The Federalist Papers
the legislature. Another would prefer a larger number, and considers it
as a fundamental condition that the appointment should be made by the
President himself.
As it can give no umbrage to the writers against the plan of the federal
Constitution, let us suppose, that as they are the most zealous, so they
are also the most sagacious, of those who think the late convention
were unequal to the task assigned them, and that a wiser and better plan
might and ought to be substituted. Let us further suppose that their
country should concur, both in this favorable opinion of their
merits, and in their unfavorable opinion of the convention; and should
accordingly proceed to form them into a second convention, with full
powers, and for the express purpose of revising and remoulding the
work of the first. Were the experiment to be seriously made, though it
required some effort to view it seriously even in fiction, I leave it to
be decided by the sample of opinions just exhibited, whether, with all
their enmity to their predecessors, they would, in any one point, depart
so widely from their example, as in the discord and ferment that would
mark their own deliberations; and whether the Constitution, now before
the public, would not stand as fair a chance for immortality, as
Lycurgus gave to that of Sparta, by making its change to depend on his
own return from exile and death, if it were to be immediately adopted,
and were to continue in force, not until a BETTER, but until ANOTHER
should be agreed upon by this new assembly of lawgivers.
It is a matter both of wonder and regret, that those who raise so many
objections against the new Constitution should never call to mind the
defects of that which is to be exchanged for it. It is not necessary
that the former should be perfect; it is sufficient that the latter is
more imperfect. No man would refuse to give brass for silver or gold,
because the latter had some alloy in it. No man would refuse to quit a
shattered and tottering habitation for a firm and commodious building,
because the latter had not a porch to it, or because some of the rooms
might be a little larger or smaller, or the ceilings a little higher or
lower than his fancy would have planned them. But waiving illustrations
of this sort, is it not manifest that most of the capital objections
urged against the new system lie with tenfold weight against the
existing Confederation? Is an indefinite power to raise money dangerous
in the hands of the federal government? The present Congress can
make requisitions to any amount they please, and the States are
constitutionally bound to furnish them; they can emit bills of credit as
long as they will pay for the paper; they can borrow, both abroad and
at home, as long as a shilling will be lent. Is an indefinite power to
raise troops dangerous? The Confederation gives to Congress that power
also; and they have already begun to make use of it. Is it improper and
unsafe to intermix the different powers of government in the same body
of men? Congress, a single body of men, are the sole depositary of all
the federal powers. Is it particularly dangerous to give the keys of
the treasury, and the command of the army, into the same hands? The
Confederation places them both in the hands of Congress. Is a bill of
rights essential to liberty? The Confederation has no bill of rights.
Is it an objection against the new Constitution, that it empowers the
Senate, with the concurrence of the Executive, to make treaties which
are to be the laws of the land? The existing Congress, without any such
control, can make treaties which they themselves have declared, and most
of the States have recognized, to be the supreme law of the land. Is
the importation of slaves permitted by the new Constitution for twenty
years? By the old it is permitted forever.
I shall be told, that however dangerous this mixture of powers may be
in theory, it is rendered harmless by the dependence of Congress on the
State for the means of carrying them into practice; that however large
the mass of powers may be, it is in fact a lifeless mass. Then, say I,
in the first place, that the Confederation is chargeable with the still
greater folly of declaring certain powers in the federal government to
be absolutely necessary, and at the same time rendering them absolutely
nugatory; and, in the next place, that if the Union is to continue, and
no better government be substituted, effective powers must either be
granted to, or assumed by, the existing Congress; in either of which
events, the contrast just stated will hold good. But this is not all.
Out of this lifeless mass has already grown an excrescent power,
which tends to realize all the dangers that can be apprehended from a
defective construction of the supreme government of the Union. It is now
no longer a point of speculation and hope, that the Western territory
is a mine of vast wealth to the United States; and although it is not of
such a nature as to extricate them from their present distresses, or
for some time to come, to yield any regular supplies for the public
expenses, yet must it hereafter be able, under proper management, both
to effect a gradual discharge of the domestic debt, and to furnish, for
a certain period, liberal tributes to the federal treasury. A very
large proportion of this fund has been already surrendered by individual
States; and it may with reason be expected that the remaining States
will not persist in withholding similar proofs of their equity and
generosity. We may calculate, therefore, that a rich and fertile
country, of an area equal to the inhabited extent of the United
States, will soon become a national stock. Congress have assumed the
administration of this stock. They have begun to render it productive.
