Paraphrases

Federalist No. 68 - How the President is Elected: The Electoral College  paraphrased into modern English by Alexander Hamilton, March 1788 To: the People of the State of New York: The way the top civil officer of the United States is appointed is just about the only significant part of the proposed Constitution that hasn't been severely criticized or had negative comments from those opposed to the Constitution. The most reasonable critic in print even admitted that the way the President is elected seems fairly prudent. I will go even further and say that the way the President is elected is excellent, if not perfect. It combines all of the best advantages into as effective a plan as anyone could wish for. The writers of the Constitution wanted the people to have a say in choosing the man who would have such an important position of trust. This was done by giving the job of making the selection, not to an already existing group of people, but to people who would be chosen by the peop

Federalist No. 47 - How State Constitutions Handle the The Separation of Powers   paraphrased into modern English by James Madison, January, 1788 To: the People of the State of New York: Now that we've looked at the general form of the government proposed in the new Constitution and how much power it will have, let's look at its structure and how the power will be divided among its various parts. One of the main objections brought up by reasonable critics of the Constitution is that it supposedly violates the political truism that the three branches -- legislative, executive, and judicial -- should be distinct and completely separate. They claim that the new government has been structured without giving any thought to essential preventative measures that will favor liberty. Instead, the three branches are divided and blended in a way that destroys all balanced proportion and pleasing form, as well as exposing some of the vital parts of the structure to the risk of being crushed