Federalist No. 39

The Federalist Papers were a series of essays authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay arguing for the ratification of the United States Constitution. The essays were the most significant contribution to the debate over the structure of the new American government. Thomas Jefferson called them "the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written." 

Federalist No. 39, authored by James Madison, defends the proposed Constitution by arguing that it establishes a strictly republican form of government deriving its power directly or indirectly from the people. Madison addresses Anti-Federalist concerns by clarifying that the Constitution creates a hybrid system, combining both federal principles, which preserve state sovereignty, and national principles, which operate directly on individual citizens.

“The proposed Constitution, therefore, is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal Constitution, but a composition of both. In its foundation it is federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the government are drawn, it is partly federal and partly national; in the operation of these powers, it is national, not federal; in the extent of them, again, it is federal, not national; and, finally, in the authoritative mode of introducing amendments, it is neither wholly federal nor wholly national.”