The Federalist Papers (1787-1789): Federalist Essay No.37 - No. 40

The manner in which the office holders are selected is less important, as long as they are either directly or indirectly appointed by the great body of the society. All of the current state constitutions require some indirect appointments for the officials. However, unlike the state constitutions, the U.S. Constitution allows for impeachment of the President at any time during his term.

Critics argue that the framers of the new constitution should have preserved the federal form of government, and preserved a confederacy of independent states. Instead, they claim, the framers constructed a national government, a consolidation of the states.

The proposed plan of government describes a mixture of federal and national government. It is federal because the convention met through delegates from the states, because the ratification relies on approval of 9 states, because the Senate is made up of representatives by state, and because each act retains its own sovereignty in choosing to join the union. It is national because the House of Representatives is comprised of representatives of the people, and because the new government operates on individual citizens.

The election of the executive branch, and the amendment process is a combination of national and federal governments. The extent of the powers of the government reflects a federal government, because powers not specifically granted to the central government are retained by the state.

The Constitutional Convention was authorized to frame a new plan of government because the resolutions of both the Annapolis Convention and of the Confederation Congress authorized a convention to enact further alterations and provisions to make the Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the union, under the regulations of the Articles of Confederation and subject to the approval of the states and Congress.

If it was not possible for the convention to carry out all of those instructions, it carried out the appropriate one and sacrificed the means to the ends. If providing for the exigencies meant not altering the Articles, then the convention did the right thing by prioritizing the needs of the union. Anyway, the new Constitution is not actually a set of entirely new ideas, but rather an expansion of the principles within the Articles of Confederation.