Study 8 - The Federalist Papers No. 8

ASSUMING it therefore as an established truth that the several
States, in case of disunion, or such combinations of them as might
happen to be formed out of the wreck of the general Confederacy,
would be subject to those vicissitudes of peace and war, of
friendship and enmity, with each other, which have fallen to the lot
of all neighboring nations not united under one government, let us
enter into a concise detail of some of the consequences that would
attend such a situation.
War between the States, in the first period of their separate
existence, would be accompanied with much greater distresses than it
commonly is in those countries where regular military establishments
have long obtained. The disciplined armies always kept on foot on
the continent of Europe, though they bear a malignant aspect to
liberty and economy, have, notwithstanding, been productive of the
signal advantage of rendering sudden conquests impracticable, and of
preventing that rapid desolation which used to mark the progress of
war prior to their introduction. The art of fortification has
contributed to the same ends. The nations of Europe are encircled
with chains of fortified places, which mutually obstruct invasion.
Campaigns are wasted in reducing two or three frontier garrisons,
to gain admittance into an enemy's country. Similar impediments
occur at every step, to exhaust the strength and delay the progress
of an invader. Formerly, an invading army would penetrate into the
heart of a neighboring country almost as soon as intelligence of its
approach could be received; but now a comparatively small force of
disciplined troops, acting on the defensive, with the aid of posts,
is able to impede, and finally to frustrate, the enterprises of one
much more considerable. The history of war, in that quarter of the
globe, is no longer a history of nations subdued and empires
overturned, but of towns taken and retaken; of battles that decide
nothing; of retreats more beneficial than victories; of much
effort and little acquisition.
In this country the scene would be altogether reversed. The
jealousy of military establishments would postpone them as long as
possible. The want of fortifications, leaving the frontiers of one
state open to another, would facilitate inroads. The populous
States would, with little difficulty, overrun their less populous
neighbors. Conquests would be as easy to be made as difficult to be
retained. War, therefore, would be desultory and predatory.
PLUNDER and devastation ever march in the train of irregulars. The
calamities of individuals would make the principal figure in the
events which would characterize our military exploits.
This picture is not too highly wrought; though, I confess, it
would not long remain a just one. Safety from external danger is
the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent
love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates. The
violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the
continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger,
will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for
repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy
their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length
become willing to run the risk of being less free.
The institutions chiefly alluded to are STANDING ARMIES and the
correspondent appendages of military establishments. Standing
armies, it is said, are not provided against in the new
Constitution; and it is therefore inferred that they may exist
under it. Their existence, however, from the very terms of the
proposition, is, at most, problematical and uncertain. But standing
armies, it may be replied, must inevitably result from a dissolution
of the Confederacy. Frequent war and constant apprehension, which
require a state of as constant preparation, will infallibly produce
them. The weaker States or confederacies would first have recourse
to them, to put themselves upon an equality with their more potent
neighbors. They would endeavor to supply the inferiority of
population and resources by a more regular and effective system of
defense, by disciplined troops, and by fortifications. They would,
at the same time, be necessitated to strengthen the executive arm of
government, in doing which their constitutions would acquire a
progressive direction toward monarchy. It is of the nature of war
to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative
authority.
The expedients which have been mentioned would soon give the
States or confederacies that made use of them a superiority over
their neighbors. Small states, or states of less natural strength,
under vigorous governments, and with the assistance of disciplined
armies, have often triumphed over large states, or states of greater
natural strength, which have been destitute of these advantages.
Neither the pride nor the safety of the more important States or
confederacies would permit them long to submit to this mortifying
and adventitious superiority. They would quickly resort to means
similar to those by which it had been effected, to reinstate
themselves in their lost pre-eminence. Thus, we should, in a little
time, see established in every part of this country the same engines
of despotism which have been the scourge of the Old World. This, at
least, would be the natural course of things; and our reasonings
will be the more likely to be just, in proportion as they are
accommodated to this standard.
These are not vague inferences drawn from supposed or
speculative defects in a Constitution, the whole power of which is
lodged in the hands of a people, or their representatives and
delegates, but they are solid conclusions, drawn from the natural
and necessary progress of human affairs.
