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 hly enough.

Number 52. Madison.

establish this right in the Con- stitution. To have left it open for the occasional regulation of the Congress would have been improper for the reason just mentioned" (pp. 327^28).

Aug. 7 (Hamilton was absent at that time).

Number 53. Subject : Frequency of Elections.

Number 63.

In support of biennial elec tions it is urged that time will be necessary for the legislator to gain "a certain degree of knowledge of the subjects on which he is to legislate " (p. 335).

"Some knowledge of the affairs, and even of the laws of all the States, ought to be pos- sessed by the members from each of the States " (p. 336).

"The distance which many of the representatives will be obliged to travel, and the ar- rangements rendered necessary by that circumstance, might be much more serious objections with fit men to this service if limited to a single year than if extended to two years " (p. 338).

Madison.

"Three years will be neces- sary, in a government so ex- tensive, for members to form any knowledge of the various interests of the States to which they do not belong, and of which they can know but little, from the situation and affairs of their own; one year will be almost consumed in preparing for and traveling to and from the seat of national business." Debates^ June 12, p. 151.

Madison argued that annual elections wouid be extremely inconvenient for the represent- atives. "They would have to travel seven or eight hundred miles from the distant parts of the Union." Debates, June 21, p. 216.

The amount of evidence in regard to No. 53 is not great, but this is to be noted in regard to its character. Two of the most important arguments in No. 53 for biennial rather than