Congress have undertaken to do more: they have proceeded to form new
States, to erect temporary governments, to appoint officers for them,
and to prescribe the conditions on which such States shall be admitted
into the Confederacy. All this has been done; and done without the least
color of constitutional authority. Yet no blame has been whispered;
no alarm has been sounded. A GREAT and INDEPENDENT fund of revenue is
passing into the hands of a SINGLE BODY of men, who can RAISE TROOPS
to an INDEFINITE NUMBER, and appropriate money to their support for an
INDEFINITE PERIOD OF TIME. And yet there are men, who have not only been
silent spectators of this prospect, but who are advocates for the system
which exhibits it; and, at the same time, urge against the new system
the objections which we have heard. Would they not act with more
consistency, in urging the establishment of the latter, as no less
necessary to guard the Union against the future powers and resources of
a body constructed like the existing Congress, than to save it from the
dangers threatened by the present impotency of that Assembly?
I mean not, by any thing here said, to throw censure on the measures
which have been pursued by Congress. I am sensible they could not have
done otherwise. The public interest, the necessity of the case, imposed
upon them the task of overleaping their constitutional limits. But is
not the fact an alarming proof of the danger resulting from a government
which does not possess regular powers commensurate to its objects?
A dissolution or usurpation is the dreadful dilemma to which it is
continually exposed.
PUBLIUS
FEDERALIST No. 39
The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles
For the Independent Journal. Wednesday, January 16, 1788
MADISON
To the People of the State of New York:
THE last paper having concluded the observations which were meant to
introduce a candid survey of the plan of government reported by
the convention, we now proceed to the execution of that part of our
undertaking.
The first question that offers itself is, whether the general form and
aspect of the government be strictly republican. It is evident that
no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of
America; with the fundamental principles of the Revolution; or with that
honorable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to
rest all our political experiments on the capacity of mankind for
self-government. If the plan of the convention, therefore, be found to
depart from the republican character, its advocates must abandon it as
no longer defensible.
What, then, are the distinctive characters of the republican form? Were
an answer to this question to be sought, not by recurring to principles,
but in the application of the term by political writers, to the
constitution of different States, no satisfactory one would ever be
found. Holland, in which no particle of the supreme authority is derived
from the people, has passed almost universally under the denomination of
a republic. The same title has been bestowed on Venice, where absolute
power over the great body of the people is exercised, in the most
absolute manner, by a small body of hereditary nobles. Poland, which is
a mixture of aristocracy and of monarchy in their worst forms, has been
dignified with the same appellation. The government of England, which
has one republican branch only, combined with an hereditary aristocracy
and monarchy, has, with equal impropriety, been frequently placed on
the list of republics. These examples, which are nearly as dissimilar
to each other as to a genuine republic, show the extreme inaccuracy with
which the term has been used in political disquisitions.
If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which
different forms of government are established, we may define a republic
to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives
all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people,
and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure,
for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is ESSENTIAL to such
a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not
from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise
a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a
delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans,
and claim for their government the honorable title of republic. It is
SUFFICIENT for such a government that the persons administering it be
appointed, either directly or indirectly, by the people; and that
they hold their appointments by either of the tenures just specified;
otherwise every government in the United States, as well as every
other popular government that has been or can be well organized or well
executed, would be degraded from the republican character. According
to the constitution of every State in the Union, some or other of the
officers of government are appointed indirectly only by the people.
According to most of them, the chief magistrate himself is so appointed.
And according to one, this mode of appointment is extended to one of
the co-ordinate branches of the legislature. According to all the
constitutions, also, the tenure of the highest offices is extended to a
definite period, and in many instances, both within the legislative and
executive departments, to a period of years. According to the provisions
of most of the constitutions, again, as well as according to the most
respectable and received opinions on the subject, the members of the
judiciary department are to retain their offices by the firm tenure of
good behavior.
On comparing the Constitution planned by the convention with the
standard here fixed, we perceive at once that it is, in the most rigid
sense, conformable to it. The House of Representatives, like that of one
branch at least of all the State legislatures, is elected immediately by