This building was the home of a prominent Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was a major proponent of the new Constitution and the only delegate from New York to sign it. He believed that a strong national government was necessary to keep the new republic standing. In particular, Hamilton advocated for the national government to assume the debts the various states accrued during the Revolutionary War. At the time this was unpopular with many who believed the new policy unfairly burdened those states who had better managed their debts. However, it proved to be an essential component to unifying the different states and strengthening the country. Hamilton is also famous for his efforts to get the US Constitution ratified. Many states, especially New York, seemed resistant at first to ratification. Hamilton, along with James Madison and John Jay, wrote The Federalist Papers, which laid out all the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the strengths of the US Constitution. Hamilton and his partners are credited with turning the tide in favor of ratification.

Article I, Section II "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included in this Union, according to their respective numbers which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free Persons... three fifths of all other Persons." Perhaps the most sinister aspect of the Constitution, this sentence explains how the different states are to be represented in the House of Representatives. In addition to every free citizen of the state, "three-fifths of all other persons" would also be counted. This was a compromise struck between the northern and southern states. Southern states wanted their enslaved population to be counted because it would give them greater representation in Congress and more power. The northern states resisted because this would weaken their influence. The compromise agreed upon counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person. Or in other words, for every five slaves, three counted towards the population of the state, which directly affected the number of representatives allotted. It took almost eighty years, a civil war, and the passage of the 13th Amendment for this inequality to be addressed.

Article I, Section VIII "The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises to pay the debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts, and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." This section of the Constitution serves to give the national government control over interstate and international commerce. Any goods entering New York, for example, would be charged the same tax as the same goods entering Boston. This was designed to prevent the different states from competing with one another over trade and commerce. Massachusetts could not try to gain the upper hand over New York by taxing imported goods less. This building on Greenwich Street was once used by the US Customs Service to assess the tariffs, or tax, on imported goods arriving in New York Harbor, a power granted to the federal government in the Constitution.

Article I, Section VIII "To raise and support armies... to provide and maintain a navy; to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and Naval forces." The framers of the Constitution feared that a national government without the ability to regulate the military would make it weak and ineffective. They also wisely recognized the importance of a navy to the economic well-being of the United States. In the Federalist Papers, Hamilton argues that the new republic's greatest economic rivals maintained powerful navies that allowed them to dictate trade on the open Atlantic. If the US hoped to compete they would need to challenge the navies of European powers, like Britain. The Brooklyn Navy Yard, established in 1801, served as the nation's premier ship-building yard for 165 years. This yard, and others like it, helped propel the US Navy to international prominence.

Article II, Section I "The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the term of four Years, and together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected as follows.... " This section of the Constitution explains the Electoral College. The US President is not elected by popular vote. Each state is granted a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress. These electors vote for the president. Historically, the popular vote and Electoral College's selection match. There have been five instances where this has not been the case, the most recent being the 2016 election. Today, the electors of each state are generally obligated to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who win a majority of the popular vote in that state. Prior to the passage of the 12th Amendment, the process was much more complicated. The electors from each state voted for two people to be president. These votes were then brought to Congress to be counted. If there was a tie among the electors, the House of Representatives would vote for a president. In this situation, each state received one vote. Whoever had the most votes would become president, and whoever had the second-most votes became vice-president. While the president and vice-president are now elected as a pair, it is still up to the House of Representatives to choose a president in case of a tie! This was the system in place when George Washington was elected and sworn into office at Federal Hall on Wall Street.

Article II, Section II "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States..." The founders of the country believed a strong national military was necessary for a successful nation. Additionally, they believed that in times of emergency it was necessary for quick and decisive action. So while Congress is the branch of government with the ability to declare war, the president is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and can send troops into battle. This also applies to the various state militias that were allowed to exist under the US Constitution. During the Civil War, President Lincoln, using his constitutional powers, called forth the Fourteenth Regiment of the New York State Militia Infantry from Brooklyn. Marching from Fort Green Park, these militiamen saw combat in many important Civil War battles. Without the ability to control both the regular national army and the state militias, the founders reasoned, the president would not have the necessary strength to protect the country.

Article III, Section I "The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." The Supreme Court is the head of the judicial branch of the United States. Early on in its existence, the Court established the precedence of judicial review in the case of Marbury v. Madison, which gave the Supreme Court the power to judge laws passed by Congress as unconstitutional. The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was John Jay. Jay was a lifelong New Yorker who received his education at King's College, today known as Columbia University. Chief Justice Jay and the other five justices first convened the Supreme Court in 1790 at the Royal Exchange Building, located on Broad Street, near Water Street in Lower Manhattan.

Article IV Section II "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States... No Person held to Service or Labour in one State...shall... be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due." The first section of this Article of the Constitution protects people's citizenship and rights regardless of which state they are from. In other words a person from New York, but living in Virginia, cannot be treated differently or held to a different standard than a native born Virginian living in the state. This was meant to encourage national, over state citizenship. Unfortunately, this section of the Constitution also spelled out what should happen to slaves who escaped their owners. An enslaved person from North Carolina, for example, who made it to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, through the Underground Railroad, was still in great danger. If that person had been found in New York, legally they would have to be returned to their owner in North Carolina. The reasons above are why Plymouth Church and other locations in New York were stops on the Underground Railroad. The final destination for these escapees was Canada, where the Constitution was not the rule of law.

Article V "The Congress whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution." The Constitutional Amendment process was an ingenious way to ensure that the government of the United States could not be dramatically altered without the Consent of a large majority of the population. Either two-thirds of both houses of Congress can propose an Amendment or two-thirds of the state legislatures can approve a Constitutional Convention. Once Amendments are proposed they must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or special state conventions. Throughout the history of the United States, the Constitution has been successfully amended 27 times. The 19th Amendment, for example, gave women the right to vote. Madison Square Park was the location of the first outdoor rally in New York for Women's Suffrage, in 1907. The park continued to play a pivotal role in the Women's Suffrage movement over the next thirteen years. Finally, through the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, women in the United States gained the right to vote.

Article VI "The Senators and Representative before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers...shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office..." During the colonial period and leading up to the ratification of the Constitution, it was common practice for public officials to swear a religious oath, typically to the Church of England. Most colonies singled out Catholics in particular and barred them from holding public office. Even with this Constitutional protection, it was difficult for Catholics and other religious minorities to get elected to office. The house pictured here was the residence of Al Smith, the first Catholic governor of New York State. He was first elected to this office in 1918, about 130 years after the Constitution was ratified! He was also the first Roman Catholic to run for President. While no legal barriers prevented him from running, he experienced fierce anti-Catholic bigotry and lost the election.

The Bill of Rights When Hamilton, Jay, and Madison were writing the Federalist Papers in defense of the Constitution, many opponents feared the Constitution failed to adequately protect individuals' natural rights. The compromise arrived upon was the passage of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. These Amendments are known as the Bill of Rights and explicitly protected certain rights like the Freedom of Speech and the Press, and Freedom of Religion. Americans, and New Yorkers, in particular, had a long history of their basic rights being violated. In the Dutch colonial era, a Quaker from Flushing named John Bowne was arrested by Governor Stuyvesant for holding an illegal Quaker meeting. The arrest followed the publishing of the Flushing Remonstrance, which is one of the earliest documents in the United States to demand freedom of religion. This long history of the government violating the basic rights of individuals animated the debate around the Constitution and ultimately led to the protection of these basic rights. The Bill of Rights is perhaps the most important and unique political document in American history and it can trace its origins all the way back to 17th Century Queens!