vindication of the anti-secession theory, though there are still some disputed questions as to the relative powers of the National and State governments. See Articles of Confederation, under United States; Constitution of the United States.
Other modern examples of federal government are afforded by the Dominion of Canada, founded in 1867 by a union of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and afterwards enlarged by the accession of the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Prince Edward Island; by the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1900 by the organic union of the several Australian colonies of Great Britain; and by the present German Empire, which was born of the sentiment of German nationality evoked by the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71. See Constitution; Democracy; Government; Sovereignty.
Consult: Mill, Considerations on Representative Government (London, 1861); De Tocqueville, Democracy in America; Bryce, The American Commonwealth (2d ed., New York, 1899); Burgess, Political Science and Comparative Constitutional Law (Boston, 1890).
FEDERALIST, The. A series of essays issued in 1787 and 1788 in favor of the adoption of the proposed Federal Constitution for the United States. The Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia adjourned September 17, 1787; the text of the new Constitution was first published in New York on September 27th; and on October 27th the first number of the Federalist appeared in The Independent Journal, a semi-weekly newspaper of New York, the successive essays continuing to appear therein until April 2, 1788. All of the eighty-five essays (the concluding eight of which did not appear until the Federalist was printed in book form) were published over the name of ‘Publius,’ but they were composed severally by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The authorship of several of the numbers has been the subject of prolonged and inconclusive discussion; but the chief credit for the conception of the enterprise and for its execution has at all times been given to Hamilton. In newspaper and in pamphlet form the Federalist had a wide circulation, and its influence was conspicuous in turning popular opinion in favor of the Constitution. Especially in New York, to whose inhabitants it was particularly addressed, it was an important factor in the conversion of the State from anti-federalism to federalism. No contemporary exposition of the text of the Constitution, of the purposes of its framers, and of its relation to the actual development of the State, was so complete, so scholarly, or so authoritative as was that in the Federalist. It has, consequently, become recognized, even by the courts, as the most reliable commentary on the Constitution and as an essential aid in the interpretation of such passages as are of obscure or disputed meaning. Many editions have been published, the latest and most useful (containing for the first time a full index of the essays) is that by Paul L. Ford (New York, 1898). In the edition edited by John C. Hamilton (Philadelphia, 1875) there is an elaborate essay on the authorship of the several papers. The discussion is almost as interesting to the antiquary as that concerning the identity of ‘Junius.’ Useful editions have also been published by H. C. Lodge (New York, 1888) and by E. H. Scott (Chicago, 1895).
FEDERALISTS. In American history, the name given to those who in 1787 and 1788 advocated the adoption of the new Constitution of the United States, and who later contended, for the most part, for a liberal construction of the Constitution and the establishment of a strong National Government. In the end Washington undoubtedly favored their views; but Hamilton, with his plans for a national bank, a sinking fund, the assumption of State debts, and the encouragement of manufactures, was the real leader of the Federalists, while Jay, John Adams, Gouverneur Morris, Ames, and later Marshall were prominent members of the party. The Federalists were conservative in their belief in popular government, and had little sympathy with the French Revolution, being upon these two, as upon other points, opposed by the strict constructionists under the leadership of Jefferson and Madison, known as the Republicans, or Democratic Republicans. (See Democratic Party.) The Federalists controlled the first three administrations—those of Washington and of John Adams—but the party was disrupted by factional controversies during Adams's Administration, and was overthrown by the Republican victory of 1800, which placed Jefferson in the Presidential chair. Their candidates for President from 1804 to 1816 received scarcely any support outside of New England, and in 1820 no Federalist nomination was made. During these years the party was kept alive in New England by those who had opposed Adams's Administration, and who formed the most aristocratic and pro-English faction. (See Essex Junto.) Their opposition to the Embargo and kindred measures, and to the War of 1812, culminated in the Hartford Convention (q.v.) in 1814. The convention was immeasurably denounced, and was fatal to the little life still left in the Federalist Party. One of the last appointments of President Adams was that of John Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and during his tenure of that office Marshall succeeded in stamping indelibly upon the Constitution the best portions of the Federalist doctrine. Moreover, the Democrats in power gradually became scarcely less liberal in their interpretation of the Constitution than the Federalists had been before them; and while in 1798 the Federalists denounced the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (q.v.) passed by the Democrats in favor of State's rights, in 1814 the Federalists were vigorously opposed to any extension of the authority of the central Government, while the Democrats were wholly committed in this respect to the former Federalist policy.
FEDERAL THEOLOGY. The designation of a type of Dutch Calvinism which developed in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Its chief exponents were Johann Koch (died 1669). Franz Burmann (died 1679), Hermann Wits (died 1708), and perhaps one should add Vitringa (died 1722). The theological system taught by these scholars was in general a system of covenants (fœdera) conceived as being made between God and man, whence the name, ‘Federal
