Not six years after the formation of a new country, the government was in turmoil and citizens wondered if they had done the right thing. It wasn’t as if the government had only just now encountered problems—rather the government was, as all new governments do, struggling to juggle the demands of a nation only recently out of war. But now, in an exercise that would make Niccolo Machiavelli proud, the Federalists clashed against the Anti-Federalists, and sought to overthrow the still-new government and replace it with one of their own.
[One government] 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. 1
One of the first arguments made by the Federalists in favour of dismantling the government that had been formed under the Articles of Confederation was that a national army was needed. If they did not have this army, they would be subject to public ridicule from other countries and to wars they could have otherwise avoided. 2 Yet in Niccolo Macchiavelli’s The Prince, a book long thought by many to provide a paved road to despotism, having a good army and knowledge of warfare is necessary to the survival of a princedom. Machiavelli declared, “A Prince, therefore, should have no care or thought but for war, and for the regulations and training it requires.” 3 And in a statement all too clearly reminiscent of the Federalist argument for remaining in good-standing with the rest of the world, “[T]hose be able to stand alone who, with the men and money at their disposal, can get together an army.” 4 But perhaps most important is Machiavelli’s foundation for a solid princedom:
Now the main foundations of all States, whether new, old, or mixed, are good laws and good arms. But since you cannot have the former without the latter, and where you have the latter, are likely to have the former, I shall here omit all discussion on the subject of laws, and speak only of arms. 5
And yet James Madison, the author of the United States Constitution and a Federalist, points out the problems that a national army would provide:
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
The Articles of Confederation acknowledged this, and even made provision so that an army would not be present at all times.
No vessel of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State, except such number only, as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in Congress assembled, for the defense of such State, or its trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only, as in the judgement of the United States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defense of such State; but every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of filed pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage. 6
It wasn’t just the idea of a national army that bothered the Federalists, however. They wanted the separate States to be more unified, under one central federal government. The Federalists felt that under the Articles of Confederation there was not enough unity and should they need to band together they would not work well together. The issue over power with the state government or the federal government will be discussed in the second part of this series.
1 Federalist No. 4 – Publius
2 Federalist No. 2, No. 3, No. 4
3 Machiavelli, Niccolo, The Prince, Chapter XIV: On the Duty of a Prince In Respect of Military Affairs
4 Machiavelli, Niccolo, The Prince, Chapter X: How the Strength of All Princedoms Should Be Measured
5 Machiavelli, Niccolo, The Prince, Chapter XII: How Many Different Kinds of Soldiers There Are, and of Mercenaries
6 Articles of Confederation, Article VI, Clause IV
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