From The Independent Journal. Saturday, January 5, 1788.
HAMILTON
To the People of the State of New York:
I FLATTER myself it has been clearly shown in my last number that the particular States, under the proposed Constitution, would have COEQUAL authority with the union in the article of revenue, except as to duties on imports. As this leaves open to the States far the greatest part of the resources of the community, there can be no color for the assertion that they would not possess means as abundant as could be desired for the supply of their own wants, independent of all external control. That the field is sufficiently2 wide will more fully3 appear when we come to advert4 to the inconsiderable share of the public expenses for which it will fall to the lot of the State governments to provide.
To argue upon abstract principles that this co-ordinate authority cannot exist, is to set up supposition and theory against fact and reality. However proper such reasonings might be to show that a thing OUGHT NOT TO EXIST, they are wholly to be rejected when they are made use of to prove that it does not exist contrary to the evidence of the fact itself. It is well known that in the Roman republic the legislative5 authority, in the last resort, resided for ages in two different political bodies not as branches of the same legislature, but as distinct and independent legislatures, in each of which an opposite interest prevailed: in one the patrician7; in the other, the plebian. Many arguments might have been adduced to prove the unfitness of two such seemingly contradictory8 authorities, each having power to ANNUL9 or REPEAL10 the acts of the other. But a man would have been regarded as frantic11 who should have attempted at Rome to disprove their existence. It will be readily understood that I allude12 to the COMITIA CENTURIATA and the COMITIA TRIBUTA. The former, in which the people voted by centuries, was so arranged as to give a superiority to the patrician interest; in the latter, in which numbers prevailed, the plebian interest had an entire predominancy. And yet these two legislatures coexisted for ages, and the Roman republic attained13 to the utmost height of human greatness.
In the case particularly under consideration, there is no such contradiction as appears in the example cited; there is no power on either side to annul the acts of the other. And in practice there is little reason to apprehend14 any inconvenience; because, in a short course of time, the wants of the States will naturally reduce themselves within A VERY NARROW COMPASS; and in the interim15, the United States will, in all probability, find it convenient to abstain16 wholly from those objects to which the particular States would be inclined to resort.
To form a more precise judgment17 of the true merits of this question, it will be well to advert to the proportion between the objects that will require a federal provision in respect to revenue, and those which will require a State provision. We shall discover that the former are altogether unlimited18, and that the latter are circumscribed19 within very moderate bounds. In pursuing this inquiry20, we must bear in mind that we are not to confine our view to the present period, but to look forward to remote futurity. Constitutions of civil government are not to be framed upon a calculation of existing exigencies21, but upon a combination of these with the probable exigencies of ages, according to the natural and tried course of human affairs. Nothing, therefore, can be more fallacious than to infer the extent of any power, proper to be lodged22 in the national government, from an estimate of its immediate23 necessities. There ought to be a CAPACITY to provide for future contingencies24 as they may happen; and as these are illimitable in their nature, it is impossible safely to limit that capacity. It is true, perhaps, that a computation might be made with sufficient accuracy to answer the purpose of the quantity of revenue requisite25 to discharge the subsisting26 engagements of the union, and to maintain those establishments which, for some time to come, would suffice in time of peace. But would it be wise, or would it not rather be the extreme of folly27, to stop at this point, and to leave the government intrusted with the care of the national defense28 in a state of absolute incapacity to provide for the protection of the community against future invasions of the public peace, by foreign war or domestic convulsions? If, on the contrary, we ought to exceed this point, where can we stop, short of an indefinite power of providing for emergencies as they may arise? Though it is easy to assert, in general terms, the possibility of forming a rational judgment of a due provision against probable dangers, yet we may safely challenge those who make the assertion to bring forward their data, and may affirm that they would be found as vague and uncertain as any that could be produced to establish the probable duration of the world. Observations confined to the mere30 prospects31 of internal attacks can deserve no weight; though even these will admit of no satisfactory calculation: but if we mean to be a commercial people, it must form a part of our policy to be able one day to defend that commerce. The support of a navy and of naval32 wars would involve contingencies that must baffle all the efforts of political arithmetic.
Admitting that we ought to try the novel and absurd experiment in politics of tying up the hands of government from offensive war founded upon reasons of state, yet certainly we ought not to disable it from guarding the community against the ambition or enmity of other nations. A cloud has been for some time hanging over the European world. If it should break forth33 into a storm, who can insure us that in its progress a part of its fury would not be spent upon us? No reasonable man would hastily pronounce that we are entirely34 out of its reach. Or if the combustible35 materials that now seem to be collecting should be dissipated without coming to maturity36, or if a flame should be kindled37 without extending to us, what security can we have that our tranquillity38 will long remain undisturbed from some other cause or from some other quarter? Let us recollect39 that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others. Who could have imagined at the conclusion of the last war that France and Britain, wearied and exhausted40 as they both were, would so soon have looked with so hostile an aspect upon each other? To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery41 and destructive passions of war reign29 in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political systems upon speculations42 of lasting43 tranquillity, is to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character.
