Sophia Bank's Blog: A Tangled Faith—Impeachment’s Human Frailty

In Federalist 66, Hamilton’s excursion into the mind and grit of impeachment is a back and forth struggle between the desire for separation of powers and the need for an oversight of the executive branch.

Madison’s struggle in Federalist 51 is equal to 66, wherein is contained the sorrow of all earthly governments, and is worded in human frailty, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

The difficult progression of turning a large measure of the legislative branch of our government into a judicial authority is the calamity that Hamilton is unable to reconcile and renders Federalist 66 to fall into the very infirmities the Founders were confronted with at every turn.

While burdened with the dilemma of splitting the legislative branch into two smaller bodies, in the hopes of avoiding the inconvenience of making the same persons both accusers and judges, impeachment is fully exposed to the full gamut of human inadequacies.

In the end, while all forms of government are rested upon human beings, not angels, the daring of the Founders to further the proposition of Republic rule and supplement the voice of the people with the ability to constrain and/or interrupt the executive branch of government is a renewed approach.

Is not corruption and high crimes the very reason the power of the King of England was despised by the original 13 colonies?

After Hamilton’s rebuttal against the fourth objection of the Senate being the judicial body for impeachment, his penned final conclusion places trust in the majority prevailing over the possible bias or corruption of the leading members. It was the frightful prayer and the prevailing idea of the Founders, in their quest for the true sense of Liberty.

While this may seem to be an impossible feat in our modern time of divisiveness and perceived corruption of government, it is the only recourse still available to us. The same goodness and virtue in human nature Hamilton, Madison, and Jay sought after and made plea to is the same corporal office we must look to today.

If the spirit of Publius and the breath of Liberty are to survive, we can never concede to mob rule, or the false pride of kings and queens.

We must always seek out the awesomeness of judgment through the very frailties of our humanity.

I entreat our human spirit to render the verdict.

Publius