To the People of the State of New York:
HAVING shown that no one of the powers transferred to the federal government is unnecessary or improper, the next
question to be considered is, whether the whole mass of them will be dangerous to the portion of authority left in the
several States.
The adversaries to the plan of the convention, instead of considering in the first place what degree of power was
absolutely necessary for the purposes of the federal government, have exhausted themselves in a secondary inquiry into
the possible consequences of the proposed degree of power to the governments of the particular States. But if the
Union, as has been shown, be essential to the security of the people of America against foreign danger; if it be essential
to their security against contentions and wars among the different States; if it be essential to guard them against those
violent and oppressive factions which embitter the blessings of liberty, and against those military establishments which
must gradually poison its very fountain; if, in a word, the Union be essential to the happiness of the people of America,
is it not preposterous, to urge as an objection to a government, without which the objects of the Union cannot be
attained, that such a government may derogate from the importance of the governments of the individual States? Was,
then, the American Revolution effected, was the American Confederacy formed, was the precious blood of thousands
spilt, and the hard-earned substance of millions lavished, not that the people of America should enjoy peace, liberty,
and safety, but that the government of the individual States, that particular municipal establishments, might enjoy a
certain extent of power, and be arrayed with certain dignities and attributes of sovereignty? We have heard of the
impious doctrine in the Old World, that the people were made for kings, not kings for the people. Is the same doctrine
to be revived in the New, in another shape that the solid happiness of the people is to be sacrificed to the views of
political institutions of a different form? It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good,
the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of government
whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object. Were the plan of the convention
adverse to the public happiness, my voice would be, Reject the plan. Were the Union itself inconsistent with the public
happiness, it would be, Abolish the Union. In like manner, as far as the sovereignty of the States cannot be reconciled
to the happiness of the people, the voice of every good citizen must be, Let the former be sacrificed to the latter. How
far the sacrifice is necessary, has been shown. How far the unsacrificed residue will be endangered, is the question
before us.
Several important considerations have been touched in the course of these papers, which discountenance the
supposition that the operation of the federal government will by degrees prove fatal to the State governments. The more
I revolve the subject, the more fully I am persuaded that the balance is much more likely to be disturbed by the
preponderancy of the last than of the first scale.
We have seen, in all the examples of ancient and modern confederacies, the strongest tendency continually betraying
itself in the members, to despoil the general government of its authorities, with a very ineffectual capacity in the latter to
defend itself against the encroachments. Although, in most of these examples, the system has been so dissimilar from
that under consideration as greatly to weaken any inference concerning the latter from the fate of the former, yet, as the
States will retain, under the proposed Constitution, a very extensive portion of active sovereignty, the inference ought
not to be wholly disregarded. In the Achaean league it is probable that the federal head had a degree and species of
power, which gave it a considerable likeness to the government framed by the convention. The Lycian Confederacy, as
far as its principles and form are transmitted, must have borne a still greater analogy to it. Yet history does not inform us
that either of them ever degenerated, or tended to degenerate, into one consolidated government. On the contrary, we
know that the ruin of one of them proceeded from the incapacity of the federal authority to prevent the dissensions, and
finally the disunion, of the subordinate authorities. These cases are the more worthy of our attention, as the external
causes by which the component parts were pressed together were much more numerous and powerful than in our case;
and consequently less powerful ligaments within would be sufficient to bind the members to the head, and to each other.
In the feudal system, we have seen a similar propensity exemplified. Notwithstanding the want of proper sympathy in
every instance between the local sovereigns and the people, and the sympathy in some instances between the general
sovereign and the latter, it usually happened that the local sovereigns prevailed in the rivalship for encroachments. Had
no external dangers enforced internal harmony and subordination, and particularly, had the local sovereigns possessed
the affections of the people, the great kingdoms in Europe would at this time consist of as many independent princes as
there were formerly feudatory barons.
The State government will have the advantage of the Federal government, whether we compare them in respect to the
immediate dependence of the one on the other; to the weight of personal influence which each side will possess; to the
powers respectively vested in them; to the predilection and probable support of the people; to the disposition and
faculty of resisting and frustrating the measures of each other.
