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Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘Necessary’ In Works Dated To 1787/88, 1790/91 And 1817-36, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In this first of three articles, the semantic values of ‘necessary’ are separated into two groups, beginning with The Federalist Papers, with the focus being on the works of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. In the second tranche of works, their efforts – now as opponents – in the bank bill debate are examined; in the third, given Hamilton’s death in 1804, only Madison’s words are examined. Like ‘constitution,’ ‘necessary’ also offers competing values at the quantum level of analysis. Three different values are discoverable.