Considered For the Independent Journal. Saturday, January 26, 1788
MADISON
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 improper2, 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 adversaries3 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 exhausted4 themselves in a secondary inquiry5 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 contentions6 and wars among the different States; if it be essential to guard them against those violent and oppressive factions7 which embitter8 the blessings9 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 preposterous10, to urge as an objection to a government, without which the objects of the union cannot be attained11, that such a government may derogate12 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 lavished13, 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 doctrine14 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 supreme15 object to be pursued; and that no form of government whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment16 of this object. Were the plan of the convention adverse17 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 residue18 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 revolve19 the subject, the more fully20 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 despoil21 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 likeness22 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 degenerated23, or tended to degenerate24, into one consolidated25 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 worthy26 of our attention, as the external causes by which the component27 parts were pressed together were much more numerous and powerful than in our case; and consequently less powerful ligaments within would be sufficient to bind28 the members to the head, and to each other.
In the feudal29 system, we have seen a similar propensity30 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 possessed31 the affections of the people, the great kingdoms in Europe would at this time consist of as many independent princes as there were formerly32 feudatory barons33.
The State governments will have the advantage of the Federal government, whether we compare them in respect to the immediate34 dependence35 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 predilection36 and probable support of the people; to the disposition37 and faculty38 of resisting and frustrating39 the measures of each other.
The State governments may be regarded as constituent40 and essential parts of the federal government; whilst the latter is nowise essential to the operation or organization of the former. Without the intervention41 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 drawn42 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 beget43 a disposition too obsequious44 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 legislative45, executive, and judiciary departments of thirteen and more States, the justices of peace, officers of militia46, 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 marine47 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 quotas48 by previous collections of their own; and that the eventual49 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 judicial50 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 allotted51, 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, negotiation52, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation53 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 defense54, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger which might favor their ascendancy55 over the governments of the particular States.
If the new Constitution be examined with accuracy and candor56, 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 apprehensions57 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 compliance58 have been enforced by as peaceable means as may be used with success towards single persons, our past experience is very far from countenancing59 an opinion, that the State governments would have lost their constitutional powers, and have gradually undergone an entire consolidation60. To maintain that such an event would have ensued, would be to say at once, that the existence of the State governments is incompatible61 with any system whatever that accomplishes the essential purposes of the union.
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1 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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2 improper | |
adj.不适当的,不合适的,不正确的,不合礼仪的 | |
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3 adversaries | |
n.对手,敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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4 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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5 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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6 contentions | |
n.竞争( contention的名词复数 );争夺;争论;论点 | |
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7 factions | |
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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8 embitter | |
v.使苦;激怒 | |
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9 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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10 preposterous | |
adj.荒谬的,可笑的 | |
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11 attained | |
(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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12 derogate | |
v.贬低,诽谤 | |
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13 lavished | |
v.过分给予,滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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15 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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16 attainment | |
n.达到,到达;[常pl.]成就,造诣 | |
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17 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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18 residue | |
n.残余,剩余,残渣 | |
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19 revolve | |
vi.(使)旋转;循环出现 | |
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20 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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21 despoil | |
v.夺取,抢夺 | |
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22 likeness | |
n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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23 degenerated | |
衰退,堕落,退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 degenerate | |
v.退步,堕落;adj.退步的,堕落的;n.堕落者 | |
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25 consolidated | |
a.联合的 | |
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26 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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27 component | |
n.组成部分,成分,元件;adj.组成的,合成的 | |
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28 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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29 feudal | |
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的 | |
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30 propensity | |
n.倾向;习性 | |
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31 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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32 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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33 barons | |
男爵( baron的名词复数 ); 巨头; 大王; 大亨 | |
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34 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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35 dependence | |
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属 | |
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36 predilection | |
n.偏好 | |
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37 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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38 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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39 frustrating | |
adj.产生挫折的,使人沮丧的,令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧 | |
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40 constituent | |
n.选民;成分,组分;adj.组成的,构成的 | |
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41 intervention | |
n.介入,干涉,干预 | |
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42 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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43 beget | |
v.引起;产生 | |
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44 obsequious | |
adj.谄媚的,奉承的,顺从的 | |
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45 legislative | |
n.立法机构,立法权;adj.立法的,有立法权的 | |
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46 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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47 marine | |
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵 | |
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48 quotas | |
(正式限定的)定量( quota的名词复数 ); 定额; 指标; 摊派 | |
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49 eventual | |
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的 | |
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50 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
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51 allotted | |
分配,拨给,摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 negotiation | |
n.谈判,协商 | |
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53 taxation | |
n.征税,税收,税金 | |
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54 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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55 ascendancy | |
n.统治权,支配力量 | |
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56 candor | |
n.坦白,率真 | |
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57 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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58 compliance | |
n.顺从;服从;附和;屈从 | |
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59 countenancing | |
v.支持,赞同,批准( countenance的现在分词 ) | |
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60 consolidation | |
n.合并,巩固 | |
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61 incompatible | |
adj.不相容的,不协调的,不相配的 | |
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