 Alexander Hamilton, author of Federalist No. 59 | |
| Author | Alexander Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Original title | Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Federalist |
| Publisher | New York Packet |
Publication date | February 22, 1788 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Newspaper |
| Preceded by | Federalist No. 58 |
| Followed by | Federalist No. 60 |
Federalist No. 59 is an essay by Alexander Hamilton, the fifty-ninth of The Federalist Papers. It was first published by The New York Packet on February 22, 1788, under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all The Federalist Papers were published. This is the first of three papers discussing the power of Congress over the election of its own members, the other two papers in this series being Federalist No. 60 and Federalist No. 61. The title of the paper is "Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members".
In this paper, Hamilton argues that the federal government should be the only entity within the government as a whole that can regulate its own elections, rather than the states or any other entity being able to regulate those elections. Allowing the states to regulate the elections of the federal government would leave existence of a federalist Union entirely at the mercy of those states.