Editors Note: The major purpose of American Free News Network, is education; education on American Civics and how our government is supposed to work. John Parillo has put forth a stellar effort to explain not only what the Framers did when they wrote our Constitution, but why.
Ed
For the new government proposed by our founders to have any hope of survival there had to be some limits on the state sovereignty. In Federalist 44 Madison deals with the necessity of those limits. There would be prohibitions against states entering into, “treaties, alliances, and confederations”[1] independently of the federal government.
This made sense because the alternative would have been thirteen individual states conducting individual negotiations with foreign powers. Further, states are forbidden to, “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” This allows for hard currency in the states but reserves paper currency to the new federal government.
There was still a significant debate about the creation of a treasury at this point, Hamilton was for it, Jefferson against, and the Jeffersonians were prevailing. It remained that way until the Civil War when the need to borrow increased. Madison was concerned about the, “the pestilent effects of paper money on the necessary confidence between man and man”. Hard currency, coins that had actual value, simplified commerce and eliminated the distrust that might come from the fluctuating value of paper currency.
These prohibitions were designed to ensure free trade among the various states. As such, “No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws”. This continues in the vein of keeping free trade going and of making the individual states laboratories of experimentation. This design allowed for both high tax states and low tax states, and makes our current experience with on line shopping that much more perplexing.
Finally, Madison points out that the constitution would have to be the law of the land. It would be impossible to have any order if state laws could supersede federal law and it is for that reason that, “the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.” State judges are bound first by the language of the Constitution, and then by their own state laws. Incidentally, it is for this reason that most federal appointments, including those of the military, require the appointee to swear allegiance to the Constitution.
In the very important Federalist 45, Madison describes in detail how the new constitution will work to preserve the rights of states. “We have heard of the impious doctrine in the Old World, that the people were made for kings, not kings for the people.” The new constitution is designed to prevent that. For those who fear that the new President of the United States might become a monarch, Madison points out that, “Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the President of the United States cannot be elected at all.” By preserving this intermediatory step between the people and the President, the states could hold imperial power in check.
The upper congressional chamber, the Senate, “will be elected absolutely and exclusively by the State legislatures.” Here again, this original structure gives the states great leverage over the new Federal government. Only the House of Representatives is, “drawn immediately from the people”, and even that body would likely remain, “under the influence of that class of men” that would be part of the state legislatures.” If you will recall our discussions on Aristotle, this indirectly representative form of government was designed to allow for the input of the people, while avoiding the dangers of democracy and the mob.
Strictly from a size standpoint,
“The members of the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments of thirteen and more States, the justices of peace, officers of militia, 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.”
To those who feared the federal power of taxation, the point was made that the federal government would only be able to collect taxes through tariffs. Besides, Madison points out that, “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.”
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- All quotes from https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/text-41-50 ↑