The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

“No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.” Clause 7. “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Clause 3. “Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust or profit under the United States but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.” Section 9. Independent of those, which relate to the structure of the government, we find the following: Article I. To the first I answer, that the constitution proposed 8 by the convention contains, as well as the constitution of this state, a number of such provisions. To justify their zeal in this matter, they alledge two things one is, that though the constitution of New-York has no bill of rights prefixed to it, yet it contains in the body of it various provisions in favour of particular privileges and rights, which in substance amount to the same thing the other is, that the constitution adopts in their full extent the common and statute law of Great-Britain, by which many other rights not expressed in it 7 are equally secured.

And yet the opposers of the new system in this state, 4 who 5 profess an unlimited admiration for its 6 constitution, are among the most intemperate partizans of a bill of rights. I add, that New-York is of this 3 number. Among other answers given to this, it has been upon different occasions remarked, that the constitutions of several of the states are in a similar predicament. The most considerable of these remaining objections is, that the plan of the convention contains no bill of rights. These shall now be discussed but as the subject has been drawn into great length, I shall so far consult brevity as to comprise all my observations on these miscellaneous points in a single paper. There however remain a few which either did not fall naturally under any particular head, or were forgotten in their proper places. IN the course of the foregoing review of the constitution I have taken notice of, and 2 endeavoured to answer, most of the objections which have appeared against it.

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton