according to publius, what is the ultimate object of government?

Who Was Publius—The Real Guy?

"Publius" was the pseudonym used past Alexander Hamilton (who became the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury), James Madison (who became the fourth U.South. President), and John Jay (who became the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) to write the 85 papers that brand up The Federalist.  The papers were penned between October 1787 and May 1788.  "The firsthand object" of these papers, wrote Madison in a letter to James Grand. Paulding dated July 24, 1818, "was to vindicate and recommend the new Constitution to the State of New York, whose ratification of the musical instrument was doubtful, also as important. . . .The papers were originally addressed to the people of N. York, under the signature of a 'Denizen of New York.'  This was changed for that of 'Publius,' the first proper name of Valerius Publicola.  The reason for the change was, that one of the writers was non a citizen of that State; some other that the publication had diffused itself amidst nigh of the other States."  (Madison'due south retention hither is inaccurate because the papers were signed "Publius" from the outset, but he did clarify the identity of Publius.)

"Publius" was a fairly common praenomen (the first or personal name of an ancient Roman.).  Some readers of The Federalist, therefore, might accept understood "Publius" to be the Publius praised in the Acts of the Apostles (28:seven), "the chief man of the island" of Melita (probably Republic of malta) who received and lodged Paul and his shipwrecked companions for three days.  Near readers, however, probably recognized "Publius" equally Publius Valerius Publicola, a Roman patriot, general, and statesman who lived in the sixth century B.C.E. and who, according to Plutarch'south Lives, saved the early Roman republic several times from tyranny and armed forces subjugation.  Publius was one of the founders of the commonwealth.  His republican reputation was regarded past some of the American founders as superior to the republican bona fides of Brutus and Cato, though a trouble for the Federalists was that prominent Anti-Federalists had already appropriated the pseudonyms Brutus (Robert Yates) and Cato (George Clinton).

Plutarch compared Publius to Solon, the neat statesman and lawgiver who framed the autonomous laws of ancient Athens.  "Such was Solon," wrote Plutarch.  "To him we compare Publicola, who received this championship from the Roman people for his merit, as a noble accretion to his erstwhile name, Publius Valerius.  He descended from Valerius, a homo amongst the early citizens, reputed to be the principal reconciler of the differences between the Romans and the Sabines, and 1 who was most instrumental in persuading their kings to assent to peace and wedlock."  Publius aligned with Brutus in the revolution against the monarchy in most 509 B.C.Due east.  Afterward, he was disappointed at not existence elected every bit the 2d delegate, just he allayed fears that he might join the defeated monarchists to conspire confronting Rome by publically leading the Senate in a pledge to defend the commonwealth.

Plutarch contended that Publius "obtained as great a name from his eloquence as from his riches, charitably employing the 1 in liberal aid to the poor, the other with integrity and liberty in the service of justice."  Plutarch portrayed Publius every bit a human accessible to the poor, "who never shut his gates against the petitions or indigence'southward of humble people."  He defended the plebeians.  He also saved and freed a slave who had discovered a plot against the democracy, and made the former slave a voting citizen of Rome.

Publius was elected second consul after the incumbent 2d consul, Collatinus, turned against the republic and was banished by Brutus.  Publius thereafter received accolades for beingness the outset delegate to drive a four-horse chariot victoriously into Rome after having defeated the Etruscans who, with Tarquin, sought to tyrannize Rome.

Nevertheless, upon the death of Brutus, who was killed in the Etruscan battle and whom the Romans esteemed as "the male parent of their liberty," the people feared that Publius might become a tyrant because he remained in power as delegate without calling for the election of a 2nd delegate.  Publius had synthetic a palatial abode on a fortified loma overlooking the forum.  Seeing him descend from the hill appeared to the people to be "a stately and majestic spectacle."  Hearing of the people's displeasure and fright, Publius "showed how well information technology were for men in power and great offices to have ears that give comprisal to truth earlier flattery."  During i night, Publius destroyed his house, leveling it to the ground.  In the morn, the people "expressed their wonder and their respect for his magnanimity."  They likewise expressed "sorrow" because their "unfounded jealousy" had driven Publius to demolish his habitation, leaving their noble consul "to beg a lodging with his friends" until he constructed a new home at the human foot of the hill.

