Federalist No. 26

Summary

Hamilton defends the two-year limit on army appropriations as a genuine and continuing check. Because the legislature must revisit the question at least every two years and record its vote publicly, any long-term plan to build a military force against the people would require the sustained and visible complicity of successive elected bodies rather than a single act.

Key Passage

The legislature of the United States will be obliged, by this provision, once at least in every two years, to deliberate upon the propriety of keeping a military force on foot; to come to a new resolution on the point; and to declare their sense of the matter, by a formal vote in the face of their constituents.

What It Says

A standing army cannot be maintained quietly. It has to be re-authorized on a recorded vote by people who then face election.

What It Protects Against

A permanent military establishment that no longer requires anyone’s consent to continue existing.

Problem Addressed

Anti-Federalists argued the Constitution permitted a standing army in peacetime and that the appropriations limit was a paper restraint.