The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/txtfiles_misc/fp13

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FEDERALIST No. 13

Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy in Government
For the Independent Journal.

HAMILTON

To the People of the State of New York:
As CONNECTED with the subject of revenue, we may with propriety
 consider that of economy. The money saved from one object may be
 usefully applied to another, and there will be so much the less to
 be drawn from the pockets of the people. If the States are united
 under one government, there will be but one national civil list to
 support; if they are divided into several confederacies, there will
 be as many different national civil lists to be provided for--and
 each of them, as to the principal departments, coextensive with that
 which would be necessary for a government of the whole. The entire
 separation of the States into thirteen unconnected sovereignties is
 a project too extravagant and too replete with danger to have many
 advocates. The ideas of men who speculate upon the dismemberment of
 the empire seem generally turned toward three confederacies--one
 consisting of the four Northern, another of the four Middle, and a
 third of the five Southern States. There is little probability that
 there would be a greater number. According to this distribution,
 each confederacy would comprise an extent of territory larger than
 that of the kingdom of Great Britain. No well-informed man will
 suppose that the affairs of such a confederacy can be properly
 regulated by a government less comprehensive in its organs or
 institutions than that which has been proposed by the convention.
 When the dimensions of a State attain to a certain magnitude, it
 requires the same energy of government and the same forms of
 administration which are requisite in one of much greater extent.
 This idea admits not of precise demonstration, because there is no
 rule by which we can measure the momentum of civil power necessary
 to the government of any given number of individuals; but when we
 consider that the island of Britain, nearly commensurate with each
 of the supposed confederacies, contains about eight millions of
 people, and when we reflect upon the degree of authority required to
 direct the passions of so large a society to the public good, we
 shall see no reason to doubt that the like portion of power would be
 sufficient to perform the same task in a society far more numerous.
 Civil power, properly organized and exerted, is capable of
 diffusing its force to a very great extent; and can, in a manner,
 reproduce itself in every part of a great empire by a judicious
 arrangement of subordinate institutions.
The supposition that each confederacy into which the States
 would be likely to be divided would require a government not less
 comprehensive than the one proposed, will be strengthened by another
 supposition, more probable than that which presents us with three
 confederacies as the alternative to a general Union. If we attend
 carefully to geographical and commercial considerations, in
 conjunction with the habits and prejudices of the different States,
 we shall be led to conclude that in case of disunion they will most
 naturally league themselves under two governments. The four Eastern
 States, from all the causes that form the links of national sympathy
 and connection, may with certainty be expected to unite. New York,
 situated as she is, would never be unwise enough to oppose a feeble
 and unsupported flank to the weight of that confederacy. There are
 other obvious reasons that would facilitate her accession to it.
 New Jersey is too small a State to think of being a frontier, in
 opposition to this still more powerful combination; nor do there
 appear to be any obstacles to her admission into it. Even
 Pennsylvania would have strong inducements to join the Northern
 league. An active foreign commerce, on the basis of her own
 navigation, is her true policy, and coincides with the opinions and
 dispositions of her citizens. The more Southern States, from
 various circumstances, may not think themselves much interested in
 the encouragement of navigation. They may prefer a system which
 would give unlimited scope to all nations to be the carriers as well
 as the purchasers of their commodities. Pennsylvania may not choose
 to confound her interests in a connection so adverse to her policy.
 As she must at all events be a frontier, she may deem it most
 consistent with her safety to have her exposed side turned towards
 the weaker power of the Southern, rather than towards the stronger
 power of the Northern, Confederacy. This would give her the fairest
 chance to avoid being the Flanders of America. Whatever may be the
 determination of Pennsylvania, if the Northern Confederacy includes
 New Jersey, there is no likelihood of more than one confederacy to
 the south of that State.
Nothing can be more evident than that the thirteen States will
 be able to support a national government better than one half, or
 one third, or any number less than the whole. This reflection must
 have great weight in obviating that objection to the proposed plan,
 which is founded on the principle of expense; an objection,
 however, which, when we come to take a nearer view of it, will
 appear in every light to stand on mistaken ground.
If, in addition to the consideration of a plurality of civil
 lists, we take into view the number of persons who must necessarily
 be employed to guard the inland communication between the different
 confederacies against illicit trade, and who in time will infallibly
 spring up out of the necessities of revenue; and if we also take
 into view the military establishments which it has been shown would
 unavoidably result from the jealousies and conflicts of the several
 nations into which the States would be divided, we shall clearly
 discover that a separation would be not less injurious to the
 economy, than to the tranquillity, commerce, revenue, and liberty of
 every part.
PUBLIUS.