Passage 1 is excerpted from a published letter written by an author known only as the Federal Farmer. Passage 2 is excerpted from a published letter by Agrippa, the pseudonym of James Winthrop. Winthrop was part of the anti-federalist movement. Both passages were written in 1787.
Passage 1
Our object has been all along, to reform our federal system,
and to strengthen our governments, but a new object now
presents. The plan of government now proposed is evidently
calculated totally to change, in time, our condition as a people.
Instead of being thirteen republics, under a federal head, it is
clearly designed to make us one consolidated government.
Whether such a change can ever be effected in any manner;
whether it can be effected without convulsions and civil wars;
whether such a change will not totally destroy the liberties of
this country--time only can determine.
The confederation was formed when great confidence was
placed in the voluntary exertions of individuals, and of the
respective states; and the framers of it, to guard against
usurpation, so limited and checked the powers. We find,
therefore, members of congress urging alterations in the federal
system almost as soon as it was adopted. The first interesting
question is how far the states can be consolidated into one
entire government on free principles. The happiness of the
people at large must be the great object with every honest
statesman, and he will direct every movement to this point. If
we are so situated as a people, as not to be able to enjoy equal
happiness and advantages under one government, the
consolidation of the states cannot be admitted.
Touching the federal plan, I do not think much can be said
in its favor: The sovereignty of the nation, without coercive
and efficient powers to collect the strength of it, cannot always
be depended on to answer the purposes of government; and in a
congress of representatives of sovereign states, there must
necessarily be an unreasonable mixture of powers in the same
hands.
Independent of the opinions of many great authors, that a
free elective government cannot be extended over large
territories, a few reflections must evince, that one government
and general legislation alone, never can extend equal benefits
to all parts of the United States: Different laws, customs, and
opinions exist in the different states, which by a uniform
system of laws would be unreasonably invaded. The United
States contain about a million of square miles, and in half a
century will, probably, contain ten millions of people.
Passage 2
Let us now consider how far [the new system] is consistent
with the happiness of the people and their freedom. It is the
opinion of the ablest writers on the subject, that no extensive
empire can be governed upon republican principles, and that
such a government will degenerate to a despotism, unless it be
made up of a confederacy of smaller states, each having the full
powers of internal regulation. This is precisely the principle
which has hitherto preserved our freedom. No instance can be
found of any free government of considerable extent which has
been supported upon any other plan. Large and consolidated
empires may indeed dazzle the eyes of a distant spectator with
their splendour, but if examined more nearly are always found
to be full of misery. The reason is obvious. In large states the
same principles of legislation will not apply to all the parts.
The laws not being made by the people, who felt the
inconveniences, did not suit their circumstances. It is under
such tyranny that the Spanish provinces languish, and such
would be our misfortune and degradation, if we should submit
to have the concerns of the whole empire managed by one
legislature. To promote the happiness of the people it is
necessary that there should be local laws; and it is necessary
that those laws should be made by the representatives of those
who are immediately subject to the want of them.
It is impossible for one code of laws to suit Georgia and
Massachusetts. They must, therefore, legislate for themselves.
The laws of Congress are in all cases to be the supreme law of
the land, and paramount to the constitutions of the individual
states. This new system is, therefore, a consolidation of all the
states into one large mass, however diverse the parts may be of
which it is to be composed. The idea of an uncompounded
republick, on an average, one thousand miles in length, and
eight hundred in breadth, and containing six millions of
inhabitants all reduced to the same standard of morals, or
habits, and of laws, is in itself an absurdity, and contrary to the
whole experience of mankind. All that part, therefore, of the
new system, which relates to the internal government of the
states, ought at once to be rejected.
Passage 1
Our object has been all along, to reform our federal system,
and to strengthen our governments, but a new object now
presents. The plan of government now proposed is evidently
calculated totally to change, in time, our condition as a people.
Instead of being thirteen republics, under a federal head, it is
clearly designed to make us one consolidated government.
Whether such a change can ever be effected in any manner;
whether it can be effected without convulsions and civil wars;
whether such a change will not totally destroy the liberties of
this country--time only can determine.
The confederation was formed when great confidence was
placed in the voluntary exertions of individuals, and of the
respective states; and the framers of it, to guard against
usurpation, so limited and checked the powers. We find,
therefore, members of congress urging alterations in the federal
system almost as soon as it was adopted. The first interesting
question is how far the states can be consolidated into one
entire government on free principles. The happiness of the
people at large must be the great object with every honest
statesman, and he will direct every movement to this point. If
we are so situated as a people, as not to be able to enjoy equal
happiness and advantages under one government, the
consolidation of the states cannot be admitted.
Touching the federal plan, I do not think much can be said
in its favor: The sovereignty of the nation, without coercive
and efficient powers to collect the strength of it, cannot always
be depended on to answer the purposes of government; and in a
congress of representatives of sovereign states, there must
necessarily be an unreasonable mixture of powers in the same
hands.
Independent of the opinions of many great authors, that a
free elective government cannot be extended over large
territories, a few reflections must evince, that one government
and general legislation alone, never can extend equal benefits
to all parts of the United States: Different laws, customs, and
opinions exist in the different states, which by a uniform
system of laws would be unreasonably invaded. The United
States contain about a million of square miles, and in half a
century will, probably, contain ten millions of people.
Passage 2
Let us now consider how far [the new system] is consistent
with the happiness of the people and their freedom. It is the
opinion of the ablest writers on the subject, that no extensive
empire can be governed upon republican principles, and that
such a government will degenerate to a despotism, unless it be
made up of a confederacy of smaller states, each having the full
powers of internal regulation. This is precisely the principle
which has hitherto preserved our freedom. No instance can be
found of any free government of considerable extent which has
been supported upon any other plan. Large and consolidated
empires may indeed dazzle the eyes of a distant spectator with
their splendour, but if examined more nearly are always found
to be full of misery. The reason is obvious. In large states the
same principles of legislation will not apply to all the parts.
The laws not being made by the people, who felt the
inconveniences, did not suit their circumstances. It is under
such tyranny that the Spanish provinces languish, and such
would be our misfortune and degradation, if we should submit
to have the concerns of the whole empire managed by one
legislature. To promote the happiness of the people it is
necessary that there should be local laws; and it is necessary
that those laws should be made by the representatives of those
who are immediately subject to the want of them.
It is impossible for one code of laws to suit Georgia and
Massachusetts. They must, therefore, legislate for themselves.
The laws of Congress are in all cases to be the supreme law of
the land, and paramount to the constitutions of the individual
states. This new system is, therefore, a consolidation of all the
states into one large mass, however diverse the parts may be of
which it is to be composed. The idea of an uncompounded
republick, on an average, one thousand miles in length, and
eight hundred in breadth, and containing six millions of
inhabitants all reduced to the same standard of morals, or
habits, and of laws, is in itself an absurdity, and contrary to the
whole experience of mankind. All that part, therefore, of the
new system, which relates to the internal government of the
states, ought at once to be rejected.