“All of us need to be reminded that the Federal
Government did not create the States; the States
created the Federal Government.”
Ronald Reagan, Jan. 1981
“The Union is older than any of the States, and, in
fact, it created them as States.”
Abraham Lincoln, July 1861
Is United States a Compact of Republics or a
Compound Republic?
Why It Matters
- Federal v. state government claims to authority
- Civil War and civil rights struggle
- Nature of American nationalism and national
identity
Argument for the Compact of Republics
Language of the Declaration of Independence
- “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united
States of America…”
- “…Representatives of the united States of
America …”
- “…That these United Colonies are, and of Right
ought to be Free and Independent States…”
- “…that as Free and Independent States, they
have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace,
contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to
do all other Acts and Things which Independent
States may of right do”
Explicit Statement Articles of Confederation
- “Art. II. Each state retains its sovereignty,
freedom, and independence, and every power,
jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this
confederation expressly delegated to the United
States, in Congress assembled.”
Argument for the Compound Republic
Declaration has nil legal basis or popular consent
- drafted by Continental Congress, not colonies or
peoples of colonies
- CC delegates were only appointed by only 5
colonial governments
Declaration issued jointly not separately
- No colony “constituted” itself as a state without
CC permission
Articles of Confederation derive from CC activity
- drafted by CC in Nov. 1777
- ratified in March 1781 by all CC colonies
o Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown in Oct.
1781
o Peace treaty with Britain in Sep. 1783
Constitution is a new political creation
- “We, the People” not Patrick Henry’s “We, the
States”
- no mention of “sovereignty” but Art. VI
supremacy
- Art. IV, Sec. 4: “The United States shall
guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government…”
Madison has compound “governments”
- state and federal governments…
- but state and federal governments derive
authority from constitution
- “sovereignty” rests in the United States of
America, but apparatus and authority of
government divided
Would the US be a “nation” if it were otherwise?