From 1787 to 1789, Hamilton vaulted into national prominence. After years of pushing for a stronger national government, he made a name for himself in the debate over the Constitution—though not at the Federal Convention. Outvoted by his fellow New York delegates, who opposed creating a stronger central government, he didn’t accomplish much in Philadelphia. It was the battle over ratification that earned Hamilton acclaim.
As Hamilton’s letter to Washington (July 3, 1787) suggests, he felt that the nation was at a critical turning point; it could either bolster its government or collapse into anarchy. On June 18, he revealed to the Convention how much bolstering he wanted. In a speech that reportedly lasted for six hours, Hamilton detailed his plan for a new government (“Plan of Government,” c. June 18, 1787; “Speech in the Constitutional Convention on a Plan of Government,” June 18, 1787). Far too centralized to gain acceptance, it included a national executive and senators who served for life during good behavior, and state governors who were appointed by the national government and empowered to veto state laws. Impressive as it was, Hamilton’s bravura performance accomplished little, but its legacy would prove mighty in years to come. For the rest of his life, Hamilton’s enemies would use this speech to condemn him as a monarchist.
Following the Convention, Hamilton devoted himself to the ratification struggle, inviting fellow New Yorker John Jay and Virginian James Madison to join him in writing a series of newspaper essays explaining and defending the proposed Constitution. Using the penname “Publius,” the three men published their essays under the title The Federalist. Jay soon dropped out because of illness; together, Hamilton and Madison carried the project, with Hamilton writing fifty-one of the total of eighty-five essays.
Hamilton’s Federalist efforts show his talents and energies in full form. Dashing off essays one after another while coordinating strategy with Madison in Virginia (May 19, 1788), Hamilton planned, strategized, and wrote his way toward the Constitution’s ratification. When New York City learned that the Constitution had been approved by enough states to take effect, Federalists celebrated with an enormous parade that included a mock ship of state dubbed the Hamilton, a well-deserved honor.
Hamilton had gotten what he wanted: a stronger national government. But it wasn’t strong enough for his liking. Until his dying day, he expected its demise. His informal memorandum “Conjectures About the New Constitution” (c. late September 1787) shows the full force of his fears. A little more than a week after the Federal Convention, Hamilton already assumed that the new government would fail.
Even so, he worked to prop up the “frail and worthless fabric,” as he would call the Constitution late in life. In two letters to Washington (September 1788; May 5, 1789), he urged his former commander to accept the presidency and advised him to be as “high-toned” an executive as he could manage, one of many ways in which Hamilton attempted to strengthen and centralize the national government, one of his core goals during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury.