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FEDERALIST. No. 1

General Introduction
For the Independent Journal.

HAMILTON

To the People of the State of New York:
AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the
 subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on
 a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject
 speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences
 nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare
 of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many
 respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently
 remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this
 country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important
 question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of
 establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether
 they are forever destined to depend for their political
 constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the
 remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be
 regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a
 wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve
 to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.
This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of
 patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and
 good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice
 should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests,
 unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the
 public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than
 seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations
 affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local
 institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects
 foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little
 favorable to the discovery of truth.
Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new
 Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the
 obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist
 all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument,
 and consequence of the offices they hold under the State
 establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men,
 who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of
 their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of
 elevation from the subdivision of the empire into several partial
 confederacies than from its union under one government.
It is not, however, my design to dwell upon observations of this
 nature. I am well aware that it would be disingenuous to resolve
 indiscriminately the opposition of any set of men (merely because
 their situations might subject them to suspicion) into interested or
 ambitious views. Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men
 may be actuated by upright intentions; and it cannot be doubted
 that much of the opposition which has made its appearance, or may
 hereafter make its appearance, will spring from sources, blameless
 at least, if not respectable--the honest errors of minds led astray
 by preconceived jealousies and fears. So numerous indeed and so
 powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the
 judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the
 wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first
 magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would
 furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much
 persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a
 further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the
 reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the
 truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists.
 Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many
 other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as
 well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a
 question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation,
 nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which
 has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in
 politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making
 proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be
 cured by persecution.
And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we
 have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as
 in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of
 angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the
 conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that
 they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions,
 and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of
 their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives. An
 enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be
 stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and
 hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy
 of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the
 fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere
 pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense
 of the public good. It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that
 jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble
 enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow
 and illiberal distrust. On the other hand, it will be equally
 forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security
 of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed
 judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a
 dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal
 for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of
 zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will
 teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to
 the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men
 who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number
 have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people;
 commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.
In the course of the preceding observations, I have had an eye,
 my fellow-citizens, to putting you upon your guard against all
 attempts, from whatever quarter, to influence your decision in a
 matter of the utmost moment to your welfare, by any impressions
 other than those which may result from the evidence of truth. You
 will, no doubt, at the same time, have collected from the general
 scope of them, that they proceed from a source not unfriendly to the
 new Constitution. Yes, my countrymen, I own to you that, after
 having given it an attentive consideration, I am clearly of opinion
 it is your interest to adopt it. I am convinced that this is the
 safest course for your liberty, your dignity, and your happiness. I
 affect not reserves which I do not feel. I will not amuse you with
 an appearance of deliberation when I have decided. I frankly
 acknowledge to you my convictions, and I will freely lay before you
 the reasons on which they are founded. The consciousness of good
 intentions disdains ambiguity. I shall not, however, multiply
 professions on this head. My motives must remain in the depository
 of my own breast. My arguments will be open to all, and may be
 judged of by all. They shall at least be offered in a spirit which
 will not disgrace the cause of truth.
I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following
 interesting particulars: 
THE UTILITY OF THE UNION TO YOUR POLITICAL PROSPERITY
THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION
 TO PRESERVE THAT UNION  THE NECESSITY OF A GOVERNMENT AT LEAST
 EQUALLY ENERGETIC WITH THE ONE PROPOSED, TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS
 OBJECT  THE CONFORMITY OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION TO THE TRUE
 PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT 
 ITS ANALOGY TO YOUR OWN STATE CONSTITUTION 
 and lastly, THE ADDITIONAL SECURITY WHICH ITS
 ADOPTION WILL AFFORD TO THE PRESERVATION OF THAT SPECIES OF
 GOVERNMENT, TO LIBERTY, AND TO PROPERTY.
In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a
 satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made
 their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.
It may perhaps be thought superfluous to offer arguments to
 prove the utility of the UNION, a point, no doubt, deeply engraved
 on the hearts of the great body of the people in every State, and
 one, which it may be imagined, has no adversaries. But the fact is,
 that we already hear it whispered in the private circles of those
 who oppose the new Constitution, that the thirteen States are of too
 great extent for any general system, and that we must of necessity
 resort to separate confederacies of distinct portions of the
 whole.1 This doctrine will, in all probability, be gradually
 propagated, till it has votaries enough to countenance an open
 avowal of it. For nothing can be more evident, to those who are
 able to take an enlarged view of the subject, than the alternative
 of an adoption of the new Constitution or a dismemberment of the
 Union. It will therefore be of use to begin by examining the
 advantages of that Union, the certain evils, and the probable
 dangers, to which every State will be exposed from its dissolution.
 This shall accordingly constitute the subject of my next address.
 PUBLIUS.
1 The same idea, tracing the arguments to their consequences, is
 held out in several of the late publications against the new
 Constitution.



FEDERALIST No. 2

Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence
For the Independent Journal.

JAY

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, widespreading 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 wellbalanced 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 pursuaded 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 pursuade 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.''
PUBLIUS.


FEDERALIST No. 3

The Same Subject Continued
(Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force and Influence)
For the Independent Journal.

JAY

To the People of the State of New York:
IT IS not a new observation that the people of any country (if,
 like the Americans, intelligent and wellinformed) seldom adopt and
 steadily persevere for many years in an erroneous opinion respecting
 their interests. That consideration naturally tends to create great
 respect for the high opinion which the people of America have so
 long and uniformly entertained of the importance of their continuing
 firmly united under one federal government, vested with sufficient
 powers for all general and national purposes.
The more attentively I consider and investigate the reasons
 which appear to have given birth to this opinion, the more I become
 convinced that they are cogent and conclusive.
Among the many objects to which a wise and free people find it
 necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their
 SAFETY seems to be the first. The SAFETY of the people doubtless
 has relation to a great variety of circumstances and considerations,
 and consequently affords great latitude to those who wish to define
 it precisely and comprehensively.
At present I mean only to consider it as it respects security
 for the preservation of peace and tranquillity, as well as against
 dangers from FOREIGN ARMS AND INFLUENCE, as from dangers of the LIKE
 KIND arising from domestic causes. As the former of these comes
 first in order, it is proper it should be the first discussed. Let
 us therefore proceed to examine whether the people are not right in
 their opinion that a cordial Union, under an efficient national
 government, affords them the best security that can be devised
 against HOSTILITIES from abroad.
The number of wars which have happened or will happen in the
 world will always be found to be in proportion to the number and
 weight of the causes, whether REAL or PRETENDED, which PROVOKE or
 INVITE them. If this remark be just, it becomes useful to inquire
 whether so many JUST causes of war are likely to be given by UNITED
 AMERICA as by DISUNITED America; for if it should turn out that
 United America will probably give the fewest, then it will follow
 that in this respect the Union tends most to preserve the people in
 a state of peace with other nations.
The JUST causes of war, for the most part, arise either from
 violation of treaties or from direct violence. America has already
 formed treaties with no less than six foreign nations, and all of
 them, except Prussia, are maritime, and therefore able to annoy and
 injure us. She has also extensive commerce with Portugal, Spain,
 and Britain, and, with respect to the two latter, has, in addition,
 the circumstance of neighborhood to attend to.
It is of high importance to the peace of America that she
 observe the laws of nations towards all these powers, and to me it
 appears evident that this will be more perfectly and punctually done
 by one national government than it could be either by thirteen
 separate States or by three or four distinct confederacies.
Because when once an efficient national government is
 established, the best men in the country will not only consent to
 serve, but also will generally be appointed to manage it; for,
 although town or country, or other contracted influence, may place
 men in State assemblies, or senates, or courts of justice, or
 executive departments, yet more general and extensive reputation for
 talents and other qualifications will be necessary to recommend men
 to offices under the national government,--especially as it will have
 the widest field for choice, and never experience that want of
 proper persons which is not uncommon in some of the States. Hence,
 it will result that the administration, the political counsels, and
 the judicial decisions of the national government will be more wise,
 systematical, and judicious than those of individual States, and
 consequently more satisfactory with respect to other nations, as
 well as more SAFE with respect to us.
Because, under the national government, treaties and articles of
 treaties, as well as the laws of nations, will always be expounded
 in one sense and executed in the same manner,--whereas, adjudications
 on the same points and questions, in thirteen States, or in three or
 four confederacies, will not always accord or be consistent; and
 that, as well from the variety of independent courts and judges
 appointed by different and independent governments, as from the
 different local laws and interests which may affect and influence
 them. The wisdom of the convention, in committing such questions to
 the jurisdiction and judgment of courts appointed by and responsible
 only to one national government, cannot be too much commended.
Because the prospect of present loss or advantage may often
 tempt the governing party in one or two States to swerve from good
 faith and justice; but those temptations, not reaching the other
 States, and consequently having little or no influence on the
 national government, the temptation will be fruitless, and good
 faith and justice be preserved. The case of the treaty of peace
 with Britain adds great weight to this reasoning.
Because, even if the governing party in a State should be
 disposed to resist such temptations, yet as such temptations may,
 and commonly do, result from circumstances peculiar to the State,
 and may affect a great number of the inhabitants, the governing
 party may not always be able, if willing, to prevent the injustice
 meditated, or to punish the aggressors. But the national
 government, not being affected by those local circumstances, will
 neither be induced to commit the wrong themselves, nor want power or
 inclination to prevent or punish its commission by others.
So far, therefore, as either designed or accidental violations
 of treaties and the laws of nations afford JUST causes of war, they
 are less to be apprehended under one general government than under
 several lesser ones, and in that respect the former most favors the
 SAFETY of the people.
As to those just causes of war which proceed from direct and
 unlawful violence, it appears equally clear to me that one good
 national government affords vastly more security against dangers of
 that sort than can be derived from any other quarter.
Because such violences are more frequently caused by the
 passions and interests of a part than of the whole; of one or two
 States than of the Union. Not a single Indian war has yet been
 occasioned by aggressions of the present federal government, feeble
 as it is; but there are several instances of Indian hostilities
 having been provoked by the improper conduct of individual States,
 who, either unable or unwilling to restrain or punish offenses, have
 given occasion to the slaughter of many innocent inhabitants.
The neighborhood of Spanish and British territories, bordering
 on some States and not on others, naturally confines the causes of
 quarrel more immediately to the borderers. The bordering States, if
 any, will be those who, under the impulse of sudden irritation, and
 a quick sense of apparent interest or injury, will be most likely,
 by direct violence, to excite war with these nations; and nothing
 can so effectually obviate that danger as a national government,
 whose wisdom and prudence will not be diminished by the passions
 which actuate the parties immediately interested.
But not only fewer just causes of war will be given by the
 national government, but it will also be more in their power to
 accommodate and settle them amicably. They will be more temperate
 and cool, and in that respect, as well as in others, will be more in
 capacity to act advisedly than the offending State. The pride of
 states, as well as of men, naturally disposes them to justify all
 their actions, and opposes their acknowledging, correcting, or
 repairing their errors and offenses. The national government, in
 such cases, will not be affected by this pride, but will proceed
 with moderation and candor to consider and decide on the means most
 proper to extricate them from the difficulties which threaten them.
Besides, it is well known that acknowledgments, explanations,
 and compensations are often accepted as satisfactory from a strong
 united nation, which would be rejected as unsatisfactory if offered
 by a State or confederacy of little consideration or power.
In the year 1685, the state of Genoa having offended Louis XIV.,
 endeavored to appease him. He demanded that they should send their
 Doge, or chief magistrate, accompanied by four of their
 senators, to FRANCE, to ask his pardon and receive his terms. They
 were obliged to submit to it for the sake of peace. Would he on any
 occasion either have demanded or have received the like humiliation
 from Spain, or Britain, or any other POWERFUL nation?
PUBLIUS.


FEDERALIST No. 4

The Same Subject Continued
(Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force and Influence)
For the Independent Journal.