The State governments may be regarded as constituent and essential parts of the federal government; whilst the latter is
nowise essential to the operation or organization of the former. Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the
President of the United States cannot be elected at all. They must in all cases have a great share in his appointment, and
will, perhaps, in most cases, of themselves determine it. The Senate will be elected absolutely and exclusively by the
State legislatures. Even the House of Representatives, though drawn immediately from the people, will be chosen very
much under the influence of that class of men, whose influence over the people obtains for themselves an election into
the State legislatures. Thus, each of the principal branches of the federal government will owe its existence more or less
to the favor of the State governments, and must consequently feel a dependence, which is much more likely to beget a
disposition too obsequious than too overbearing towards them. On the other side, the component parts of the State
governments will in no instance be indebted for their appointment to the direct agency of the federal government, and
very little, if at all, to the local influence of its members.
The number of individuals employed under the Constitution of the United States will be much smaller than the number
employed under the particular States. There will consequently be less of personal influence on the side of the former
than of the latter. The members of the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments of thirteen and more States, the
justices of peace, officers of militia, ministerial officers of justice, with all the county, corporation, and town officers, for
three millions and more of people, intermixed, and having particular acquaintance with every class and circle of people,
must exceed, beyond all proportion, both in number and influence, those of every description who will be employed in
the administration of the federal system. Compare the members of the three great departments of the thirteen States,
excluding from the judiciary department the justices of peace, with the members of the corresponding departments of
the single government of the Union; compare the militia officers of three millions of people with the military and marine
officers of any establishment which is within the compass of probability, or, I may add, of possibility, and in this view
alone, we may pronounce the advantage of the States to be decisive. If the federal government is to have collectors of
revenue, the State governments will have theirs also. And as those of the former will be principally on the seacoast, and
not very numerous, whilst those of the latter will be spread over the face of the country, and will be very numerous, the
advantage in this view also lies on the same side. It is true, that the Confederacy is to possess, and may exercise, the
power of collecting internal as well as external taxes throughout the States; but it is probable that this power will not be
resorted to, except for supplemental purposes of revenue; that an option will then be given to the States to supply their
quotas by previous collections of their own; and that the eventual collection, under the immediate authority of the Union,
will generally be made by the officers, and according to the rules, appointed by the several States. Indeed it is
extremely probable, that in other instances, particularly in the organization of the judicial power, the officers of the
States will be clothed with the correspondent authority of the Union. Should it happen, however, that separate
collectors of internal revenue should be appointed under the federal government, the influence of the whole number
would not bear a comparison with that of the multitude of State officers in the opposite scale. Within every district to
which a federal collector would be allotted, there would not be less than thirty or forty, or even more, officers of
different descriptions, and many of them persons of character and weight, whose influence would lie on the side of the
State.
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to
remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external
objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part,
be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of
affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of
the State.
The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the
State governments, in times of peace and security. As the former periods will probably bear a small proportion to the
latter, the State governments will here enjoy another advantage over the federal government. The more adequate,
indeed, the federal powers may be rendered to the national defense, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger
which might favor their ascendancy over the governments of the particular States.
If the new Constitution be examined with accuracy and candor, it will be found that the change which it proposes
consists much less in the addition of NEW POWERS to the Union, than in the invigoration of its ORIGINAL
POWERS. The regulation of commerce, it is true, is a new power; but that seems to be an addition which few oppose,
and from which no apprehensions are entertained. The powers relating to war and peace, armies and fleets, treaties and
finance, with the other more considerable powers, are all vested in the existing Congress by the articles of
Confederation. The proposed change does not enlarge these powers; it only substitutes a more effectual mode of
administering them. The change relating to taxation may be regarded as the most important; and yet the present
Congress have as complete authority to REQUIRE of the States indefinite supplies of money for the common defense
and general welfare, as the future Congress will have to require them of individual citizens; and the latter will be no more
bound than the States themselves have been, to pay the quotas respectively taxed on them. Had the States complied
punctually with the articles of Confederation, or could their compliance have been enforced by as peaceable means as
may be used with success towards single persons, our past experience is very far from countenancing an opinion, that
the State governments would have lost their constitutional powers, and have gradually undergone an entire
consolidation. To maintain that such an event would have ensued, would be to say at once, that the existence of the
State governments is incompatible with any system whatever that accomplishes the essential purposes of the Union.
PUBLIUS.
