no more bound than the States themselves have been to pay the quotas respectively taxed on them. Had the States complied punctually with the articles of Confederation, or could their compliance have been enforced by as peaceable means as may be used with success towards single persons, our past experience is very far from countenancing an opinion that the State governments would have lost their constitutional powers and have gradually undergone an entire consolidation. To maintain that such an event would have ensued would be to say at once that the existence of the State governments is incompatible with any system whatever that accomplishes the essential purposes of the Union.
THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE FEDERAL AND THE STATE GOVERNMENTS WITH THE PEOPLE.
Federal and state governments only different agents of the same constituents—The first attachment of the people will be to the state governments—Popularity will come to the federal government only if it is better administered—Objections on score of federal military power answered—Concluding remarks on the proposition that the powers of the Union will be dangerous to the state governments.
To the People of the State of New York:
Resuming the subject of the last paper, I proceed to inquire whether the federal government or the State governments will have the advantage with regard to the predilection and support of the people. Notwithstanding the different modes in which they are appointed, we must consider both of them as substantially dependent on the great body of the citizens of the United States. I assume this position here as it respects the first, reserving the proofs for another place. The federal and State governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers, and designed for different purposes. The adversaries of the Constitution seem to have lost sight of the people
