Trust in Government and the Foresight of the Federalist Papers

Certainly most Americans would list truthfulness and honesty as a desirable characteristic, a showing of strong moral fiber. In the most recent Presidential Election, exit polls showed more American’s listed moral values as the largest factor in deciding for whom they would vote. A look at comments given by voters in key electoral states shows their concern for a president they can trust. In Ohio, a police officer said his decision to vote for President Bush “came down to moral issues.” A Colorado voter said “Many of my concerns are Democrat concerns. But I just didn’t trust Kerry.” While this voter followed her comments by specifying she didn’t trust that Kerry would follow through on his promises, it is clear that many American’s feel they should trust the person for whom they choose to vote. While this seemingly ties into the characteristics we as American’s deem desirable, some of our founding fathers envisioned a government where the people could trust the structure of government and process of governing rather than individuals themselves.

After the Philadelphia Convention, eighty-five letters were published forming, The Federalist Papers. These articles were printed anonymously, under the name Publius, to encourage ratification of the proposed constitution. One of the recurring themes of the articles is the fallibility of man. Consistently throughout the papers, the authors (now known to be John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison) showcase the proposed government’s system of checks and balances. Publius argues that the proposed form of government will be strong and worthy of its citizens trust, despite the inherent untrustworthiness of mankind.