JAY

To the People of the State of New York:
MY LAST paper assigned several reasons why the safety of the
 people would be best secured by union against the danger it may be
 exposed to by JUST causes of war given to other nations; and those
 reasons show that such causes would not only be more rarely given,
 but would also be more easily accommodated, by a national government
 than either by the State governments or the proposed little
 confederacies.
But the safety of the people of America against dangers from
 FOREIGN force depends not only on their forbearing to give JUST
 causes of war to other nations, but also on their placing and
 continuing themselves in such a situation as not to INVITE hostility
 or insult; for it need not be observed that there are PRETENDED as
 well as just causes of war.
It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature,
 that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect
 of getting anything by it; nay, absolute monarchs will often make
 war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for the
 purposes and objects merely personal, such as thirst for military
 glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts
 to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans.
 These and a variety of other motives, which affect only the mind of
 the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not sanctified by
 justice or the voice and interests of his people. But, independent
 of these inducements to war, which are more prevalent in absolute
 monarchies, but which well deserve our attention, there are others
 which affect nations as often as kings; and some of them will on
 examination be found to grow out of our relative situation and
 circumstances.
With France and with Britain we are rivals in the fisheries, and
 can supply their markets cheaper than they can themselves,
 notwithstanding any efforts to prevent it by bounties on their own
 or duties on foreign fish.
With them and with most other European nations we are rivals in
 navigation and the carrying trade; and we shall deceive ourselves
 if we suppose that any of them will rejoice to see it flourish;
 for, as our carrying trade cannot increase without in some degree
 diminishing theirs, it is more their interest, and will be more
 their policy, to restrain than to promote it.
In the trade to China and India, we interfere with more than one
 nation, inasmuch as it enables us to partake in advantages which
 they had in a manner monopolized, and as we thereby supply ourselves
 with commodities which we used to purchase from them.
The extension of our own commerce in our own vessels cannot give
 pleasure to any nations who possess territories on or near this
 continent, because the cheapness and excellence of our productions,
 added to the circumstance of vicinity, and the enterprise and
 address of our merchants and navigators, will give us a greater
 share in the advantages which those territories afford, than
 consists with the wishes or policy of their respective sovereigns.
Spain thinks it convenient to shut the Mississippi against us on
 the one side, and Britain excludes us from the Saint Lawrence on the
 other; nor will either of them permit the other waters which are
 between them and us to become the means of mutual intercourse and
 traffic.
From these and such like considerations, which might, if
 consistent with prudence, be more amplified and detailed, it is easy
 to see that jealousies and uneasinesses may gradually slide into the
 minds and cabinets of other nations, and that we are not to expect
 that they should regard our advancement in union, in power and
 consequence by land and by sea, with an eye of indifference and
 composure.
The people of America are aware that inducements to war may
 arise out of these circumstances, as well as from others not so
 obvious at present, and that whenever such inducements may find fit
 time and opportunity for operation, pretenses to color and justify
 them will not be wanting. Wisely, therefore, do they consider union
 and a good national government as necessary to put and keep them in
 SUCH A SITUATION as, instead of INVITING war, will tend to repress
 and discourage it. That situation consists in the best possible
 state of defense, and necessarily depends on the government, the
 arms, and the resources of the country.
As the safety of the whole is the interest of the whole, and
 cannot be provided for without government, either one or more or
 many, let us inquire whether one good government is not, relative to
 the object in question, more competent than any other given number
 whatever.
One government can collect and avail itself of the talents and
 experience of the ablest men, in whatever part of the Union they may
 be found. It can move on uniform principles of policy. It can
 harmonize, assimilate, and protect the several parts and members,
 and extend the benefit of its foresight and precautions to each. In
 the formation of treaties, it will regard the interest of the whole,
 and the particular interests of the parts as connected with that of
 the whole. It can apply the resources and power of the whole to the
 defense of any particular part, and that more easily and
 expeditiously than State governments or separate confederacies can
 possibly do, for want of concert and unity of system. It can place
 the militia under one plan of discipline, and, by putting their
 officers in a proper line of subordination to the Chief Magistrate,
 will, as it were, consolidate them into one corps, and thereby
 render them more efficient than if divided into thirteen or into
 three or four distinct independent companies.
What would the militia of Britain be if the English militia
 obeyed the government of England, if the Scotch militia obeyed the
 government of Scotland, and if the Welsh militia obeyed the
 government of Wales? Suppose an invasion; would those three
 governments (if they agreed at all) be able, with all their
 respective forces, to operate against the enemy so effectually as
 the single government of Great Britain would?
We have heard much of the fleets of Britain, and the time may
 come, if we are wise, when the fleets of America may engage
 attention. But if one national government, had not so regulated the
 navigation of Britain as to make it a nursery for seamen--if one
 national government had not called forth all the national means and
 materials for forming fleets, their prowess and their thunder would
 never have been celebrated. Let England have its navigation and
 fleet--let Scotland have its navigation and fleet--let Wales have its
 navigation and fleet--let Ireland have its navigation and fleet--let
 those four of the constituent parts of the British empire be be
 under four independent governments, and it is easy to perceive how
 soon they would each dwindle into comparative insignificance.
Apply these facts to our own case. Leave America divided into
 thirteen or, if you please, into three or four independent
 governments--what armies could they raise and pay--what fleets could
 they ever hope to have? If one was attacked, would the others fly
 to its succor, and spend their blood and money in its defense?
 Would there be no danger of their being flattered into neutrality
 by its specious promises, or seduced by a too great fondness for
 peace to decline hazarding their tranquillity and present safety for
 the sake of neighbors, of whom perhaps they have been jealous, and
 whose importance they are content to see diminished? Although such
 conduct would not be wise, it would, nevertheless, be natural. The
 history of the states of Greece, and of other countries, abounds
 with such instances, and it is not improbable that what has so often
 happened would, under similar circumstances, happen again.
But admit that they might be willing to help the invaded State
 or confederacy. How, and when, and in what proportion shall aids of
 men and money be afforded? Who shall command the allied armies, and
 from which of them shall he receive his orders? Who shall settle
 the terms of peace, and in case of disputes what umpire shall decide
 between them and compel acquiescence? Various difficulties and
 inconveniences would be inseparable from such a situation; whereas
 one government, watching over the general and common interests, and
 combining and directing the powers and resources of the whole, would
 be free from all these embarrassments, and conduce far more to the
 safety of the people.
But whatever may be our situation, whether firmly united under
 one national government, or split into a number of confederacies,
 certain it is, that foreign nations will know and view it exactly as
 it is; and they will act toward us accordingly. If they see that
 our national government is efficient and well administered, our
 trade prudently regulated, our militia properly organized and
 disciplined, our resources and finances discreetly managed, our
 credit re-established, our people free, contented, and united, they
 will be much more disposed to cultivate our friendship than provoke
 our resentment. If, on the other hand, they find us either
 destitute of an effectual government (each State doing right or
 wrong, as to its rulers may seem convenient), or split into three or
 four independent and probably discordant republics or confederacies,
 one inclining to Britain, another to France, and a third to Spain,
 and perhaps played off against each other by the three, what a poor,
 pitiful figure will America make in their eyes! How liable would
 she become not only to their contempt but to their outrage, and how
 soon would dear-bought experience proclaim that when a people or
 family so divide, it never fails to be against themselves.
PUBLIUS.


FEDERALIST No. 5

The Same Subject Continued
(Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force and Influence)
For the Independent Journal.

