Study Number 4 - The Federalist Papers No. 4

MY LAST paper assigned several reasons why the safety of the
people would be best secured by union against the danger it may be
exposed to by JUST causes of war given to other nations; and those
reasons show that such causes would not only be more rarely given,
but would also be more easily accommodated, by a national government
than either by the State governments or the proposed little
confederacies.
But the safety of the people of America against dangers from
FOREIGN force depends not only on their forbearing to give JUST
causes of war to other nations, but also on their placing and
continuing themselves in such a situation as not to INVITE hostility
or insult; for it need not be observed that there are PRETENDED as
well as just causes of war.
It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature,
that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect
of getting anything by it; nay, absolute monarchs will often make
war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for the
purposes and objects merely personal, such as thirst for military
glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts
to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans.
These and a variety of other motives, which affect only the mind of
the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not sanctified by
justice or the voice and interests of his people. But, independent
of these inducements to war, which are more prevalent in absolute
monarchies, but which well deserve our attention, there are others
which affect nations as often as kings; and some of them will on
examination be found to grow out of our relative situation and
circumstances.
With France and with Britain we are rivals in the fisheries, and
can supply their markets cheaper than they can themselves,
notwithstanding any efforts to prevent it by bounties on their own
or duties on foreign fish.
With them and with most other European nations we are rivals in
navigation and the carrying trade; and we shall deceive ourselves
if we suppose that any of them will rejoice to see it flourish;
for, as our carrying trade cannot increase without in some degree
diminishing theirs, it is more their interest, and will be more
their policy, to restrain than to promote it.
In the trade to China and India, we interfere with more than one
nation, inasmuch as it enables us to partake in advantages which
they had in a manner monopolized, and as we thereby supply ourselves
with commodities which we used to purchase from them.
The extension of our own commerce in our own vessels cannot give
pleasure to any nations who possess territories on or near this
continent, because the cheapness and excellence of our productions,
added to the circumstance of vicinity, and the enterprise and
address of our merchants and navigators, will give us a greater
share in the advantages which those territories afford, than
consists with the wishes or policy of their respective sovereigns.
Spain thinks it convenient to shut the Mississippi against us on
the one side, and Britain excludes us from the Saint Lawrence on the
other; nor will either of them permit the other waters which are
between them and us to become the means of mutual intercourse and
traffic.
From these and such like considerations, which might, if
consistent with prudence, be more amplified and detailed, it is easy
to see that jealousies and uneasinesses may gradually slide into the
minds and cabinets of other nations, and that we are not to expect
that they should regard our advancement in union, in power and
consequence by land and by sea, with an eye of indifference and
composure.
The people of America are aware that inducements to war may
arise out of these circumstances, as well as from others not so
obvious at present, and that whenever such inducements may find fit
time and opportunity for operation, pretenses to color and justify
them will not be wanting. Wisely, therefore, do they consider union
and a good national government as necessary to put and keep them in
SUCH A SITUATION as, instead of INVITING war, will tend to repress
and discourage it. That situation consists in the best possible
state of defense, and necessarily depends on the government, the
arms, and the resources of the country.
As the safety of the whole is the interest of the whole, and
cannot be provided for without government, either one or more or
many, let us inquire whether one good government is not, relative to
the object in question, more competent than any other given number
whatever.
One government can collect and avail itself of the talents and
experience of the ablest men, in whatever part of the Union they may
be found. It can move on uniform principles of policy. It can
harmonize, assimilate, and protect the several parts and members,
and extend the benefit of its foresight and precautions to each. In
the formation of treaties, it will regard the interest of the whole,
and the particular interests of the parts as connected with that of
the whole. It can apply the resources and power of the whole to the
defense of any particular part, and that more easily and
expeditiously than State governments or separate confederacies can
possibly do, for want of concert and unity of system. It can place
the militia under one plan of discipline, and, by putting their
officers in a proper line of subordination to the Chief Magistrate,
will, as it were, consolidate them into one corps, and thereby
render them more efficient than if divided into thirteen or into
three or four distinct independent companies.
What would the militia of Britain be if the English militia
obeyed the government of England, if the Scotch militia obeyed the
government of Scotland, and if the Welsh militia obeyed the
government of Wales? Suppose an invasion; would those three
governments (if they agreed at all) be able, with all their
respective forces, to operate against the enemy so effectually as
the single government of Great Britain would?
We have heard much of the fleets of Britain, and the time may
come, if we are wise, when the fleets of America may engage
attention. But if one national government, had not so regulated the
navigation of Britain as to make it a nursery for seamen--if one
national government had not called forth all the national means and
materials for forming fleets, their prowess and their thunder would
never have been celebrated. Let England have its navigation and
fleet--let Scotland have its navigation and fleet--let Wales have its
navigation and fleet--let Ireland have its navigation and fleet--let
those four of the constituent parts of the British empire be
under four independent governments, and it is easy to perceive how
soon they would each dwindle into comparative insignificance.
Apply these facts to our own case. Leave America divided into
thirteen or, if you please, into three or four independent
governments--what armies could they raise and pay--what fleets could
they ever hope to have? If one was attacked, would the others fly
to its succor, and spend their blood and money in its defense?
Would there be no danger of their being flattered into neutrality
by its specious promises, or seduced by a too great fondness for
peace to decline hazarding their tranquility and present safety for
the sake of neighbors, of whom perhaps they have been jealous, and
whose importance they are content to see diminished? Although such
conduct would not be wise, it would, nevertheless, be natural. The
history of the states of Greece, and of other countries, abounds
with such instances, and it is not improbable that what has so often
happened would, under similar circumstances, happen again.
But admit that they might be willing to help the invaded State
or confederacy. How, and when, and in what proportion shall aids of
men and money be afforded? Who shall command the allied armies, and
from which of them shall he receive his orders? Who shall settle
the terms of peace, and in case of disputes what umpire shall decide
between them and compel acquiescence? Various difficulties and
inconveniences would be inseparable from such a situation; whereas
one government, watching over the general and common interests, and
combining and directing the powers and resources of the whole, would
be free from all these embarrassments, and conduce far more to the
safety of the people.
But whatever may be our situation, whether firmly united under
one national government, or split into a number of confederacies,
certain it is, that foreign nations will know and view it exactly as
it is; and they will act toward us accordingly. If they see that
our national government is efficient and well administered, our
trade prudently regulated, our militia properly organized and
disciplined, our resources and finances discreetly managed, our
credit re-established, our people free, contented, and united, they
will be much more disposed to cultivate our friendship than provoke
our resentment. If, on the other hand, they find us either
destitute of an effectual government (each State doing right or
wrong, as to its rulers may seem convenient), or split into three or
four independent and probably discordant republics or confederacies,
one inclining to Britain, another to France, and a third to Spain,
and perhaps played off against each other by the three, what a poor,
pitiful figure will America make in their eyes! How liable would
she become not only to their contempt but to their outrage, and how
soon would dear-bought experience proclaim that when a people or
family so divide, it never fails to be against themselves.