Il Federalista

La storia di quasi tutti i grandi concili ed assemblee, tenuti dagli uomini per ac-cordare le loro discordi opinioni, calmare le reciproche gelosie e sistemare i rispettivi interessi, e una storia di fazioni, di contese e di delusioni, e pud essere classificata tra i quadri piu oscuri e degradanti che met-tono in mostra le piaghe e le depravazioni nell' animo umano.* --James Madison

The authors of the U.S. Constitution, no babes in the historical woods, performed their great task in a hopeful mood that was all the more remarkable in view of their deep sophistication about the seamy side of homo politicus. Defending the Constitution in the Federalist papers, John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton displayed their extraordinary ability as political pathologists; they did not so much promise benefits from the Constitution, as written, as predict evils that would follow from writing it another way or not adopting it at all.

To later generations of Americans this spirit of vigorous hope rising above mature and learned skepticism has been partly lost; with few exceptions--De Tocqueville, Bryce, et al.--European intellectuals in general have failed to appreciate the richness of U.S. political theory; even European admirers of U.S. institutions have tended to oversimplify the American system into words like "republicanism" and "democracy." Perhaps one reason for the misconception has long been the dearth of translations of The Federalist Papers. The Federalist was first published in collected form in 1788, and was translated into French in 1792 during the ferment of the French Revolution. Subse quently. Europe's interest dwindled. The Federalist was not translated into German until 1864--in condensed form--or into Spanish until 1868--for Argentine readers. The first copy of The Federalist edited for British readers did not come out until 1911. The Federalist was not translated into Italian at all.

Recently, there have been a few welcome signs of change. Many thoughtful Europeans are turning to consider the U.S. federal system as a guide to their own concept of the unification of Europe. Last week the Italian house of NistriLischi deemed the interest sufficient for it to publish the first Italian translation of The Federalist, entitled // Federalista, Commento alia Costituzione degli Stati Uniti. The work was translated by a 27-year-old woman teacher named Bianca Maria Tedeschini Lalli, an instructor in English literature at the University of Rome, and was annotated by several of the luminaries of the university's law department. Gaspare Ambrosini, professor of constitutional law, contributed a preface that seemed appropriate to the long years during which The Federalist had been neglected. "The American Constitution, so wisely put together at the Philadelphia Convention," he concluded, "ran into great troubles in the War of the Secession, but it stood the test, and today remains more alive and vital than ever."

* Translation: "The history of almost all the great councils and consultations held among mankind for reconciling their discordant opinions, assuaging their mutual jealousies and adjusting their respective interests, is a history of factions, contentions and disappointments, and may be classed among the most dark and degraded pictures which display the infirmities and depravities of the human character."

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