1787 Federalist 15 · Founding Made Plain

11787 Federalist No. 15

2The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation

3to Preserve the Union

4For the Independent Journal.

5HAMILTON

6To the People of the State of New York:

7IN THE course of the preceding papers,

8 I have endeavored, my fellow-citizens,

9 to place before you, in a clear and convincing light,

10 the importance of Union

11 to your political safety and happiness.

12I have unfolded to you a complication of dangers

13 to which you would be exposed,

14 should you permit that sacred knot

15 which binds the people of America together

16 be severed or dissolved

17 by ambition or by avarice,

18 by jealousy or by misrepresentation.

19In the sequel of the inquiry

20 through which I propose to accompany you,

21 the truths intended to be inculcated

22 will receive further confirmation

23 from facts and arguments hitherto unnoticed.

24If the road over which you will still have to pass

25 should in some places appear to you tedious or irksome,

26 you will recollect that you are in quest of information

27 on a subject the most momentous

28 which can engage the attention of a free people,

29 that the field through which you have to travel

30 is in itself spacious,

31 and that the difficulties of the journey

32 have been unnecessarily increased

33 by the mazes with which sophistry

34 has beset the way.

35It will be my aim to remove the obstacles

36 from your progress

37 in as compendious a manner as it can be done,

38 without sacrificing utility to despatch.

39In pursuance of the plan

40 which I have laid down

41 for the discussion of the subject,

42 the point next in order to be examined is

43 the "insufficiency of the present Confederation

44 to the preservation of the Union."

45It may perhaps be asked what need there is

46 of reasoning or proof to illustrate a position

47 which is not either controverted or doubted,

48 to which the understandings and feelings

49 of all classes of men assent,

50 and which in substance is admitted

51 by the opponents as well as by the friends

52 of the new Constitution.

53It must in truth be acknowledged

54 that, however these may differ in other respects,

55 they in general appear to harmonize in this sentiment,

56 at least,

57 that there are material imperfections

58 in our national system,

59 and that something is necessary to be done

60 to rescue us from impending anarchy.

61The facts that support this opinion

62 are no longer objects of speculation.

63They have forced themselves

64 upon the sensibility of the people at large,

65 and have at length extorted from those,

66 whose mistaken policy has had the principal share

67 in precipitating the extremity

68 at which we are arrived,

69 a reluctant confession of the reality of those defects

70 in the scheme of our federal government,

71 which have been long pointed out and regretted

72 by the intelligent friends of the Union.

73We may indeed with propriety be said

74 to have reached almost the last stage

75 of national humiliation.

76There is scarcely anything

77 that can wound the pride

78 or degrade the character of an independent nation

79 which we do not experience.

80Are there engagements to the performance of which

81 we are held by every tie respectable among men?

82These are the subjects of constant

83 and unblushing violation.

84Do we owe debts to foreigners and to our own citizens

85 contracted in a time of imminent peril

86 for the preservation of our political existence?

87These remain without any proper or satisfactory provision

88 for their discharge.

89Have we valuable territories and important posts

90 in the possession of a foreign power

91 which, by express stipulations,

92 ought long since to have been surrendered?

93These are still retained,

94 to the prejudice of our interests,

95 not less than of our rights.

96Are we in a condition to resent or to repel the aggression?

97We have neither troops, nor treasury, nor government.[1]

98Are we even in a condition to remonstrate with dignity?

99The just imputations on our own faith,

100 in respect to the same treaty,

101 ought first to be removed.

102Are we entitled by nature and compact

103 to a free participation

104 in the navigation of the Mississippi?

105Spain excludes us from it.

106Is public credit an indispensable resource

107 in time of public danger?

108We seem to have abandoned its cause

109 as desperate and irretrievable.

110Is commerce of importance to national wealth?

111Ours is at the lowest point of declension.

112Is respectability in the eyes of foreign powers

113 a safeguard against foreign encroachments?

114The imbecility of our government

115 even forbids them to treat with us.

116Our ambassadors abroad

117 are the mere pageants of mimic sovereignty.

118Is a violent and unnatural decrease

119 in the value of land

120 a symptom of national distress?

