nstitute his
defence of the Federal judiciary should have been so often referred to
as an example of faultless logic and a complete vindication of the
system. Hamilton's interpretation of the Constitution as contained in
these articles was merely for popular consumption, and not a frank and
unequivocal expression of what he himself really believed. He was an
uncompromising opponent of democracy and considered the English
government of that day, with its hereditary monarchy and aristocracy,
the best form of government ever devised.[61]

He favored therefore as near an approach to the English system as the
circumstances of the case would permit. According to the plan which he
submitted to the Convention the executive branch of the government was
to be placed beyond the reach of public opinion by a method of
appointment designed to guard against the choice of a popular favorite
and by life tenure. Not only did he wish to make the President
independent of the people, but he proposed to give him an absolute veto
on all acts of Congress. Moreover, the President was to appoint the
governors of the various states, and these, like the royal governors
before the Revolution, were to have an absolute veto on the acts of the
state legislatures.[62] This would have made the President a monarch in
all but name, and though independent of the people, have given him
power to thwart legislation which no majority in Congress, however
great, could override.

But this did not go far enough in the direction of providing checks on
popular legislation to suit Hamilton. The members of the upper house of
Congress were, like the President, to be indirectly elected and to hold
office for life. And finally over and above Congress was to be placed a
Supreme Court whose members, by their mode of appointment and life
tenure, were to be independent of the people. This body, which was to be
the final interpreter of the Constitution, was designed as an additional
safeguard against democratic legislation. The lower house of Congress
was the only branch of the government in which any provision was made,
under Hamilton's plan, for the representation of public opinion. Through
the House of Representatives the people were to have an opportunity to
propose legislation, but no power to enact it, or to control the general
policy of the government.

The refusal of the Convention to endorse the scheme of government
proposed by Hamilton must not be understood as