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.

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