121The price of improved land in most parts of the country

122 is much lower than can be accounted for

123 by the quantity of waste land at market,

124 and can only be fully explained

125 by that want of private and public confidence,

126 which are so alarmingly prevalent among all ranks,

127 and which have a direct tendency

128 to depreciate property of every kind.

129Is private credit the friend and patron of industry?

130That most useful kind which relates

131 to borrowing and lending

132 is reduced within the narrowest limits,

133 and this still more from an opinion of insecurity

134 than from the scarcity of money.

135To shorten an enumeration of particulars

136 which can afford neither pleasure nor instruction,

137 it may in general be demanded,

138 what indication is there of national disorder,

139 poverty, and insignificance

140 that could befall a community

141 so peculiarly blessed with natural advantages

142 as we are,

143 which does not form a part

144 of the dark catalogue of our public misfortunes?

145This is the melancholy situation

146 to which we have been brought

147 by those very maxims and councils

148 which would now deter us

149 from adopting the proposed Constitution;

150 and which, not content with having conducted us

151 to the brink of a precipice,

152 seem resolved to plunge us into the abyss

153 that awaits us below.

154Here, my countrymen,

155 impelled by every motive

156 that ought to influence an enlightened people,

157 let us make a firm stand

158 for our safety, our tranquillity,

159 our dignity, our reputation.

160Let us at last break the fatal charm

161 which has too long seduced us

162 from the paths of felicity and prosperity.

163It is true, as has been before observed

164 that facts, too stubborn to be resisted,

165 have produced a species of general assent

166 to the abstract proposition

167 that there exist material defects

168 in our national system;

169 but the usefulness of the concession,

170 on the part of the old adversaries

171 of federal measures,

172 is destroyed by a strenuous opposition to a remedy,

173 upon the only principles

174 that can give it a chance of success.

175While they admit

176 that the government of the United States

177 is destitute of energy,

178 they contend against conferring upon it those powers

179 which are requisite to supply that energy.

180They seem still to aim at things

181 repugnant and irreconcilable;

182 at an augmentation of federal authority,

183 without a diminution of State authority;

184 at sovereignty in the Union,

185 and complete independence in the members.

186They still, in fine, seem to cherish with blind devotion

187 the political monster of an imperium in imperio.

188This renders a full display

189 of the principal defects

190 of the Confederation necessary,

191 in order to show that the evils we experience

192 do not proceed from minute

193 or partial imperfections,

194 but from fundamental errors

195 in the structure of the building,

196 which cannot be amended otherwise

197 than by an alteration in the first principles

198 and main pillars of the fabric.

199The great and radical vice

200 in the construction of the existing Confederation

201 is in the principle of LEGISLATION

202 for STATES or GOVERNMENTS,

203 in their CORPORATE or COLLECTIVE CAPACITIES,

204 and as contradistinguished from the INDIVIDUALS

205 of which they consist.

206Though this principle does not run through

207 all the powers delegated to the Union,

208 yet it pervades and governs those

209 on which the efficacy of the rest depends.

210Except as to the rule of appointment,

211 the United States has an indefinite discretion

212 to make requisitions for men and money;

213 but they have no authority to raise either,

214 by regulations extending

215 to the individual citizens of America.

216The consequence of this is,

217 that though in theory their resolutions

218 concerning those objects are laws,

219 constitutionally binding

220 on the members of the Union,

221 yet in practice they are mere recommendations

222 which the States observe or disregard

223 at their option.

224It is a singular instance

225 of the capriciousness of the human mind,

226 that after all the admonitions we have had

227 from experience on this head,

228 there should still be found men

229 who object to the new Constitution,

230 for deviating from a principle

231 which has been found the bane of the old,

232 and which is in itself evidently incompatible

233 with the idea of GOVERNMENT;

234 a principle, in short,

235 which, if it is to be executed at all,

236 must substitute the violent and sanguinary agency

237 of the sword

238 to the mild influence of the magistracy.

239There is nothing absurd or impracticable

240 in the idea of a league or alliance

241 between independent nations

242 for certain defined purposes

243 precisely stated in a treaty

244 regulating all the details of time, place,

245 circumstance, and quantity;

246 leaving nothing to future discretion;

247 and depending for its execution

248 on the good faith of the parties.

249Compacts of this kind exist among all civilized nations,

250 subject to the usual vicissitudes of peace and war,

251 of observance and non-observance,

252 as the interests or passions

253 of the contracting powers dictate.