HAVING shown that no one of the powers transferred to the federal government is unnecessary or improper, the next
question to be considered is, whether the whole mass of them will be dangerous to the portion of authority left in the
several States.
The adversaries to the plan of the convention, instead of considering in the first place what degree of power was
absolutely necessary for the purposes of the federal government, have exhausted themselves in a secondary inquiry into
the possible consequences of the proposed degree of power to the governments of the particular States. But if the
Union, as has been shown, be essential to the security of the people of America against foreign danger; if it be essential
to their security against contentions and wars among the different States; if it be essential to guard them against those
violent and oppressive factions which embitter the blessings of liberty, and against those military establishments which
must gradually poison its very fountain; if, in a word, the Union be essential to the happiness of the people of America,
is it not preposterous, to urge as an objection to a government, without which the objects of the Union cannot be
attained, that such a government may derogate from the importance of the governments of the individual States? Was,
then, the American Revolution effected, was the American Confederacy formed, was the precious blood of thousands
spilt, and the hard-earned substance of millions lavished, not that the people of America should enjoy peace, liberty,
and safety, but that the government of the individual States, that particular municipal establishments, might enjoy a
certain extent of power, and be arrayed with certain dignities and attributes of sovereignty? We have heard of the
impious doctrine in the Old World, that the people were made for kings, not kings for the people. Is the same doctrine
to be revived in the New, in another shape that the solid happiness of the people is to be sacrificed to the views of
political institutions of a different form? It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good,
the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of government
whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object. Were the plan of the convention
adverse to the public happiness, my voice would be, Reject the plan. Were the Union itself inconsistent with the public
happiness, it would be, Abolish the Union. In like manner, as far as the sovereignty of the States cannot be reconciled
to the happiness of the people, the voice of every good citizen must be, Let the former be sacrificed to the latter. How
far the sacrifice is necessary, has been shown. How far the unsacrificed residue will be endangered, is the question
before us.
Several important considerations have been touched in the course of these papers, which discountenance the
supposition that the operation of the federal government will by degrees prove fatal to the State governments. The more
I revolve the subject, the more fully I am persuaded that the balance is much more likely to be disturbed by the
preponderancy of the last than of the first scale.
We have seen, in all the examples of ancient and modern confederacies, the strongest tendency continually betraying
itself in the members, to despoil the general government of its authorities, with a very ineffectual capacity in the latter to
defend itself against the encroachments. Although, in most of these examples, the system has been so dissimilar from
that under consideration as greatly to weaken any inference concerning the latter from the fate of the former, yet, as the
States will retain, under the proposed Constitution, a very extensive portion of active sovereignty, the inference ought
not to be wholly disregarded. In the Achaean league it is probable that the federal head had a degree and species of
power, which gave it a considerable likeness to the government framed by the convention. The Lycian Confederacy, as
far as its principles and form are transmitted, must have borne a still greater analogy to it. Yet history does not inform us
that either of them ever degenerated, or tended to degenerate, into one consolidated government. On the contrary, we
know that the ruin of one of them proceeded from the incapacity of the federal authority to prevent the dissensions, and
finally the disunion, of the subordinate authorities. These cases are the more worthy of our attention, as the external
causes by which the component parts were pressed together were much more numerous and powerful than in our case;
and consequently less powerful ligaments within would be sufficient to bind the members to the head, and to each other.
In the feudal system, we have seen a similar propensity exemplified. Notwithstanding the want of proper sympathy in
every instance between the local sovereigns and the people, and the sympathy in some instances between the general
sovereign and the latter, it usually happened that the local sovereigns prevailed in the rivalship for encroachments. Had
no external dangers enforced internal harmony and subordination, and particularly, had the local sovereigns possessed
the affections of the people, the great kingdoms in Europe would at this time consist of as many independent princes as
there were formerly feudatory barons.
The State government will have the advantage of the Federal government, whether we compare them in respect to the
immediate dependence of the one on the other; to the weight of personal influence which each side will possess; to the
powers respectively vested in them; to the predilection and probable support of the people; to the disposition and
faculty of resisting and frustrating the measures of each other.