It may, perhaps, be asked, by way of objection to this, why did
not standing armies spring up out of the contentions which so often
distracted the ancient republics of Greece? Different answers,
equally satisfactory, may be given to this question. The
industrious habits of the people of the present day, absorbed in the
pursuits of gain, and devoted to the improvements of agriculture and
commerce, are incompatible with the condition of a nation of
soldiers, which was the true condition of the people of those
republics. The means of revenue, which have been so greatly
multiplied by the increase of gold and silver and of the arts of
industry, and the science of finance, which is the offspring of
modern times, concurring with the habits of nations, have produced
an entire revolution in the system of war, and have rendered
disciplined armies, distinct from the body of the citizens, the
inseparable companions of frequent hostility.
There is a wide difference, also, between military
establishments in a country seldom exposed by its situation to
internal invasions, and in one which is often subject to them, and
always apprehensive of them. The rulers of the former can have a
good pretext, if they are even so inclined, to keep on foot armies
so numerous as must of necessity be maintained in the latter. These
armies being, in the first case, rarely, if at all, called into
activity for interior defense, the people are in no danger of being
broken to military subordination. The laws are not accustomed to
relaxations, in favor of military exigencies; the civil state
remains in full vigor, neither corrupted, nor confounded with the
principles or propensities of the other state. The smallness of the
army renders the natural strength of the community an over-match for
it; and the citizens, not habituated to look up to the military
power for protection, or to submit to its oppressions, neither love
nor fear the soldiery; they view them with a spirit of jealous
acquiescence in a necessary evil, and stand ready to resist a power
which they suppose may be exerted to the prejudice of their rights.
The army under such circumstances may usefully aid the magistrate
to suppress a small faction, or an occasional mob, or insurrection;
but it will be unable to enforce encroachments against the united
efforts of the great body of the people.
In a country in the predicament last described, the contrary of
all this happens. The perpetual menacings of danger oblige the
government to be always prepared to repel it; its armies must be
numerous enough for instant defense. The continual necessity for
their services enhances the importance of the soldier, and
proportionably degrades the condition of the citizen. The military
state becomes elevated above the civil. The inhabitants of
territories, often the theatre of war, are unavoidably subjected to
frequent infringements on their rights, which serve to weaken their
sense of those rights; and by degrees the people are brought to
consider the soldiery not only as their protectors, but as their
superiors. The transition from this disposition to that of
considering them masters, is neither remote nor difficult; but it
is very difficult to prevail upon a people under such impressions,
to make a bold or effectual resistance to usurpations supported by
the military power.
The kingdom of Great Britain falls within the first description.
An insular situation, and a powerful marine, guarding it in a great
measure against the possibility of foreign invasion, supersede the
necessity of a numerous army within the kingdom. A sufficient force
to make head against a sudden descent, till the militia could have
time to rally and embody, is all that has been deemed requisite. No
motive of national policy has demanded, nor would public opinion
have tolerated, a larger number of troops upon its domestic
establishment. There has been, for a long time past, little room
for the operation of the other causes, which have been enumerated as
the consequences of internal war. This peculiar felicity of
situation has, in a great degree, contributed to preserve the
liberty which that country to this day enjoys, in spite of the
prevalent venality and corruption. If, on the contrary, Britain had
been situated on the continent, and had been compelled, as she would
have been, by that situation, to make her military establishments at
home coextensive with those of the other great powers of Europe,
she, like them, would in all probability be, at this day, a victim
to the absolute power of a single man. 'T is possible, though not
easy, that the people of that island may be enslaved from other
causes; but it cannot be by the prowess of an army so
inconsiderable as that which has been usually kept up within the
kingdom.
If we are wise enough to preserve the Union we may for ages
enjoy an advantage similar to that of an insulated situation.
Europe is at a great distance from us. Her colonies in our
vicinity will be likely to continue too much disproportioned in
strength to be able to give us any dangerous annoyance. Extensive
military establishments cannot, in this position, be necessary to
our security. But if we should be disunited, and the integral parts
should either remain separated, or, which is most probable, should
be thrown together into two or three confederacies, we should be, in
a short course of time, in the predicament of the continental powers
of Europe --our liberties would be a prey to the means of defending
ourselves against the ambition and jealousy of each other.
This is an idea not superficial or futile, but solid and weighty.
It deserves the most serious and mature consideration of every
prudent and honest man of whatever party. If such men will make a
firm and solemn pause, and meditate dispassionately on the
importance of this interesting idea; if they will contemplate it in
all its attitudes, and trace it to all its consequences, they will
not hesitate to part with trivial objections to a Constitution, the
rejection of which would in all probability put a final period to
the Union. The airy phantoms that flit before the distempered
imaginations of some of its adversaries would quickly give place to
the more substantial forms of dangers, real, certain, and formidable.