As you have seen, the primary thrust of arguments in the first few Federalist Papers has been national security – protection of the citizenry from not only foreign dangers and maritime powers, but from inevitable internal disputes between independent states.  

Hamilton tries to drive this argument home in Essay #8, The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States, where he argues that the United States will prevent internal wars by becoming united as a country, rather than falling apart and battling each other.

Hamilton felt that his earlier essays had made a convincing argument that a strong union provides safety from foreign attack, and in this essay, he wants to address some of the other consequences of the dissolution of the states – particularly domestic wars between states.

Hamilton postulates that Europe would never have had so many internal wars had it been a large, unified country – something interesting, academically, to consider, but unprovable. Typical of the reverence with which the Founding Fathers held for ancient Greece, Hamilton focuses on that culture to try to strengthen his point.

Credit for the synopsis and analysis is given to Brittany Nelson and Christopher Higgins (second revision 09/15/2011). Weinbloom, Elizabeth ed. “The Federalist Papers Essay 8 Summary and Analysis”. GradeSaver, 30 December 2011 Web. 16 January 2019.

You can access the synopsis and analysis by clicking HERE.

You can access the entire text of Essay #8 by clicking HERE.