254In the early part of the present century

255 there was an epidemical rage in Europe

256 for this species of compacts,

257 from which the politicians of the times fondly hoped

258 for benefits which were never realized.

259With a view to establishing the equilibrium of power

260 and the peace of that part of the world,

261 all the resources of negotiation were exhausted,

262 and triple and quadruple alliances were formed;

263 but they were scarcely formed before they were broken,

264 giving an instructive but afflicting lesson

265 to mankind,

266 how little dependence is to be placed on treaties

267 which have no other sanction

268 than the obligations of good faith,

269 and which oppose general considerations

270 of peace and justice

271 to the impulse of any immediate

272 interest or passion.

273If the particular States in this country

274 are disposed to stand in a similar relation

275 to each other,

276 and to drop the project

277 of a general DISCRETIONARY SUPERINTENDENCE,

278 the scheme would indeed be pernicious,

279 and would entail upon us all the mischiefs

280 which have been enumerated under the first head;

281 but it would have the merit of being,

282 at least, consistent and practicable.

283Abandoning all views towards a confederate government,

284 this would bring us to a simple alliance

285 offensive and defensive;

286 and would place us in a situation

287 to be alternate friends and enemies of each other,

288 as our mutual jealousies and rivalships,

289 nourished by the intrigues of foreign nations,

290 should prescribe to us.

291But if we are unwilling to be placed

292 in this perilous situation;

293 if we still will adhere to the design

294 of a national government,

295 or, which is the same thing,

296 of a superintending power,

297 under the direction of a common council,

298 we must resolve to incorporate into our plan

299 those ingredients which may be considered

300 as forming the characteristic difference

301 between a league and a government;

302 we must extend the authority of the Union

303 to the persons of the citizens,--

304 the only proper objects of government.

305Government implies the power of making laws.

306It is essential to the idea of a law,

307 that it be attended with a sanction;

308 or, in other words,

309 a penalty or punishment for disobedience.

310If there be no penalty annexed to disobedience,

311 the resolutions or commands which pretend to be laws

312 will, in fact, amount to nothing more

313 than advice or recommendation.

314This penalty, whatever it may be,

315 can only be inflicted in two ways:

316 by the agency of the courts and ministers of justice,

317 or by military force;

318 by the COERCION of the magistracy,

319 or by the COERCION of arms.

320The first kind can evidently apply only to men;

321 the last kind must of necessity,

322 be employed against bodies politic,

323 or communities, or States.

324It is evident that there is no process of a court

325 by which the observance of the laws can,

326 in the last resort, be enforced.

327Sentences may be denounced against them

328 for violations of their duty;

329 but these sentences can only be carried into execution

330 by the sword.

331In an association where the general authority

332 is confined to the collective bodies

333 of the communities,

334 that compose it,

335 every breach of the laws must involve a state of war;

336 and military execution must become

337 the only instrument of civil obedience.

338Such a state of things can certainly not deserve

339 the name of government,

340 nor would any prudent man choose

341 to commit his happiness to it.

342There was a time when we were told

343 that breaches, by the States,

344 of the regulations of the federal authority

345 were not to be expected;

346 that a sense of common interest

347 would preside over the conduct

348 of the respective members,

349 and would beget a full compliance

350 with all the constitutional requisitions

351 of the Union.

352This language, at the present day,

353 would appear as wild

354 as a great part of what we now hear

355 from the same quarter will be thought,

356 when we shall have received further lessons

357 from that best oracle of wisdom, experience.

358It at all times betrayed an ignorance

359 of the true springs by which human conduct is actuated,

360 and belied the original inducements

361 to the establishment of civil power.

362Why has government been instituted at all?

363Because the passions of men will not conform

364 to the dictates of reason and justice,

365 without constraint.

366Has it been found that bodies of men

367 act with more rectitude or greater disinterestedness

368 than individuals?

369The contrary of this has been inferred

370 by all accurate observers of the conduct of mankind;

371 and the inference is founded upon obvious reasons.

372Regard to reputation has a less active influence,

373 when the infamy of a bad action

374 is to be divided among a number

375 than when it is to fall singly upon one.

