Now available, the offical web site for The Federalist Papers: In Modern Language
Excerpts on Impeachment
Compare the original Federalist Papers to Mary's modernized
translation
Some Facts About the Book:
The Federalist Papers: In Modern Language/Indexed for Today's Political
Issues -
copyright 1999 by Mary E. Webster
408 pages
$ 19.95
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THE BOOK ONLINE
Includes:
- 85 Papers written in easier-to-read English
- Titles and paragraph
subtitles form complete outline of the Papers
- index refers to Paper/paragraph numbers so it can be used with any
edition
- Constituion indexed to Papers
- glossary
- Articles of Confederation
- bibliography of other early writings on the Constitution
Number 1 [original text]
After an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting
federal
government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for
the
United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance;
comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the
UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the
fate
of the empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It
has been
frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of
this
country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question
whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good
government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever
destined to
depend for their political constitution on accident and force. If there
be
any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with
propriety
be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong
election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be
considered
as the general misfortune of mankind.
Number 1 [modernized translation]
Call to Citizens to Study New Constitution
Having experienced the undeniable inefficiency of the existing federal
government, you are asked to study and consider adopting a new
Constitution
for the United States of America.
The importance of this deliberation cannot be overstated. The very
existence
of our country hangs in the balance, as does the safety and welfare of
its
people, communities, and states. We are called to decide the fate of a
nation
that is, in many respects, the most interesting in the world.
It has been often said that the people of this country will decide the
important question of whether societies can establish a good government
by
careful thought and choice. Or whether people are forever destined to
be
governed only by accident and force. If this is true, the answer
depends on
our response to the current crisis. And the wrong decision deserves to
be
considered a misfortune for all of mankind.