Publius "resolved to return the government, also as himself . . . familiar and pleasant to the people" rather than terrible "and . . . to bear witness, in the strongest way, the republican foundation of the authorities."  He reconstructed the Senate and promulgated popular laws.  Among other acts, Publius exempted widows and orphans from paying tribute-money (i.due east., taxes), established an independent treasury in the temple of Saturn, "and granted the people the liberty of choosing two young men equally treasurers."  He too decreed that any Roman could go a consul and that patricians would suffer harsher punishments than plebeians for disobeying a consul.  The people, "submitting with satisfaction," expressed their admiration by calling him "Publicola" (too "Poplicola), pregnant people-lover, people-pleaser, people-minder, or friend of the people.

Although he was said to exist mostly mild and moderate in governing, Publius did plant, wrote Plutarch, "ane excessive penalisation; he made it lawful without trial to take away any human being's life that aspired to a tyranny"; that is, a man who usurped a public office without popular ballot could be executed or slain past a citizen.

However, monarchists all the same opposed Publius and make trouble for Rome.  Publius had many rivals during his life, and his authority waxed and waned as a result.  Nearly the end of his life, though, he was chosen to exist consul for "the fourth time, when a confederacy of the Sabines and Latins threatened a war."  Publius made peace with a portion of the Sabines—"people of the quietest and steadiest atmosphere of all the Sabines"—and welcomed five,000 Sabine families into Rome, immediately giving them the right to vote and allotting each family two acres of state by the river Anio.  The remaining Sabines and Latins besieged Rome, but Publius defeated them.  He delivered the enemies of Rome "lame and blind. . .to be dispatched past their swords.  From the spoil and prisoners, great wealth accrued to the people" of Rome, and the people patently rewarded Publius with a dwelling atop the Palatine Hill.

According to Plultarch, Publius, "having completed his triumph, and bequeathed the metropolis to the care of the succeeding consuls, died [in about 503 B.C.E]; thus endmost a life which, then far as human life may be, had been total of all that is good and honorable."  According to Livy, in his History of Rome, Publius "was universally admitted to be beginning in the conduct of war and the arts of peace, only though he enjoyed such an immense reputation, his private fortune was then scanty that it could not defray the expenses of his funeral."

The people, wrote Plutarch, "as though they had not duly rewarded his deserts when alive, but still were in his debt, decreed him a public internment, every one contributing his quadrans toward the charge; the women, besides, past private consent, mourned a whole year, a indicate mark of honor to his memory.  He was cached, by the people's desire," in the section of Rome called Velian Hill.

It was in the calorie-free of the lessons of this Roman history that Hamilton, Madison, and Jay used "Publius" as their nom de plume for The Federalist, though Hamilton apparently made the initial option, having already used "Publius" in 1778.

One sees in the life of Publius Valerius Publicola many themes and ideas important in the founding and later history of the United States of America, including:

• the want to establish and preserve liberty;

• the want to establish peace and marriage, in part to protect freedom;

• the will to create a republican form of government answerable to the people, even if not democratic in the unproblematic traditional sense;

• the requirement that lawgivers appeal eloquently to the judgment of the people in founding or reconstituting a republic;

• the need to defend a republic against enemies of liberty;

• the demand for military heroes in a republic to refrain from turning their ability and prowess confronting their republic;

• the need for republican leaders to be amongst rather than above the people;

• the need for political leaders in a commonwealth to enter and get out public office peacefully and through the consent of the people;

• sensitivity to the poor, including public policies such a exemptions from taxation;

• the manumission of slaves and the contradiction between slavery and republican government;

• extensions of the right to vote;

• the welcoming of immigrants, indeed, former enemies, into the republic, and, thus, openness to pluralism;

• the naturalization of immigrants to full, equal citizenship;

• land grants to immigrant families;

• a public treasury controlled by the citizenry;

• the civic obligation to place the wealth and honour of i'southward commonwealth ahead of one's personal wealth and honor; and

• the need for republican leaders to act today in ways that seek to ensure the time to come well-being of their commonwealth.

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John Kincaid
Lafayette College

wesselsmund1997.blogspot.com

Source: https://meynercenter.lafayette.edu/publius-journal/