376A spirit of faction,

377 which is apt to mingle its poison

378 in the deliberations of all bodies of men,

379 will often hurry the persons of whom they are composed

380 into improprieties and excesses,

381 for which they would blush in a private capacity.

382In addition to all this,

383 there is, in the nature of sovereign power,

384 an impatience of control,

385 that disposes those who are invested

386 with the exercise of it,

387 to look with an evil eye

388 upon all external attempts

389 to restrain or direct its operations.

390From this spirit it happens,

391 that in every political association

392 which is formed upon the principle

393 of uniting in a common interest

394 a number of lesser sovereignties,

395 there will be found a kind of eccentric tendency

396 in the subordinate or inferior orbs,

397 by the operation of which

398 there will be a perpetual effort in each

399 to fly off from the common centre.

400This tendency is not difficult to be accounted for.

401It has its origin in the love of power.

402Power controlled or abridged is almost always

403 the rival and enemy of that power

404 by which it is controlled or abridged.

405This simple proposition will teach us

406 how little reason there is to expect,

407 that the persons intrusted with the administration

408 of the affairs of the particular members

409 of a confederacy

410 will at all times be ready, with perfect good-humor,

411 and an unbiased regard to the public weal,

412 to execute the resolutions or decrees

413 of the general authority.

414The reverse of this results

415 from the constitution of human nature.

416If, therefore, the measures of the Confederacy

417 cannot be executed without the intervention

418 of the particular administrations,

419 there will be little prospect

420 of their being executed at all.

421The rulers of the respective members,

422 whether they have a constitutional right

423 to do it or not,

424 will undertake to judge

425 of the propriety of the measures themselves.

426They will consider the conformity

427 of the thing proposed or required

428 to their immediate interests or aims;

429 the momentary conveniences or inconveniences

430 that would attend its adoption.

431All this will be done;

432 and in a spirit of interested and suspicious scrutiny,

433 without that knowledge of national circumstances

434 and reasons of state,

435 which is essential to a right judgment,

436 and with that strong predilection

437 in favor of local objects,

438 which can hardly fail to mislead the decision.

439The same process must be repeated

440 in every member of which the body is constituted;

441 and the execution of the plans,

442 framed by the councils of the whole,

443 will always fluctuate on the discretion

444 of the ill-informed and prejudiced opinion

445 of every part.

446Those who have been conversant

447 in the proceedings of popular assemblies;

448 who have seen how difficult it often is,

449 where there is no exterior pressure

450 of circumstances,

451 to bring them to harmonious resolutions

452 on important points,

453 will readily conceive how impossible it must be

454 to induce a number of such assemblies,

455 deliberating at a distance from each other,

456 at different times,

457 and under different impressions,

458 long to co-operate

459 in the same views and pursuits.

460In our case, the concurrence of thirteen distinct

461 sovereign wills is requisite, under the Confederation,

462 to the complete execution of every important measure

463 that proceeds from the Union.

464It has happened as was to have been foreseen.

465The measures of the Union have not been executed;

466 the delinquencies of the States have, step by step,

467 matured themselves to an extreme,

468 which has, at length,

469 arrested all the wheels of the national government,

470 and brought them to an awful stand.

471Congress at this time scarcely possess the means

472 of keeping up the forms of administration,

473 till the States can have time to agree

474 upon a more substantial substitute

475 for the present shadow of a federal government.

476Things did not come to this desperate extremity at once.

477The causes which have been specified

478 produced at first only unequal

479 and disproportionate degrees

480 of compliance with the requisitions of the Union.

481The greater deficiencies of some States

482 furnished the pretext of example

483 and the temptation of interest

484 to the complying,

485 or to the least delinquent States.

486Why should we do more in proportion

487 than those who are embarked with us

488 in the same political voyage?

489Why should we consent to bear more

490 than our proper share of the common burden?

491These were suggestions

492 which human selfishness could not withstand,

493 and which even speculative men,

494 who looked forward to remote consequences,

495 could not, without hesitation, combat.

496Each State, yielding to the persuasive voice

497 of immediate interest or convenience,

498 has successively withdrawn its support,

499 till the frail and tottering edifice

500 seems ready to fall upon our heads,

501 and to crush us beneath its ruins.

502PUBLIUS.

503[1] "I mean for the Union."