OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION proposed by the FEDERAL CONVENTION
The Writer of this Address hopes, that he will now be thought so disengaged from the objections against the part of the principle assumed, concerning the power of the people, that he may be excused for recurring to his assertion, that-the power of the people pervading the proposed system, together with the strong confederation of the states, will form an adequate security against every danger that has been apprehended.
It is a mournful, but may be a useful truth, that the liberty of single republics has generally been destroyed by some of the citizens, and of confederated republics, by some of the associated states.
It is more pleasing, and may be more profitable to reflect, that, their tranquility and prosperity have commonly been promoted, in proportion to the strength of their government for protecting the worthy against the licentious.
As in forming political society, each individual contributes some of his rights, in order that he may, from a common stock of rights, derive greater benefits, than he could from merely his own; so, in forming confederation, each political society should contribute such a share of their rights, as will, from a common stock of rights, produce the largest quantity of benefits for them.
But, what is that share? and, how to be managed? Momentous questions! Here, flattery is treason; and error, destruction.
Are they unanswerable? No. Our most gracious Creator does not condemn us to sigh for unattainable blessedness: But one thing he demands-that we should seek for it in his way, and not in our own.
Humility and benevolence must take place of pride and overweening selfishness. Reason, then rising above these mists, will discover to us, that we cannot be true to ourselves, without being true to others-that to be solitary, is to be wretched-that to love our neighbours as ourselves, is to love ourselves in the best manner-that is to give, is to gain-and, that we never consult our own happiness more effectually, than when we most endeavour to correspond with the Divine designs, communicating happiness, as much as we can, to our fellow creatures. INESTIMABLE TRUTH! sufficient, if they do not barely ask what it is, to melt tyrants into men, and soothe] the inflamed minds of a multitude into mildness-sufficient to overflow this earth with unknown - felicity)INESTIMABLE TRUTH! which our Maker, in his providence, enables us, not only to talk and write about, but to adopt in practice of vast extent, and of instructive example.
Let us now enquire, if there be not some principle, simple as the laws of nature in other instances, from which, as from a source, the many benefits of society are deduced.
We may with reverence say, that our Creator designed men for society, because otherwise they could not be happy. They cannot be happy without freedom; nor free without security; that is, without the absence of fear nor thus secure, without society. The conclusion is strictly syllogistic-that men cannot be free without society. Of course, they can not be equally free without society, which freedom produces the greatest happiness.
As these premises are invincible, we have advanced a considerable way in our enquiry upon this deeply interesting subject If we can determine, what share of his rights, every individual must contribute to the common stock of rights in forming society, for obtaining equal freedom, we determine at the same time, what share of their rights each political society must contribute to the common stock of rights informing confederation, which is only a larger society, for obtaining equal freedom: For, if the deposit be not proportioned to the magnitude of the association in the latter case, it will generate the same mischief among the component parts of it, from their inequality, that would result from a defective contribution to association in the former case, among the component parts of it, from their inequality.
Each individual then must contribute such a share of his rights, as is necessary for attaining that SECURITY that is essential to freedom; and he is bound to make this contribution by the law of his nature; that is, by the command of his creator; therefore, he must submit his will, in what concerns all, to the will of the whole society. What does he lose by this submission? The power of doing injuries to others-the dread of suffering injuries from them-and, the in commodities of mental or bodily weakness-What does he gain by it? The aid of those associated with him-protection against injuries from them or others-a capacity of enjoying his undelegated rights to the best advantage-a repeal of his fears-and tranquility of mindor, in other words, that perfect liberty better described in the Holy Scriptures, than any where else, in these expressions-"When everyman shall sit under his vine, and under his fig-tree, and NONE SHALL MAKE HIM AFRAID."
The like submission, with a correspondent expansion and accommodation, must be made between states, for obtaining the like benefits in a confederation. Men are the materials of both. As the largest number is but a junction of units a confederation is but an assembly of individuals. The sanction of that law of his nature, upon which the happiness of a man depends in society, must attend him in confederation, or he becomes unhappy; for confederation should promote the happiness of individuals, or it does not answer the intended purpose. Herein there is a progression, not a contradiction. As man, he becomes a citizen; as a citizen, he becomes a fœderalist. The generation of one, is not the destruction of the other. He carries into society his naked rights: These thereby improved, he carries into confederation. If that sacred law before mentioned, is not here observed, the confederation would not be real, but pretended. He would confide, and be deceived.