JAY

To the People of the State of New York:
QUEEN ANNE, in her letter of the 1st July, 1706, to the Scotch
 Parliament, makes some observations on the importance of the UNION
 then forming between England and Scotland, which merit our attention. 
 I shall present the public with one or two extracts from it: ``An
 entire and perfect union will be the solid foundation of lasting
 peace: It will secure your religion, liberty, and property; remove
 the animosities amongst yourselves, and the jealousies and
 differences betwixt our two kingdoms. It must increase your
 strength, riches, and trade; and by this union the whole island,
 being joined in affection and free from all apprehensions of
 different interest, will be ENABLED TO RESIST ALL ITS ENEMIES.''
 ``We most earnestly recommend to you calmness and unanimity in this
 great and weighty affair, that the union may be brought to a happy
 conclusion, being the only EFFECTUAL way to secure our present and
 future happiness, and disappoint the designs of our and your
 enemies, who will doubtless, on this occasion, USE THEIR UTMOST
 ENDEAVORS TO PREVENT OR DELAY THIS UNION.''
It was remarked in the preceding paper, that weakness and
 divisions at home would invite dangers from abroad; and that
 nothing would tend more to secure us from them than union, strength,
 and good government within ourselves. This subject is copious and
 cannot easily be exhausted.
The history of Great Britain is the one with which we are in
 general the best acquainted, and it gives us many useful lessons.
 We may profit by their experience without paying the price which it
 cost them. Although it seems obvious to common sense that the
 people of such an island should be but one nation, yet we find that
 they were for ages divided into three, and that those three were
 almost constantly embroiled in quarrels and wars with one another.
 Notwithstanding their true interest with respect to the continental
 nations was really the same, yet by the arts and policy and
 practices of those nations, their mutual jealousies were perpetually
 kept inflamed, and for a long series of years they were far more
 inconvenient and troublesome than they were useful and assisting to
 each other.
Should the people of America divide themselves into three or
 four nations, would not the same thing happen? Would not similar
 jealousies arise, and be in like manner cherished? Instead of their
 being ``joined in affection'' and free from all apprehension of
 different ``interests,'' envy and jealousy would soon extinguish
 confidence and affection, and the partial interests of each
 confederacy, instead of the general interests of all America, would
 be the only objects of their policy and pursuits. Hence, like most
 other BORDERING nations, they would always be either involved in
 disputes and war, or live in the constant apprehension of them.
The most sanguine advocates for three or four confederacies
 cannot reasonably suppose that they would long remain exactly on an
 equal footing in point of strength, even if it was possible to form
 them so at first; but, admitting that to be practicable, yet what
 human contrivance can secure the continuance of such equality?
 Independent of those local circumstances which tend to beget and
 increase power in one part and to impede its progress in another, we
 must advert to the effects of that superior policy and good
 management which would probably distinguish the government of one
 above the rest, and by which their relative equality in strength and
 consideration would be destroyed. For it cannot be presumed that
 the same degree of sound policy, prudence, and foresight would
 uniformly be observed by each of these confederacies for a long
 succession of years.
Whenever, and from whatever causes, it might happen, and happen
 it would, that any one of these nations or confederacies should rise
 on the scale of political importance much above the degree of her
 neighbors, that moment would those neighbors behold her with envy
 and with fear. Both those passions would lead them to countenance,
 if not to promote, whatever might promise to diminish her
 importance; and would also restrain them from measures calculated
 to advance or even to secure her prosperity. Much time would not be
 necessary to enable her to discern these unfriendly dispositions.
 She would soon begin, not only to lose confidence in her neighbors,
 but also to feel a disposition equally unfavorable to them.
 Distrust naturally creates distrust, and by nothing is good-will
 and kind conduct more speedily changed than by invidious jealousies
 and uncandid imputations, whether expressed or implied.
The North is generally the region of strength, and many local
 circumstances render it probable that the most Northern of the
 proposed confederacies would, at a period not very distant, be
 unquestionably more formidable than any of the others. No sooner
 would this become evident than the NORTHERN HIVE would excite the
 same ideas and sensations in the more southern parts of America
 which it formerly did in the southern parts of Europe. Nor does it
 appear to be a rash conjecture that its young swarms might often be
 tempted to gather honey in the more blooming fields and milder air
 of their luxurious and more delicate neighbors.
They who well consider the history of similar divisions and
 confederacies will find abundant reason to apprehend that those in
 contemplation would in no other sense be neighbors than as they
 would be borderers; that they would neither love nor trust one
 another, but on the contrary would be a prey to discord, jealousy,
 and mutual injuries; in short, that they would place us exactly in
 the situations in which some nations doubtless wish to see us, viz.,
 FORMIDABLE ONLY TO EACH OTHER.
From these considerations it appears that those gentlemen are
 greatly mistaken who suppose that alliances offensive and defensive
 might be formed between these confederacies, and would produce that
 combination and union of wills of arms and of resources, which would
 be necessary to put and keep them in a formidable state of defense
 against foreign enemies.
When did the independent states, into which Britain and Spain
 were formerly divided, combine in such alliance, or unite their
 forces against a foreign enemy? The proposed confederacies will be
 DISTINCT NATIONS. Each of them would have its commerce with
 foreigners to regulate by distinct treaties; and as their
 productions and commodities are different and proper for different
 markets, so would those treaties be essentially different.
 Different commercial concerns must create different interests, and
 of course different degrees of political attachment to and
 connection with different foreign nations. Hence it might and
 probably would happen that the foreign nation with whom the SOUTHERN
 confederacy might be at war would be the one with whom the NORTHERN
 confederacy would be the most desirous of preserving peace and
 friendship. An alliance so contrary to their immediate interest
 would not therefore be easy to form, nor, if formed, would it be
 observed and fulfilled with perfect good faith.
Nay, it is far more probable that in America, as in Europe,
 neighboring nations, acting under the impulse of opposite interests
 and unfriendly passions, would frequently be found taking different
 sides. Considering our distance from Europe, it would be more
 natural for these confederacies to apprehend danger from one another
 than from distant nations, and therefore that each of them should be
 more desirous to guard against the others by the aid of foreign
 alliances, than to guard against foreign dangers by alliances
 between themselves. And here let us not forget how much more easy
 it is to receive foreign fleets into our ports, and foreign armies
 into our country, than it is to persuade or compel them to depart.
 How many conquests did the Romans and others make in the characters
 of allies, and what innovations did they under the same character
 introduce into the governments of those whom they pretended to
 protect.
Let candid men judge, then, whether the division of America into
 any given number of independent sovereignties would tend to secure
 us against the hostilities and improper interference of foreign
 nations.
PUBLIUS.


FEDERALIST No. 6

Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States
For the Independent Journal.

