Federalist 13: Our National Economy Will Prosper with Union
Federalist 13: Our National Economy Will Prosper with Union
THE SEPARATION OF THE STATES into thirteen unconnected sovereignties is a project too extravagant and too replete with danger to have many advocates. Having just discussed the revenue of the Federal government, we now turn to economy. The money saved from one object may be usefully applied to another, with so much the less drawn from the pockets of the People. The States united under one government would have but one national civil list to support. If they are divided into several confederacies, there would 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.
Those who speculate upon the dismemberment of the empire generally envisage three confederacies – one consisting of the four northern States, another of the four middle States, and a third of the five southern States. According to this distribution, each confederacy would comprise an extent of territory larger than the kingdom of Great Britain. Proper regulation of each confederacy would require a government as comprehensive in its organs and institutions as that of the Federal government, for 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.
By comparison, the measure the momentum of civil power necessary to the government of the United States – properly organized and exerted – would be capable of diffusing its force to a very great extent, and reproducing itself in every part of a great empire by a judicious arrangement of subordinate institutions.
Each imagined confederacy would require a government not less comprehensive than the government of the United States, particularly if we consider that in case of disunion they will most naturally league themselves under two governments. New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, having active foreign commerce, would ally with the northern confederacy. 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.
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Each imagined confederacy would require a government not less comprehensive than the government of the United States, particularly if we consider that in case of disunion they will most naturally league themselves under two governments.
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The thirteen States if united will be able to support a national government better than one half, or one third, or any number less than the whole. Aside from requiring multiple civil lists, separate confederacies will require additional personnel, both to guard the inland communication between the different confederacies against illicit trade, and to collect taxes. If we also take into view the military establishments which would unavoidably result from the jealousies and conflicts of the several confederacies, we discover that separation would be more injurious to the economy, tranquility, commerce, revenue, and liberty of every part.
Hamiltonoriginal Federalist 13