Contributor’s note: the following consists of copyrighted material that cannot be reproduced without the permission of the contributor.
In the spirit of getting more Americans to read these works, I am looking for a publisher — if you or someone you know might be interested in this enterprise, please email pthornhill@cox.net.
NUMBER V
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
In Queen Anne’s letter from the 1st of July to the Scottish parliament, she mentioned the importance of the union then forming between England and Scotland which bears mentioning here. Portions of her message follow. “An entire and perfect union will be the solid foundation of lasting peace. It will secure your religion, liberty, and property, and remove animosities between the inhabitants, and eliminate jealousies and differences that exist between the two kingdoms. It encourages the growth of strength, riches, and trade, and the whole island will be joined in affection and free from differing interests that will enable it to more effectively resist all enemies.” She also wrote, “[w]e earnestly recommend that you be calm and thoughtful regarding this decision, that we might become happily united, this being the only effective way to secure our present and future happiness while disappointing the designs of our common enemies, who will no doubt do whatever they can to prevent or delay this union.”
I said in the last letter that weaknesses and divisions at home would invite dangerous actions by those abroad against us, and that there is nothing better to secure us from that than our own union, with strength and good government. There is a lot to talk about regarding this subject and therefore I will take some more time to do that.
We are most familiar with the history of Britain and we can learn many useful lessons from that history. We can gain knowledge from their experience without having to pay the same price for it as they did. It might seem like common sense that the people who live on that island should be united as one nation, yet we know that they were for centuries divided into three which were almost always embroiled in conflict of some kind or another with each other. While their true interest regarding European nations were the same, their mutual jealousies were always causing conflict, and for many years these jealousies were inconvenient and troublesome rather than helpful or useful.
If the people of America were to divide into three or four nations, wouldn’t the same thing happen here? Wouldn’t the same jealousies arise and be in a like manner exercised? Instead of being “joined in affection and free from all worry about separate interests,” envy and jealousy would soon take the place of confidence and affection, and the personal interests of each confederacy, rather than the general interests of all of America, would be the objects of their policy and pursuits. Therefore, like most other bordering nations, they would always be either involved in disagreements or war, or there would be the constant threat of these things happening.
The most enthusiastic supporters for three or four confederacies surely cannot reasonably argue that these confederacies would long remain equal in strength, even if they were at first formed as such. But even if we were to admit that that could be accomplished, what human invention could maintain that equality? Without the local circumstances which make and increase power in one part while impeding the growth of power in another, we must recognize that superior policy and good government would cause one government to grow disproportionately at the expense of the other, and their comparable equality would no longer exist. We can’t presume that these separate confederacies would continue to exercise the same degree of sound policy, prudence and foresight for a long succession of years.
Whatever causes it, and whenever it might happen – and it will happen – that one of the confederacies becomes more powerful or politically important than the neighboring confederacies, the fact is that her neighbors would then have cause to regard the more powerful confederacy with envy and fear. Both envy and fear might lead these neighboring confederacies to permit or even promote policies which will inhibit this growth of power, or, on the other hand, they might avoid measures that could advance or secure the more powerful confederacy’s prosperity. It wouldn’t then take the more powerful confederacy long to figure out which neighbors were friendly and which were not, and she would soon begin to lose confidence in her neighbors while also feeling equally unfavorable to them. Distrust creates distrust and nothing more speedily damages good will and kindness than does hateful jealousies or distrustful accusations, whether they are expressed or implied.
Right now, the north is a strong region, and most indications are that local influences will cause the Northern hive of the proposed confederacies to be the strongest region in the not so distant future. As soon as this was apparent it will promote the same ideas and sensations in the southern parts of America just as it did in the southern parts of Europe. It’s not crazy to think that the younger swarms in the population might be more tempted to gather honey in the fields that bloom the best and in air that is more luxurious.
Those who know well the history of similar divisions and confederacies will find plenty of reason to believe that those who support division into confederacies would not be neighbors that shared a border. They would neither love nor trust one another but rather would be subject to not getting along, with jealousy or injuries between themselves. In short, this would place us in exactly the kind of situation that some other nations doubtless would like to see us in, that is, threatening only to each other.
From these considerations it appears that those who support the idea of confederacies are mistaken if they think that offensive and defensive alliances might be formed between these confederacies. Instead what we’d see is that it would be necessary for each individual component of the confederacy to acquire the will, the arms and resources necessary to keep them in a strong state of defense against foreign enemies.
When did the independent states into which Britain and Spain were formerly divided ever form any alliance or unite their forces against a foreign enemy? The proposed confederacies will likewise be distinct nations. Each of them would have separate treaties regarding commerce with foreigners, and since their products and commodities would are suitable for different markets, then the respective treaties of each confederacy would also be different. Differing commercial concerns would create different interests, and this will entail different degrees of political attachment with the various foreign nations. Therefore it might, actually probably would, happen that the foreign nation that might be at war with the southern confederacy would be the very same one that it would be in the northern confederacy’s interest to maintain a peaceful and friendly relationship with. An alliance between the two confederacies under these circumstances would be difficult at best to form, and even if it was formed, it would be difficult to honor it in perfect good faith.
No, it is far more probable that in America, as in Europe, neighboring nations will be found frequently in opposition because they’d be pursuing opposite interests or operating under unfriendly loyalties. Considering our distance from Europe, it makes sense that the confederacies would be more fearful of each other than they would be of more distant nations. Therefore, it would be more natural for them to guard against each other through the development of foreign alliances, rather than have the alliance amongst themselves to guard against foreigners. Let’s not forget how much easier it is to receive foreign fleets into our ports, or foreign armies into our country, than it is to persuade or compel them to leave. Think about it: how many conquests did the Romans and others make acting as “allies,” and how many influences did they introduce into the governments that they had pretended to protect?
Let honest men judge whether the division of America into any given number of independent sovereignties would help protect us against hostilities or the improper interference of foreign nations.
Publius [Jay]
Tags: federalist papers