HAMILTON

To the People of the State of New York:
THE three last numbers of this paper have been dedicated to an
 enumeration of the dangers to which we should be exposed, in a state
 of disunion, from the arms and arts of foreign nations. I shall now
 proceed to delineate dangers of a different and, perhaps, still more
 alarming kind--those which will in all probability flow from
 dissensions between the States themselves, and from domestic
 factions and convulsions. These have been already in some instances
 slightly anticipated; but they deserve a more particular and more
 full investigation.
A man must be far gone in Utopian speculations who can seriously
 doubt that, if these States should either be wholly disunited, or
 only united in partial confederacies, the subdivisions into which
 they might be thrown would have frequent and violent contests with
 each other. To presume a want of motives for such contests as an
 argument against their existence, would be to forget that men are
 ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious. To look for a continuation of
 harmony between a number of independent, unconnected sovereignties
 in the same neighborhood, would be to disregard the uniform course
 of human events, and to set at defiance the accumulated experience
 of ages.
The causes of hostility among nations are innumerable. There
 are some which have a general and almost constant operation upon the
 collective bodies of society. Of this description are the love of
 power or the desire of pre-eminence and dominion--the jealousy of
 power, or the desire of equality and safety. There are others which
 have a more circumscribed though an equally operative influence
 within their spheres. Such are the rivalships and competitions of
 commerce between commercial nations. And there are others, not less
 numerous than either of the former, which take their origin entirely
 in private passions; in the attachments, enmities, interests,
 hopes, and fears of leading individuals in the communities of which
 they are members. Men of this class, whether the favorites of a
 king or of a people, have in too many instances abused the
 confidence they possessed; and assuming the pretext of some public
 motive, have not scrupled to sacrifice the national tranquillity to
 personal advantage or personal gratification.
The celebrated Pericles, in compliance with the resentment of a
 prostitute,1 at the expense of much of the blood and treasure of
 his countrymen, attacked, vanquished, and destroyed the city of the
 SAMNIANS. The same man, stimulated by private pique against the
 MEGARENSIANS,2 another nation of Greece, or to avoid a
 prosecution with which he was threatened as an accomplice of a
 supposed theft of the statuary Phidias,3 or to get rid of the
 accusations prepared to be brought against him for dissipating the
 funds of the state in the purchase of popularity,4 or from a
 combination of all these causes, was the primitive author of that
 famous and fatal war, distinguished in the Grecian annals by the
 name of the PELOPONNESIAN war; which, after various vicissitudes,
 intermissions, and renewals, terminated in the ruin of the Athenian
 commonwealth.
The ambitious cardinal, who was prime minister to Henry VIII.,
 permitting his vanity to aspire to the triple crown,5
 entertained hopes of succeeding in the acquisition of that splendid
 prize by the influence of the Emperor Charles V. To secure the
 favor and interest of this enterprising and powerful monarch, he
 precipitated England into a war with France, contrary to the
 plainest dictates of policy, and at the hazard of the safety and
 independence, as well of the kingdom over which he presided by his
 counsels, as of Europe in general. For if there ever was a
 sovereign who bid fair to realize the project of universal monarchy,
 it was the Emperor Charles V., of whose intrigues Wolsey was at once
 the instrument and the dupe.
The influence which the bigotry of one female,6 the
 petulance of another,7 and the cabals of a third,8 had in
 the contemporary policy, ferments, and pacifications, of a
 considerable part of Europe, are topics that have been too often
 descanted upon not to be generally known.
To multiply examples of the agency of personal considerations in
 the production of great national events, either foreign or domestic,
 according to their direction, would be an unnecessary waste of time.
 Those who have but a superficial acquaintance with the sources from
 which they are to be drawn, will themselves recollect a variety of
 instances; and those who have a tolerable knowledge of human nature
 will not stand in need of such lights to form their opinion either
 of the reality or extent of that agency. Perhaps, however, a
 reference, tending to illustrate the general principle, may with
 propriety be made to a case which has lately happened among
 ourselves. If Shays had not been a DESPERATE DEBTOR, it is much to
 be doubted whether Massachusetts would have been plunged into a
 civil war.
But notwithstanding the concurring testimony of experience, in
 this particular, there are still to be found visionary or designing
 men, who stand ready to advocate the paradox of perpetual peace
 between the States, though dismembered and alienated from each other. 
 The genius of republics (say they) is pacific; the spirit of
 commerce has a tendency to soften the manners of men, and to
 extinguish those inflammable humors which have so often kindled into
 wars. Commercial republics, like ours, will never be disposed to
 waste themselves in ruinous contentions with each other. They will
 be governed by mutual interest, and will cultivate a spirit of
 mutual amity and concord.
Is it not (we may ask these projectors in politics) the true
 interest of all nations to cultivate the same benevolent and
 philosophic spirit? If this be their true interest, have they in
 fact pursued it? Has it not, on the contrary, invariably been found
 that momentary passions, and immediate interest, have a more active
 and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote
 considerations of policy, utility or justice? Have republics in
 practice been less addicted to war than monarchies? Are not the
 former administered by MEN as well as the latter? Are there not
 aversions, predilections, rivalships, and desires of unjust
 acquisitions, that affect nations as well as kings? Are not popular
 assemblies frequently subject to the impulses of rage, resentment,
 jealousy, avarice, and of other irregular and violent propensities?
 Is it not well known that their determinations are often governed
 by a few individuals in whom they place confidence, and are, of
 course, liable to be tinctured by the passions and views of those
 individuals? Has commerce hitherto done anything more than change
 the objects of war? Is not the love of wealth as domineering and
 enterprising a passion as that of power or glory? Have there not
 been as many wars founded upon commercial motives since that has
 become the prevailing system of nations, as were before occasioned
 by the cupidity of territory or dominion? Has not the spirit of
 commerce, in many instances, administered new incentives to the
 appetite, both for the one and for the other? Let experience, the
 least fallible guide of human opinions, be appealed to for an answer
 to these inquiries.
Sparta, Athens, Rome, and Carthage were all republics; two of
 them, Athens and Carthage, of the commercial kind. Yet were they as
 often engaged in wars, offensive and defensive, as the neighboring
 monarchies of the same times. Sparta was little better than a
 wellregulated camp; and Rome was never sated of carnage and
 conquest.
Carthage, though a commercial republic, was the aggressor in the
 very war that ended in her destruction. Hannibal had carried her
 arms into the heart of Italy and to the gates of Rome, before
 Scipio, in turn, gave him an overthrow in the territories of
 Carthage, and made a conquest of the commonwealth.
Venice, in later times, figured more than once in wars of
 ambition, till, becoming an object to the other Italian states, Pope
 Julius II. found means to accomplish that formidable league,9
 which gave a deadly blow to the power and pride of this haughty
 republic.
The provinces of Holland, till they were overwhelmed in debts
 and taxes, took a leading and conspicuous part in the wars of Europe. 
 They had furious contests with England for the dominion of the
 sea, and were among the most persevering and most implacable of the
 opponents of Louis XIV.
In the government of Britain the representatives of the people
 compose one branch of the national legislature. Commerce has been
 for ages the predominant pursuit of that country. Few nations,
 nevertheless, have been more frequently engaged in war; and the
 wars in which that kingdom has been engaged have, in numerous
 instances, proceeded from the people.
There have been, if I may so express it, almost as many popular
 as royal wars. The cries of the nation and the importunities of
 their representatives have, upon various occasions, dragged their
 monarchs into war, or continued them in it, contrary to their
 inclinations, and sometimes contrary to the real interests of the
 State. In that memorable struggle for superiority between the rival
 houses of AUSTRIA and BOURBON, which so long kept Europe in a flame,
 it is well known that the antipathies of the English against the
 French, seconding the ambition, or rather the avarice, of a favorite
 leader,10 protracted the war beyond the limits marked out by
 sound policy, and for a considerable time in opposition to the views
 of the court.
The wars of these two last-mentioned nations have in a great
 measure grown out of commercial considerations,--the desire of
 supplanting and the fear of being supplanted, either in particular
 branches of traffic or in the general advantages of trade and
 navigation.
From this summary of what has taken place in other countries,
 whose situations have borne the nearest resemblance to our own, what
 reason can we have to confide in those reveries which would seduce
 us into an expectation of peace and cordiality between the members
 of the present confederacy, in a state of separation? Have we not
 already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those idle
 theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption from the
 imperfections, weaknesses and evils incident to society in every
 shape? Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden
 age, and to adopt as a practical maxim for the direction of our
 political conduct that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the
 globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and
 perfect virtue?
Let the point of extreme depression to which our national
 dignity and credit have sunk, let the inconveniences felt everywhere
 from a lax and ill administration of government, let the revolt of a
 part of the State of North Carolina, the late menacing disturbances
 in Pennsylvania, and the actual insurrections and rebellions in
 Massachusetts, declare--!
So far is the general sense of mankind from corresponding with
 the tenets of those who endeavor to lull asleep our apprehensions of
 discord and hostility between the States, in the event of disunion,
 that it has from long observation of the progress of society become
 a sort of axiom in politics, that vicinity or nearness of situation,
 constitutes nations natural enemies. An intelligent writer
 expresses himself on this subject to this effect: ``NEIGHBORING
 NATIONS (says he) are naturally enemies of each other unless their
 common weakness forces them to league in a CONFEDERATE REPUBLIC, and
 their constitution prevents the differences that neighborhood
 occasions, extinguishing that secret jealousy which disposes all
 states to aggrandize themselves at the expense of their
 neighbors.''11 This passage, at the same time, points out the
 EVIL and suggests the REMEDY.
PUBLIUS.
1 Aspasia, vide ``Plutarch's Life of Pericles.''
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 ] Ibid. Phidias was supposed to have stolen some public
 gold, with the connivance of Pericles, for the embellishment of the
 statue of Minerva.
5 P Worn by the popes.
6 Madame de Maintenon.
7 Duchess of Marlborough.
8 Madame de Pompadour.
9 The League of Cambray, comprehending the Emperor, the King of
 France, the King of Aragon, and most of the Italian princes and
 states.
10 The Duke of Marlborough.
11 Vide ``Principes des Negociations'' par 1'Abbe de Mably.