What are the chief sources of expense in every government? What has occasioned that enormous accumulation of debts with which several of the European nations are oppressed? The answers plainly is, wars and rebellions; the support of those institutions which are necessary to guard the body politic6 against these two most mortal diseases of society. The expenses arising from those institutions which are relative to the mere domestic police of a state, to the support of its legislative, executive, and judicial44 departments, with their different appendages45, and to the encouragement of agriculture and manufactures (which will comprehend almost all the objects of state expenditure), are insignificant46 in comparison with those which relate to the national defense.
In the kingdom of Great Britain, where all the ostentatious apparatus47 of monarchy48 is to be provided for, not above a fifteenth part of the annual income of the nation is appropriated to the class of expenses last mentioned; the other fourteen fifteenths are absorbed in the payment of the interest of debts contracted for carrying on the wars in which that country has been engaged, and in the maintenance of fleets and armies. If, on the one hand, it should be observed that the expenses incurred49 in the prosecution50 of the ambitious enterprises and vainglorious51 pursuits of a monarchy are not a proper standard by which to judge of those which might be necessary in a republic, it ought, on the other hand, to be remarked that there should be as great a disproportion between the profusion52 and extravagance of a wealthy kingdom in its domestic administration, and the frugality53 and economy which in that particular become the modest simplicity54 of republican government. If we balance a proper deduction55 from one side against that which it is supposed ought to be made from the other, the proportion may still be considered as holding good.
But let us advert to the large debt which we have ourselves contracted in a single war, and let us only calculate on a common share of the events which disturb the peace of nations, and we shall instantly perceive, without the aid of any elaborate illustration, that there must always be an immense disproportion between the objects of federal and state expenditures56. It is true that several of the States, separately, are encumbered57 with considerable debts, which are an excrescence of the late war. But this cannot happen again, if the proposed system be adopted; and when these debts are discharged, the only call for revenue of any consequence, which the State governments will continue to experience, will be for the mere support of their respective civil list; to which, if we add all contingencies, the total amount in every State ought to fall considerably58 short of two hundred thousand pounds.
In framing a government for posterity59 as well as ourselves, we ought, in those provisions which are designed to be permanent, to calculate, not on temporary, but on permanent causes of expense. If this principle be a just one our attention would be directed to a provision in favor of the State governments for an annual sum of about two hundred thousand pounds; while the exigencies of the union could be susceptible60 of no limits, even in imagination. In this view of the subject, by what logic61 can it be maintained that the local governments ought to command, in perpetuity, an EXCLUSIVE source of revenue for any sum beyond the extent of two hundred thousand pounds? To extend its power further, in EXCLUSION62 of the authority of the union, would be to take the resources of the community out of those hands which stood in need of them for the public welfare, in order to put them into other hands which could have no just or proper occasion for them.
Suppose, then, the convention had been inclined to proceed upon the principle of a repartition of the objects of revenue, between the union and its members, in PROPORTION to their comparative necessities; what particular fund could have been selected for the use of the States, that would not either have been too much or too little too little for their present, too much for their future wants? As to the line of separation between external and internal taxes, this would leave to the States, at a rough computation, the command of two thirds of the resources of the community to defray from a tenth to a twentieth part of its expenses; and to the union, one third of the resources of the community, to defray from nine tenths to nineteen twentieths of its expenses. If we desert this boundary and content ourselves with leaving to the States an exclusive power of taxing houses and lands, there would still be a great disproportion between the MEANS and the END; the possession of one third of the resources of the community to supply, at most, one tenth of its wants. If any fund could have been selected and appropriated, equal to and not greater than the object, it would have been inadequate63 to the discharge of the existing debts of the particular States, and would have left them dependent on the union for a provision for this purpose.
The preceding train of observation will justify64 the position which has been elsewhere laid down, that "A CONCURRENT65 JURISDICTION66 in the article of taxation was the only admissible substitute for an entire subordination, in respect to this branch of power, of State authority to that of the union." Any separation of the objects of revenue that could have been fallen upon, would have amounted to a sacrifice of the great INTERESTS of the union to the POWER of the individual States. The convention thought the concurrent jurisdiction preferable to that subordination; and it is evident that it has at least the merit of reconciling an indefinite constitutional power of taxation in the Federal government with an adequate and independent power in the States to provide for their own necessities. There remain a few other lights, in which this important subject of taxation will claim a further consideration.
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1
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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advert
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| vi.注意，留意，言及；n.广告 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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annul
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| v.宣告…无效，取消，废止 | |
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10
repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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11
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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12
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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13
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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15
interim
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| adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间 | |
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abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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17
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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18
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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19
circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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contingencies
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| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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subsisting
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的现在分词 ) | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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combustible
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| a. 易燃的,可燃的; n. 易燃物,可燃物 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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37
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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38
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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39
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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40
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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42
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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44
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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45
appendages
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| n.附属物( appendage的名词复数 )；依附的人；附属器官；附属肢体（如臂、腿、尾等） | |
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46
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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47
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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48
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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49
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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50
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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51
vainglorious
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| adj.自负的；夸大的 | |
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52
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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53
frugality
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| n.节约，节俭 | |
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54
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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55
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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57
encumbered
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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59
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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61
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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62
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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63
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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64
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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65
concurrent
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| adj.同时发生的，一致的 | |
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jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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