Federalist No. 31 is an essay by Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...

, the thirty-first of the Federalist Papers

Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...

. It was published on January 1, 1788 under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 Publius, the name under which all the Federalist Papers were published. This is the second of seven essays by Hamilton on the then-controversial issue of taxation. It is titled, "The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation."

Brief Precis

Hamilton argues that a government must possess all the powers necessary for achieving its objectives. It must have the means to secure an end. One of these means is the power of taxation. Hamilton argues that the great body of representatives will seek to prevent abuse of this power and usurpation of the state governments' abilities to collect taxes.

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