. 18 attempted to resolve these concerns by tracing the downfall of other confederations and identifying the weakness of the government under the Articles.

Intent of Greek Democracies
Although the presence of independent city-states was the basis for the intent of the initial Greek democracy, its government still intended to create a federal council that would unify them as a whole. This attempt at government was organized under the Amphictyons council. This council consisted of representatives from each city-state with the general power to make decisions that ultimately affected the nation's citizen's welfare. The representatives were sworn in by oath to make these decisions only for the intent of the public's happiness and only when the occasions called for it. These decisions predominantly referred to the declaration of stasis of war as well as general ideas of foreign policy. The council also, similar to our three branch system, was intended to prohibit the creation of rebellious and conflicted city-states, where they welcomed new obedient members and tranquilized the rebellious ones. All in all, the federal council was created to be a central unification aspect that equalized the power of all the city-states.

Corruption in the intended Greek Democracy
The intent of this governing system and the execution of it, inevitably, yielded very different results. The people that were appointed to these positions in the federal council were given those duties by the citizens of their respective states. The citizens picked these deputies based on their political "capacities" that were favored by the public. Inevitably, all the city-states could not have the same political views and functions so this lead to disorder and major differences in the confederacy. The more powerful members of the federal council controlled the rest.(Controlled exclusively by Athens for seventy-three, Lacedemoniums for twenty-nine years, and then the Thebans.) The representatives from the most powerful cities corrupted the governments of the representatives from the weaker, which would in turn favor the opinions and strategies of the strongest cities.

Especially in times of war, these disagreements and corrupt dilemmas were a huge nuisance to the nation of Greece as a whole. Because of the deputies constant disagreements, this lead them to be manipulated by many of their enemies. Some city-states would agree to send their militaries to fight, while the others would sit back and not take part in the war. This lead to other national arguments based on which states should leave the union because of their disloyalty for acting in concert with the rest of the city-states. Abby Milot mentions that if Greece was as intelligent as they were courageous, they would have reformed their government creating a closer union to strengthen the unity of Greece as a whole. However, after their unexpected victory over Persia, some of the city-states thought of themselves as higher states from the rest, which lead to a military rivalry between Athens and Sparta. These examples highlight how the lack of a close union between the individual states of a nation leads to other foreign struggles.

Interpretation
Federal judges, when interpreting the Constitution, frequently use The Federalist Papers as a contemporary account of the intentions of the framers and the ones who ratified it.

The Federalist can teach us more about the theory and practice of the Constitution than any other extant work. No other commentary comes close to it in terms of the comprehensiveness and cogency of its defense of America’s most fundamental law. And no other work has been cited so often by the United States Supreme Court for the true meaning of the Founders’ Constitution. Thomas Jefferson famously referred to The Federalist as “the best commentary on the principles of government, which ever was written.” Jefferson was right to emphasize the importance of principles. As both a practical and philosophical work, The Federalist demonstrated to Americans how the Constitution was an extension of the principles of the Declaration of Independence—particularly the principles of liberty and equality—and why it was necessary to reconcile these principles in a new constitutional instrument, the Constitution of 1787.

The fact that the United States is a country built upon the principles of the Declaration makes it unique in the history of the world. No other country can claim to be built upon the self-evident truths of equality and God-given natural rights. But Americans had already tried—and failed—at constitution-making with the Articles of Confederation. Why was the Constitution any better? The authors of The Federalist, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, writing under the pseudonym of Publius, the Roman citizen who was credited with saving Roman republicanism, set out themselves to save, or at least assist, American republicanism by demonstrating the necessity of the Constitution.

Cases
Calder v. Bull

Relevant Facts: In 1793, the Probate Court in Hartford, Connecticut issued a decree disapproving of and refusing to record the will of Normand Morrison. In May of 1795, the Legislature of Connecticut passed a resolution setting aside that decree and providing reasons for their action. The Legislature also ordered that a new hearing be granted by the Probate Court, with liberty to appeal, within six months. The Probate Court held the new hearing in July, 1795, approved the will and ordered it recorded. The Superior Court of Hartford affirmed, and the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut, finding no errors, also affirmed. As eighteen months passed between the original judgment of the Probate Court, Caleb Bull and his wife (who stood to inherit under the disputed will) were barred any right of appeal as a new hearing was not authorized by statute. In the intervening time, Calder and his wife claimed the premises in question under another will (the will of a different N. Morrison, physician and grandfather of Normand Morrison). Calder claimed that the resolution of the Legislature of Connecticut was an ex post facto law, void under the Federal Constitution, and requesting that the Court strike down the Connecticut law.

Hines v. Daidowitz

This case involves the validity of an Alien Registration Act adopted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Act, passed in 1939, requires every alien 18 years or over, with certain exceptions, to register once each year; provide such information as is required by the statute, plus any 'other information and details' that the Department of Labor and Industry may direct; pay $1 as an annual registration fee; receive an alien identification card and carry it at all times; show the card whenever it may be demanded by any police officer or any agent of the Department of Labor and Industry; and exhibit the card as a condition precedent to registering a motor vehicle in his name or obtaining a license to operate one. The Department of Labor and Industry is charged with the duties of classifying the registrations for 'the purpose of ready reference', and furnishing a copy of the classification to the Pennsylvania Motor Police.