History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0122/01228.txt

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$Unique_ID{how01228}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Federalist Or The New Constitution, The
Number II. Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force And Influence}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Hamilton, Alexander;Madison, James;Jay, John}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{government
convention
union
america
congress
country
number

}
$Date{1787-1788}
$Log{}
Title:       Federalist Or The New Constitution, The
Author:      Hamilton, Alexander;Madison, James;Jay, John
Date:        1787-1788

Number II. Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force And Influence

To the People of the State of New York:

     When the people of America reflect that they are now called upon to
decide a question, which, in its consequences, must prove one of the most
important that ever engaged their attention, the propriety of their taking a
very comprehensive, as well as a very serious, view of it, will be evident.

     Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government,
and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however it is instituted, the
people must cede to it some of their natural rights, in order to vest it with
requisite powers.  It is well worthy of consideration therefore, whether it
would conduce more to the interest of the people of America that they should,
to all general purposes, be one nation, under one federal government, or that
they should divide themselves into separate confederacies, and give to the
head of each the same kind of powers which they are advised to place in one
national government.

     It has until lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion,
that the prosperity of the people of America depended on their continuing
firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and efforts of our best and wisest
citizens have been constantly directed to that object.  But politicians now
appear, who insist that this opinion is erroneous, and that instead of
looking for safety and happiness in union, we ought to seek it in a division
of the States into distinct confederacies or sovereignties.  However
extraordinary this new doctrine may appear, it nevertheless has its
advocates; and certain characters who were much opposed to it formerly, are
at present of the number.  Whatever may be the arguments or inducements which
have wrought this change in the sentiments and declarations of these
gentlemen, it certainly would not be wise in the people at large to adopt
these new political tenets without being fully convinced that they are
founded in truth and sound policy.

     It has often given me pleasure to observe, that independent America was
not composed of detached and distant territories, but that one connected,
fertile, wide-spreading country was the portion of our western sons of
liberty.  Providence has in a particular manner blessed it with a variety of
soils and productions, and watered it with innumerable streams, for the
delight and accommodation of its inhabitants.  A succession of navigable
waters forms a kind of chain round its borders, as if to bind it together;
while the most noble rivers in the world, running at convenient distances,
present them with highways for the easy communication of friendly aids, and
the mutual transportation and exchange of their various commodities.

     With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice, that Providence has
been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people - a
people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language,
professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government,
very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels,
arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war,
have nobly established general liberty and independence.

     This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and
it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so
proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the
strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and
alien sovereignties.

     Similar sentiments have hitherto prevailed among all orders and
denominations of men among us.  To all general purposes we have uniformly
been one people; each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same
national rights, privileges, and protection.  As a nation we have made peace
and war; as a nation we have vanquished our common enemies; as a nation we
have formed alliances, and made treaties, and entered into various compacts
and conventions with foreign states.

     A strong sense of the value and blessings of union induced the people,
at a very early period, to institute a federal government to preserve and
perpetuate it.  They formed it almost as soon as they had a political
existence; nay, at a time when their habitations were in flames, when many of
their citizens were bleeding, and when the progress of hostility and
desolation left little room for those calm and mature inquiries and
reflections which must ever precede the formation of a wise and well-balanced
government for a free people.  It is not to be wondered at, that a government
instituted in times so inauspicious, should on experiment be found greatly
deficient and inadequate to the purpose it was intended to answer.

     This intelligent people perceived and regretted these defects.  Still
continuing no less attached to union than enamored of liberty, they observed
the danger which immediately threatened the former and more remotely the
latter; and being persuaded that ample security for both could only be found
in a national government more wisely framed, they, as with one voice,
convened the late convention at Philadelphia, to take that important subject
under consideration.

     This convention, composed of men who possessed the confidence of the
people, and many of whom had become highly distinguished by their patriotism,
virtue, and wisdom, in times which tried the minds and hearts of men,
undertook the arduous task.  In the mild season of peace, with minds
unoccupied by other subjects, they passed many months in cool, uninterrupted,
and daily consultation; and finally, without having been awed by power, or
influenced by any passions except love for their country, they presented and
recommended to the people the plan produced by their joint and very unanimous
councils.

     Admit, for so is the fact, that this plan is only recommended, not
imposed, yet let it be remembered that it is neither recommended to blind
approbation, nor to blind reprobation; but to that sedate and candid
consideration which the magnitude and importance of the subject demand, and
which it certainly ought to receive.  But this (as was remarked in the
foregoing number of this paper) is more to be wished than expected, that it
may be so considered and examined.  Experience on a former occasion teaches
us not to be too sanguine in such hopes.  It is not yet forgotten that
well-grounded apprehensions of imminent danger induced the people of America
to form the memorable Congress of 1774.  That body recommended certain
measures to their constituents, and the event proved their wisdom; yet it is
fresh in our memories how soon the press began to teem with pamphlets and
weekly papers against those very measures.  Not only many of the officers of
government, who obeyed the dictates of personal interest, but others, from a
mistaken estimate of consequences, or the undue influence of former
attachments or whose ambition aimed at objects which did not correspond with
the public good, were indefatigable in their efforts to persuade the people
to reject the advice of that patriotic Congress.  Many, indeed, were deceived
and deluded, but the great majority of the people reasoned and decided
judiciously; and happy they are in reflecting that they did so.

     They considered that the Congress was composed of many wise and
experienced men.  That, being convened from different parts of the country,
they brought with them and communicated to each other a variety of useful
information.  That, in the course of the time they passed together in
inquiring into and discussing the true interests of their country, they must
have acquired very accurate knowledge on that head.  That they were
individually interested in the public liberty and prosperity, and therefore
that it was not less their inclination than their duty to recommend only such
measures as, after the most mature deliberation, they really thought prudent
and advisable.

     These and similar considerations then induced the people to rely greatly
on the judgment and integrity of the Congress; and they took their advice,
notwithstanding the various arts and endeavors used to deter them from it.
But if the people at large had reason to confide in the men of that Congress,
few of whom had been fully tried or generally known, still greater reason
have they now to respect the judgment and advice of the convention, for it is
well known that some of the most distinguished members of that Congress, who
have been since tried and justly approved for patriotism and abilities, and
who have grown old in acquiring political information, were also members of
this convention, and carried into it their accumulated knowledge and
experience.

     It is worthy of remark that not only the first, but every succeeding
Congress, as well as the late convention, have invariably joined with the
people in thinking that the prosperity of America depended on its Union.  To
preserve and perpetuate it was the great object of the people in forming that
convention, and it is also the great object of the plan which the convention
has advised them to adopt.  With what propriety, therefore, or for what good
purposes, are attempts at this particular period made by some men to
depreciate the importance of the Union?  Or why is it suggested that three or
four confederacies would be better than one?  I am persuaded in my own mind
that the people have always thought right on this subject, and that their
universal and uniform attachment to the cause of the Union rests on great and
weighty reasons, which I shall endeavor to develop and explain in some
ensuing papers.  They who promote the idea of substituting a number of
distinct confederacies in the room of the plan of the convention, seem
clearly to foresee that the rejection of it would put the continuance of the
Union in the utmost jeopardy.  That certainly would be the case, and I
sincerely wish that it may be as clearly foreseen by every good citizen, that
whenever the dissolution of the Union arrives, America will have reason to
exclaim, in the words of the poet: "Farewell! a long Farewell to all my
Greatness."

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