FEDERALIST. No. 7

The Same Subject Continued
(Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States)
For the Independent Journal.

HAMILTON

To the People of the State of New York:
IT IS sometimes asked, with an air of seeming triumph, what
 inducements could the States have, if disunited, to make war upon
 each other? It would be a full answer to this question to
 say--precisely the same inducements which have, at different times,
 deluged in blood all the nations in the world. But, unfortunately
 for us, the question admits of a more particular answer. There are
 causes of differences within our immediate contemplation, of the
 tendency of which, even under the restraints of a federal
 constitution, we have had sufficient experience to enable us to form
 a judgment of what might be expected if those restraints were
 removed.
Territorial disputes have at all times been found one of the
 most fertile sources of hostility among nations. Perhaps the
 greatest proportion of wars that have desolated the earth have
 sprung from this origin. This cause would exist among us in full
 force. We have a vast tract of unsettled territory within the
 boundaries of the United States. There still are discordant and
 undecided claims between several of them, and the dissolution of the
 Union would lay a foundation for similar claims between them all.
 It is well known that they have heretofore had serious and animated
 discussion concerning the rights to the lands which were ungranted
 at the time of the Revolution, and which usually went under the name
 of crown lands. The States within the limits of whose colonial
 governments they were comprised have claimed them as their property,
 the others have contended that the rights of the crown in this
 article devolved upon the Union; especially as to all that part of
 the Western territory which, either by actual possession, or through
 the submission of the Indian proprietors, was subjected to the
 jurisdiction of the king of Great Britain, till it was relinquished
 in the treaty of peace. This, it has been said, was at all events
 an acquisition to the Confederacy by compact with a foreign power.
 It has been the prudent policy of Congress to appease this
 controversy, by prevailing upon the States to make cessions to the
 United States for the benefit of the whole. This has been so far
 accomplished as, under a continuation of the Union, to afford a
 decided prospect of an amicable termination of the dispute. A
 dismemberment of the Confederacy, however, would revive this
 dispute, and would create others on the same subject. At present, a
 large part of the vacant Western territory is, by cession at least,
 if not by any anterior right, the common property of the Union. If
 that were at an end, the States which made the cession, on a
 principle of federal compromise, would be apt when the motive of the
 grant had ceased, to reclaim the lands as a reversion. The other
 States would no doubt insist on a proportion, by right of
 representation. Their argument would be, that a grant, once made,
 could not be revoked; and that the justice of participating in
 territory acquired or secured by the joint efforts of the
 Confederacy, remained undiminished. If, contrary to probability, it
 should be admitted by all the States, that each had a right to a
 share of this common stock, there would still be a difficulty to be
 surmounted, as to a proper rule of apportionment. Different
 principles would be set up by different States for this purpose;
 and as they would affect the opposite interests of the parties,
 they might not easily be susceptible of a pacific adjustment.
In the wide field of Western territory, therefore, we perceive
 an ample theatre for hostile pretensions, without any umpire or
 common judge to interpose between the contending parties. To reason
 from the past to the future, we shall have good ground to apprehend,
 that the sword would sometimes be appealed to as the arbiter of
 their differences. The circumstances of the dispute between
 Connecticut and Pennsylvania, respecting the land at Wyoming,
 admonish us not to be sanguine in expecting an easy accommodation of
 such differences. The articles of confederation obliged the parties
 to submit the matter to the decision of a federal court. The
 submission was made, and the court decided in favor of Pennsylvania.
 But Connecticut gave strong indications of dissatisfaction with
 that determination; nor did she appear to be entirely resigned to
 it, till, by negotiation and management, something like an
 equivalent was found for the loss she supposed herself to have
 sustained. Nothing here said is intended to convey the slightest
 censure on the conduct of that State. She no doubt sincerely
 believed herself to have been injured by the decision; and States,
 like individuals, acquiesce with great reluctance in determinations
 to their disadvantage.
Those who had an opportunity of seeing the inside of the
 transactions which attended the progress of the controversy between
 this State and the district of Vermont, can vouch the opposition we
 experienced, as well from States not interested as from those which
 were interested in the claim; and can attest the danger to which
 the peace of the Confederacy might have been exposed, had this State
 attempted to assert its rights by force. Two motives preponderated
 in that opposition: one, a jealousy entertained of our future
 power; and the other, the interest of certain individuals of
 influence in the neighboring States, who had obtained grants of
 lands under the actual government of that district. Even the States
 which brought forward claims, in contradiction to ours, seemed more
 solicitous to dismember this State, than to establish their own
 pretensions. These were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
 Connecticut. New Jersey and Rhode Island, upon all occasions,
 discovered a warm zeal for the independence of Vermont; and
 Maryland, till alarmed by the appearance of a connection between
 Canada and that State, entered deeply into the same views. These
 being small States, saw with an unfriendly eye the perspective of
 our growing greatness. In a review of these transactions we may
 trace some of the causes which would be likely to embroil the States
 with each other, if it should be their unpropitious destiny to
 become disunited.
The competitions of commerce would be another fruitful source of
 contention. The States less favorably circumstanced would be
 desirous of escaping from the disadvantages of local situation, and
 of sharing in the advantages of their more fortunate neighbors.
 Each State, or separate confederacy, would pursue a system of
 commercial policy peculiar to itself. This would occasion
 distinctions, preferences, and exclusions, which would beget
 discontent. The habits of intercourse, on the basis of equal
 privileges, to which we have been accustomed since the earliest
 settlement of the country, would give a keener edge to those causes
 of discontent than they would naturally have independent of this
 circumstance. WE SHOULD BE READY TO DENOMINATE INJURIES THOSE
 THINGS WHICH WERE IN REALITY THE JUSTIFIABLE ACTS OF INDEPENDENT
