【Abstract】The Federalist Papers, which is a classic masterpiece of the modern political science, expanded profoundly on the meaning of the Constitution of the Unite States in theory. According to the whole train of thought of the Federalists, the concept republic, which is the core of The Federalist Papers, is the foundation stone of the compound republic theory the Federalists wanted to constructed. To build such a concept, the Federalists not only inherited and redeveloped the classical republic conception,but also drew the constitutionalism into it, and thus broadened the concept republic.
其次,宪法高于立法机构所制定的法律,是社会政治生活之最高准则。这此意义上,汉密尔顿认为它是“为立法机关规定一定限制的宪法”[25],宪法与法律之间存在严格区分,宪法是指“由人民制定、政府不能更改的”,和法律则是“由政府制定、政府能够更改的”。[26]这实质反映一种哈耶克所说的“涉及到规则或法律的等级观(idea of hierarchy of rules or laws),在这里,那些拥有较高等级的一般性规则或法律以及那些源出于较高权威机构的规则或法律,控制着那些由被授权立法的机构所通过的较为具体的法律的内容”[27]。当这两种有等级差别的规则发生冲突时,“宪法应作为解释法律的准绳,在二者发生明显矛盾时,法律应服从宪法。”[28]