The State governments may be regarded as constituent and essential parts of the federal government; whilst the latter is
nowise essential to the operation or organization of the former. Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the
President of the United States cannot be elected at all. They must in all cases have a great share in his appointment, and
will, perhaps, in most cases, of themselves determine it. The Senate will be elected absolutely and exclusively by the
State legislatures. Even the House of Representatives, though drawn immediately from the people, will be chosen very
much under the influence of that class of men, whose influence over the people obtains for themselves an election into
the State legislatures. Thus, each of the principal branches of the federal government will owe its existence more or less
to the favor of the State governments, and must consequently feel a dependence, which is much more likely to beget a
disposition too obsequious than too overbearing towards them. On the other side, the component parts of the State
governments will in no instance be indebted for their appointment to the direct agency of the federal government, and
very little, if at all, to the local influence of its members.
The number of individuals employed under the Constitution of the United States will be much smaller than the number
employed under the particular States. There will consequently be less of personal influence on the side of the former
than of the latter. The members of the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments of thirteen and more States, the
justices of peace, officers of militia, ministerial officers of justice, with all the county, corporation, and town officers, for
three millions and more of people, intermixed, and having particular acquaintance with every class and circle of people,
must exceed, beyond all proportion, both in number and influence, those of every description who will be employed in
the administration of the federal system. Compare the members of the three great departments of the thirteen States,
excluding from the judiciary department the justices of peace, with the members of the corresponding departments of
the single government of the Union; compare the militia officers of three millions of people with the military and marine
officers of any establishment which is within the compass of probability, or, I may add, of possibility, and in this view
alone, we may pronounce the advantage of the States to be decisive. If the federal government is to have collectors of
revenue, the State governments will have theirs also. And as those of the former will be principally on the seacoast, and
not very numerous, whilst those of the latter will be spread over the face of the country, and will be very numerous, the
advantage in this view also lies on the same side. It is true, that the Confederacy is to possess, and may exercise, the
power of collecting internal as well as external taxes throughout the States; but it is probable that this power will not be
resorted to, except for supplemental purposes of revenue; that an option will then be given to the States to supply their
quotas by previous collections of their own; and that the eventual collection, under the immediate authority of the Union,
will generally be made by the officers, and according to the rules, appointed by the several States. Indeed it is
extremely probable, that in other instances, particularly in the organization of the judicial power, the officers of the
States will be clothed with the correspondent authority of the Union. Should it happen, however, that separate
collectors of internal revenue should be appointed under the federal government, the influence of the whole number
would not bear a comparison with that of the multitude of State officers in the opposite scale. Within every district to
which a federal collector would be allotted, there would not be less than thirty or forty, or even more, officers of
different descriptions, and many of them persons of character and weight, whose influence would lie on the side of the
State.
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to
remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external
objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part,
be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of
affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of
the State.
The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the
State governments, in times of peace and security. As the former periods will probably bear a small proportion to the
latter, the State governments will here enjoy another advantage over the federal government. The more adequate,
indeed, the federal powers may be rendered to the national defense, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger
which might favor their ascendancy over the governments of the particular States.
If the new Constitution be examined with accuracy and candor, it will be found that the change which it proposes
consists much less in the addition of NEW POWERS to the Union, than in the invigoration of its ORIGINAL
POWERS. The regulation of commerce, it is true, is a new power; but that seems to be an addition which few oppose,
and from which no apprehensions are entertained. The powers relating to war and peace, armies and fleets, treaties and
finance, with the other more considerable powers, are all vested in the existing Congress by the articles of
Confederation. The proposed change does not enlarge these powers; it only substitutes a more effectual mode of
administering them. The change relating to taxation may be regarded as the most important; and yet the present
Congress have as complete authority to REQUIRE of the States indefinite supplies of money for the common defense
and general welfare, as the future Congress will have to require them of individual citizens; and the latter will be no more
bound than the States themselves have been, to pay the quotas respectively taxed on them. Had the States complied
punctually with the articles of Confederation, or could their compliance have been enforced by as peaceable means as
may be used with success towards single persons, our past experience is very far from countenancing an opinion, that
the State governments would have lost their constitutional powers, and have gradually undergone an entire
consolidation. To maintain that such an event would have ensued, would be to say at once, that the existence of the
State governments is incompatible with any system whatever that accomplishes the essential purposes of the Union.
PUBLIUS.
| FEDERALIST NO. 45 The Alleged Danger From the Powers of the Union to the State Governments Considered - James Madison |
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