 SOVEREIGNTIES CONSULTING A DISTINCT INTEREST. The spirit of
 enterprise, which characterizes the commercial part of America, has
 left no occasion of displaying itself unimproved. It is not at all
 probable that this unbridled spirit would pay much respect to those
 regulations of trade by which particular States might endeavor to
 secure exclusive benefits to their own citizens. The infractions of
 these regulations, on one side, the efforts to prevent and repel
 them, on the other, would naturally lead to outrages, and these to
 reprisals and wars.
The opportunities which some States would have of rendering
 others tributary to them by commercial regulations would be
 impatiently submitted to by the tributary States. The relative
 situation of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey would afford an
 example of this kind. New York, from the necessities of revenue,
 must lay duties on her importations. A great part of these duties
 must be paid by the inhabitants of the two other States in the
 capacity of consumers of what we import. New York would neither be
 willing nor able to forego this advantage. Her citizens would not
 consent that a duty paid by them should be remitted in favor of the
 citizens of her neighbors; nor would it be practicable, if there
 were not this impediment in the way, to distinguish the customers in
 our own markets. Would Connecticut and New Jersey long submit to be
 taxed by New York for her exclusive benefit? Should we be long
 permitted to remain in the quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of a
 metropolis, from the possession of which we derived an advantage so
 odious to our neighbors, and, in their opinion, so oppressive?
 Should we be able to preserve it against the incumbent weight of
 Connecticut on the one side, and the co-operating pressure of New
 Jersey on the other? These are questions that temerity alone will
 answer in the affirmative.
The public debt of the Union would be a further cause of
 collision between the separate States or confederacies. The
 apportionment, in the first instance, and the progressive
 extinguishment afterward, would be alike productive of ill-humor and
 animosity. How would it be possible to agree upon a rule of
 apportionment satisfactory to all? There is scarcely any that can
 be proposed which is entirely free from real objections. These, as
 usual, would be exaggerated by the adverse interest of the parties.
 There are even dissimilar views among the States as to the general
 principle of discharging the public debt. Some of them, either less
 impressed with the importance of national credit, or because their
 citizens have little, if any, immediate interest in the question,
 feel an indifference, if not a repugnance, to the payment of the
 domestic debt at any rate. These would be inclined to magnify the
 difficulties of a distribution. Others of them, a numerous body of
 whose citizens are creditors to the public beyond proportion of the
 State in the total amount of the national debt, would be strenuous
 for some equitable and effective provision. The procrastinations of
 the former would excite the resentments of the latter. The
 settlement of a rule would, in the meantime, be postponed by real
 differences of opinion and affected delays. The citizens of the
 States interested would clamour; foreign powers would urge for the
 satisfaction of their just demands, and the peace of the States
 would be hazarded to the double contingency of external invasion and
 internal contention.
Suppose the difficulties of agreeing upon a rule surmounted, and
 the apportionment made. Still there is great room to suppose that
 the rule agreed upon would, upon experiment, be found to bear harder
 upon some States than upon others. Those which were sufferers by it
 would naturally seek for a mitigation of the burden. The others
 would as naturally be disinclined to a revision, which was likely to
 end in an increase of their own incumbrances. Their refusal would
 be too plausible a pretext to the complaining States to withhold
 their contributions, not to be embraced with avidity; and the
 non-compliance of these States with their engagements would be a
 ground of bitter discussion and altercation. If even the rule
 adopted should in practice justify the equality of its principle,
 still delinquencies in payments on the part of some of the States
 would result from a diversity of other causes--the real deficiency of
 resources; the mismanagement of their finances; accidental
 disorders in the management of the government; and, in addition to
 the rest, the reluctance with which men commonly part with money for
 purposes that have outlived the exigencies which produced them, and
 interfere with the supply of immediate wants. Delinquencies, from
 whatever causes, would be productive of complaints, recriminations,
 and quarrels. There is, perhaps, nothing more likely to disturb the
 tranquillity of nations than their being bound to mutual
 contributions for any common object that does not yield an equal and
 coincident benefit. For it is an observation, as true as it is
 trite, that there is nothing men differ so readily about as the
 payment of money.
Laws in violation of private contracts, as they amount to
 aggressions on the rights of those States whose citizens are injured
 by them, may be considered as another probable source of hostility.
 We are not authorized to expect that a more liberal or more
 equitable spirit would preside over the legislations of the
 individual States hereafter, if unrestrained by any additional
 checks, than we have heretofore seen in too many instances
 disgracing their several codes. We have observed the disposition to
 retaliation excited in Connecticut in consequence of the enormities
 perpetrated by the Legislature of Rhode Island; and we reasonably
 infer that, in similar cases, under other circumstances, a war, not
 of PARCHMENT, but of the sword, would chastise such atrocious
 breaches of moral obligation and social justice.
The probability of incompatible alliances between the different
 States or confederacies and different foreign nations, and the
 effects of this situation upon the peace of the whole, have been
 sufficiently unfolded in some preceding papers. From the view they
 have exhibited of this part of the subject, this conclusion is to be
 drawn, that America, if not connected at all, or only by the feeble
 tie of a simple league, offensive and defensive, would, by the
 operation of such jarring alliances, be gradually entangled in all
 the pernicious labyrinths of European politics and wars; and by the
 destructive contentions of the parts into which she was divided,
 would be likely to become a prey to the artifices and machinations
 of powers equally the enemies of them all. Divide et
 impera1 must be the motto of every nation that either hates or
 fears us.2 PUBLIUS.
1 Divide and command.
2 In order that the whole subject of these papers may as soon as
 possible be laid before the public, it is proposed to publish them
 four times a week--on Tuesday in the New York Packet and on
 Thursday in the Daily Advertiser.


