Federalist No. 72 is an essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

 by Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...

 and the seventy-second of the Federalist Papers

Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...

. It was published on March 19, 1788 under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 Publius. The paper discusses executive re-eligibility and is the sixth in a series of 11 essays discussing the powers the Executive branch.

Executive re-eligibility

In Federalist No. 72, Alexander Hamilton argues that re-eligibility is essential to executive power. He believed that the Presidency must attract the most ambitious individuals and re-eligibility ensured that they would not attempt to extend their term in office unconstitutionally.

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