1787/12/28

       Alexander Hamilton, a former Delegate to the Constitutional Convention from New York, using the pseudonym “Publius,” publishes “Federalist Essay #28,” seeking to lend assurances that the State legislatures with their Senators and Militias will be able to prevent usurpations of their authority by Congress.  In paragraph eight he writes:

       It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the state governments will, in all possible contingencies, afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority.  Projects of usurpation cannot be masked under pretenses so likely to escape the penetration of select bodies of men, as of the people at large.  The legislatures will have better means of information. 

       [added 7/24/2026]