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smaller countries—while maintaining sufficient latitude For the founders, the principle that just government
and liberty for the individual states. requires the consent of the governed in turn requires
republicanism, because the chief way that consent is
The advantages of union are detailed in the first granted to a government on an ongoing basis is through
fourteen papers of The Federalist (a series of essays the people’s participation in the political process. This
written to urge the Constitution’s adoption), and boil is the reason the Constitution “guarantee[s] to every
down to preventing and deterring foreign adventurism State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.”
in North America, avoiding conflicts between threats,
achieving economies of scale, and best utilizing the Under the United States Constitution, the people are
diverse resources of the continent. sovereign. But the people do not directly exercise their
sovereignty, for instance, by voting directly in popular
While the Constitution is fundamentally a compact assemblies. Rather, they do so indirectly, through
among the American people (its first seven words are representative institutions. This is, on the most basic
“We the People of the United States”), it was ratified by level, a practical requirement in a republic with a large
special conventions in the states. The peoples of the population and extent of territory. But it is also
states admired and cherished their state governments, intended to be a remedy to the defects common to all
all of which had adopted republican constitutions before republics up to that time.
a federal constitution was completed. Hence the
framers of the new national government had to respect The framers of the Constitution faced a twofold

To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes; to

deny the rights of property is like cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is to
rob the ostracized of all self-respect, of credit in the market place, of recompense in the
world of work, of a voice in choosing those who make and administer the law, a choice in
the jury before whom they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

the states’ prior existence and jealous guarding of their challenge. They had to assure those alarmed by the
own prerogatives. historical record that the new government was not too
republican in simply copying the old, failed forms, while
They also believed that the role of the federal also reassuring those concerned about overweening
government should be limited to performing those tasks centralized power that the government of the new
that only a national government can do, such as Constitution was republican enough to secure equal
providing for the nation’s security or regulating natural rights and prevent the reemergence of tyranny.
commerce between the states, and that most tasks were
properly the responsibility of the states. And they The main causes of prior republican failure were class
believed that strong states, as competing power centers, conflict and tyranny of the majority. In the simplest
would act as counterweights against a potentially terms, the largest single faction in any republic would
overweening central government, in the same way that tend to band together and unwisely wield their
the separation of powers checks and balances the numerical strength against unpopular minorities,
branches of the federal government. leading to conflict and eventual collapse. The founders’
primary remedy was union itself. Against the old idea

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