FEDERALIST No. 8

The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States
From the New York Packet.
Tuesday, November 20, 1787.

HAMILTON

To the People of the State of New York:
ASSUMING it therefore as an established truth that the several
 States, in case of disunion, or such combinations of them as might
 happen to be formed out of the wreck of the general Confederacy,
 would be subject to those vicissitudes of peace and war, of
 friendship and enmity, with each other, which have fallen to the lot
 of all neighboring nations not united under one government, let us
 enter into a concise detail of some of the consequences that would
 attend such a situation.
War between the States, in the first period of their separate
 existence, would be accompanied with much greater distresses than it
 commonly is in those countries where regular military establishments
 have long obtained. The disciplined armies always kept on foot on
 the continent of Europe, though they bear a malignant aspect to
 liberty and economy, have, notwithstanding, been productive of the
 signal advantage of rendering sudden conquests impracticable, and of
 preventing that rapid desolation which used to mark the progress of
 war prior to their introduction. The art of fortification has
 contributed to the same ends. The nations of Europe are encircled
 with chains of fortified places, which mutually obstruct invasion.
 Campaigns are wasted in reducing two or three frontier garrisons,
 to gain admittance into an enemy's country. Similar impediments
 occur at every step, to exhaust the strength and delay the progress
 of an invader. Formerly, an invading army would penetrate into the
 heart of a neighboring country almost as soon as intelligence of its
 approach could be received; but now a comparatively small force of
 disciplined troops, acting on the defensive, with the aid of posts,
 is able to impede, and finally to frustrate, the enterprises of one
 much more considerable. The history of war, in that quarter of the
 globe, is no longer a history of nations subdued and empires
 overturned, but of towns taken and retaken; of battles that decide
 nothing; of retreats more beneficial than victories; of much
 effort and little acquisition.
In this country the scene would be altogether reversed. The
 jealousy of military establishments would postpone them as long as
 possible. The want of fortifications, leaving the frontiers of one
 state open to another, would facilitate inroads. The populous
 States would, with little difficulty, overrun their less populous
 neighbors. Conquests would be as easy to be made as difficult to be
 retained. War, therefore, would be desultory and predatory.
 PLUNDER and devastation ever march in the train of irregulars. The
 calamities of individuals would make the principal figure in the
 events which would characterize our military exploits.
This picture is not too highly wrought; though, I confess, it
 would not long remain a just one. Safety from external danger is
 the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent
 love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates. The
 violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the
 continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger,
 will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for
 repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy
 their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length
 become willing to run the risk of being less free.
The institutions chiefly alluded to are STANDING ARMIES and the
 correspondent appendages of military establishments. Standing
 armies, it is said, are not provided against in the new
 Constitution; and it is therefore inferred that they may exist
 under it.1 Their existence, however, from the very terms of the
 proposition, is, at most, problematical and uncertain. But standing
 armies, it may be replied, must inevitably result from a dissolution
 of the Confederacy. Frequent war and constant apprehension, which
 require a state of as constant preparation, will infallibly produce
 them. The weaker States or confederacies would first have recourse
 to them, to put themselves upon an equality with their more potent
 neighbors. They would endeavor to supply the inferiority of
 population and resources by a more regular and effective system of
 defense, by disciplined troops, and by fortifications. They would,
 at the same time, be necessitated to strengthen the executive arm of
 government, in doing which their constitutions would acquire a
 progressive direction toward monarchy. It is of the nature of war
 to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative
 authority.
The expedients which have been mentioned would soon give the
 States or confederacies that made use of them a superiority over
 their neighbors. Small states, or states of less natural strength,
 under vigorous governments, and with the assistance of disciplined
 armies, have often triumphed over large states, or states of greater
 natural strength, which have been destitute of these advantages.
 Neither the pride nor the safety of the more important States or
 confederacies would permit them long to submit to this mortifying
 and adventitious superiority. They would quickly resort to means
 similar to those by which it had been effected, to reinstate
 themselves in their lost pre-eminence. Thus, we should, in a little
 time, see established in every part of this country the same engines
 of despotism which have been the scourge of the Old World. This, at
 least, would be the natural course of things; and our reasonings
 will be the more likely to be just, in proportion as they are
 accommodated to this standard.
These are not vague inferences drawn from supposed or
 speculative defects in a Constitution, the whole power of which is
 lodged in the hands of a people, or their representatives and
 delegates, but they are solid conclusions, drawn from the natural
 and necessary progress of human affairs.
It may, perhaps, be asked, by way of objection to this, why did
 not standing armies spring up out of the contentions which so often
 distracted the ancient republics of Greece? Different answers,
 equally satisfactory, may be given to this question. The
 industrious habits of the people of the present day, absorbed in the
 pursuits of gain, and devoted to the improvements of agriculture and
 commerce, are incompatible with the condition of a nation of
 soldiers, which was the true condition of the people of those
 republics. The means of revenue, which have been so greatly
 multiplied by the increase of gold and silver and of the arts of
 industry, and the science of finance, which is the offspring of
 modern times, concurring with the habits of nations, have produced
 an entire revolution in the system of war, and have rendered
 disciplined armies, distinct from the body of the citizens, the
 inseparable companions of frequent hostility.
There is a wide difference, also, between military
 establishments in a country seldom exposed by its situation to
 internal invasions, and in one which is often subject to them, and
 always apprehensive of them. The rulers of the former can have a
 good pretext, if they are even so inclined, to keep on foot armies
 so numerous as must of necessity