Federalist--brief grammar digression
The following is probably more than you ever wanted to know....
There's a sentence in Federalist paper #2 that I'm thinking wouldn't make it in a modern essay:
This intelligent people perceived and regretted these defects.
What Hamilton means is:
Intelligent people perceived defects. And, having perceived them, regretted them.
Two issues make this a difficult sentence to parse in its original form. First, we want to read it as 'This intelligent people' which doesn't make sense rather than 'This [the defects], intelligent people perceived'
And then, our (okay, my) modern eyes want to give 'perceived' and 'regretted' equal footing since they're simply separated here by 'and.' But then, the impression is that the perceiving and the regretting take place simultaneously, or at least serially, one defect after another--perceived/regretted, perceived/regretted.... This is especially confusing when combined with the beginning of the sentence. Even after you figure out that 'this' doesn't modify 'intelligent people', you're still left with: This, intelligent people perceived and regretted these defects. Without a 'stop' between perceived and regretted, 'these defects' seems to be redundant. 'This' does all the necessary work and so, 'these defects,' which is important when the sentence is read correctly doesn't make any sense. If you think of it as 'Intelligent people perceived this and regretted these defects.' it makes more sense though it's still awkward.
This intelligent people preceived and regretted these defects.
is a succinct way to say what Hamilton wanted to say. It's just that it's almost impossible to make sense out of.
And, of course, after all these years and editions, it could be that it's just edited badly....