Federalist No. 70

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Alexander Hamilton

Federalist No. 70, authored by Alexander Hamilton under the pen name Publius, is the seventieth of 85 essays. Titled "The Executive Department Further Considered", Hamilton discusses the importance of having one single person for the president, as opposed to multiple or regional presidents as was suggested during his lifetime. Hamilton was very opposed to a plurality in executives as it diminished accountability and leadership, and noted that some of the most important characteristics of the executive are decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch.

It was published on March 15, 1788.

Confined executive

Federalist 70 has at times been cited as a justification for executive power, however, much of the Constitutional Convention was devoted to the topic of containing the executive to its proper sphere. In this paper, Hamilton quotes Jean-Louis De Lolme as saying "the executive power is more easily confined when it is ONE".

A vigorous president capable of executing all of the laws as passed by the congress under the authority and limitations of the constitution is not the same thing as an unlimited executive with the power to meddle in the private affairs of citizens.

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