Alexander Hamilton

Not everyone approved of the system of government created by the Articles of Confederation. In this letter, written to his friend and a New York delegate to the Confederation Congress, James Duane, Alexander Hamilton discusses what he sees as the primary weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Hamilton believes that a strong central government— rather than a system that privileged state government power at the expense of a weak national government—was the only way for the new American nation to survive. This letter was dated September 3, 1780; therefore, it was written in the early stages of America's experience with the Articles of Confederation. However, many of Hamilton's theoretical concerns would become practical challenges only half a decade later during Shays' Rebellion of 1786–87. Alexander Hamilton served as General George Washington's aide-de-camp during the...