17 is an essay by Alexander Hamilton, the seventeenth of The Federalist Papers.

17 addresses the insufficiencies of the Articles of Confederation to satisfactorily govern the United States; it is the third of six essays on this topic.

It is titled "The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union".

Hamilton argues that because states are given the most direct power over their citizens, namely the ability to administer criminal and civil justice, they remain "the most attractive source of popular obedience and attachment".

According to Hamilton, this power contributes more than any other circumstance to impressing upon the minds of the people affection, esteem, and reverence towards the government [of the state].