The dilemma is inevitable. There must either be one will, or several wills. If but one will, all the people are concerned; if several wills, few comparatively are concerned. Surprizing! that this doctrine should be contended for by those, who declare, that the constitution is not founded on a bottom broad enough; and, though THE WHOLE PEOPLE of the United States are to be TREBLY represented in it in THREE DIFFERENT MODES of representation, and their servants will have the most advantageous situation and opportunities of acquiring all requisite information for the welfare of the whole union, yet insist for a privilege of opposing obstructing, and confounding their measures taken with common consent for the general weal, by the delays, negligences, rivalries, or other selfish views of parts of the union.
Thus, while one state should be relied upon by the union for giving aid, upon a recommendation of Congress, to another in distress, the latter might be ruined; and the state relied upon, might suppose, it would gain by such an event.
When any persons speak of a confederation, do they, or do the ynot acknowledge, that the whole is interested in the safety of every part-in the agreement of parts-in the relation of parts to one another-to the whole-or, to other societies? If they do-then, the authority of the whole, must be co-extensive with its interests-and if it is, the will of the whole must and ought in such cases to govern.
If they do not acknowledge, that the whole is thus interested, the conversation should cease. Such persons mean not a confederation, but something else.
As to the idea, that this superintending sovereign will must of consequence destroy the subordinate sovereignties of the several states, it is begging concession of the question, by inferring that a manifest and great usefulness must necessarily end in abuse; and not only so, but it requires an extinction of the principle of all society: for, the subordinate sovereignties, or, in other words, the undelegated rights of the several states, in a confederation, stand upon the very same foundation with the undelegated rights of individuals in a society, the federal sovereign will being composed of the subordinate sovereign wills of the several confederated states. If as some persons seem to think, a bill of rights is the best security of rights, the sovereignties of the several states have this best security by the proposed constitution, & more than this best security, for they are not barely declared to be rights, but are taken into it as component parts, for their perpetual preservation by themselves. In short, the government of each State is, and is to be, sovereign and supreme in all matters that relate to each state only. It is to be subordinate barely in those matters that relate to the whole; and it will be their own faults, if the several states suffer the federal sovereignty to interfere in things of their respective jurisdictions. An instance of such interference with regard to any single state, will be a dangerous precedent as to all, and therefore will be guarded against by all, as the trustees or servants of the several states will not dare, if they retain their senses, so to violate the independent sovereignty of their respective states, that justly darling object of American affections, to which they are responsible, besides being endeared by all the charities of life.
The common sense of mankind agrees to the devolution of individual wills in society; and if it has not been as universally assented to in confederation, the reasons are evident, & worthy of being retained in remembrance by Americans. They were, want opportunities, or the loss of them, through defects of knowledge and virtue. The principle however has been sufficiently vindicated in imperfect combinations, as their prosperity has generally been commensurate to its operation.
How beautifully and forcibly does the inspired Apostle Saint Paul, argue upon a sublimer subject, with a train of reasoning strictly applicable to the present ? His words are-"If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? and if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?" As plainly inferring, as could be done in that allegorical manner, the strongest censure of such partial discontents and dissentions, especially, as his meaning is enforced by his description of the benefits of union in these expressions-"But, now they are many members, yet but one body: and the eye CANNOT say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you."
When the commons of Rome upon a rupture with the senate, seceded in arms upon the Mons sacer, Menenius Agrippa used the like allusion to the human body, in his famous apologue of a quarrel among some of the members. The unpolished but honest-hearted Romans of that day, understood him, and were appeased. They returned to the city, and-the world was conquered.
Another comparison has been made by statesmen and the learned, between a natural and a political body; and no wonder indeed, when the title of the latter was borrowed from the resemblance. It has therefore been justly observed, that if a mortification takes place in one or some of the limbs, and the rest of the body is sound, remedies maybe applied, and not only the contagion prevented from spreading, but the diseased part or parts saved by the connection with the body, & restored restored to former usefulness. When general putrefaction prevails, death is to be expected. History Historysacred sacred and prophane tells us, that, CORRUPTION OF MANNERS IS THE VERY BASIS OF SLAVERY.